With the Sweet 16 coming to an end, let’s do a Sweet 16 recap. For those few teams who were fortunate enough to call themselves the Sweet 16, Thursday and Friday brought forth another opponent to face off against. Another challenge to persevere against, another obstacle to climb over, another step closer to raising the National Championship trophy on April 8 in Phoenix. A win would get them one step closer to accomplishing this one goal that 64 other teams set out for at the beginning of the tournament. A win would give eight of these teams the privilege of calling themselves one of the Elite Eight.
Thursday
Thursday gave us a slate of three games that were highly competitive. It also gave us a massive blowout from one of the heavy favorites to win the tournament. These games included two one-seeds, two of the two-seeds, a three-seed, a five-seed, and a six-seed. In three of the four games on Thursday, we saw the lower seeds taking down the higher seeds in extremely intense matchups. Let’s start with a Thursday recap of the Sweet 16.
(6) Clemson vs (2) Arizona
The first matchup to tip off my Sweet 16 Thursday recap was two-seed Arizona taking on six-seed Clemson. In this game, Clemson was able to get off to a hot start, taking an early four-point lead. With just under ten minutes left to play in the first half, Clemson was looking strong holding on to an eleven-point lead. However, Arizona was not going down without a fight. Acting as the final hope for the Pac-12 in the tournament, you just knew the Wildcats were going to claw their way back into this game. While Arizona showed plenty of fight trying to get back in this game, Clemson held strong and wouldn’t let Arizona go on a big run to completely close the gap. Eventually, both teams would head to the locker rooms for halftime with a score of Clemson 39 Arizona 31.
In the second half, Arizona came out and closed the gap quickly. within five minutes Arizona was able to tie the game at 43. Arizona would go on to take the lead shortly after tying the game. Clemson did not allow them to hold the lead for very long. After going on a run of their own, Clemson would find themselves with a five-point lead with 13 minutes left to play. Arizona would then proceed to take the momentum back and ended up tying the game with just under ten minutes to play. With 1:06 left on the clock, Arizona found themselves down three with Clemson inbounding the ball under their basket. After a wide-open dunk, Clemson would find themselves up five with about a minute left to play. Arizona responded by hitting a three-point shot to cut the lead to just two.
With just 30 seconds remaining and a two-point lead, Clemson senior guard Chase Hunter would drive through Arizona’s defense and hit a difficult and-one layup. After hitting the free throw, Clemson now led 75-70. Arizona would go down the court and hit a floater putting them down three. Then a lack of awareness on the part of Arizona defensively would allow Clemson a fast break off the inbound resulting in an open layup plus a foul call with less than ten seconds remaining. Clemson held onto the lead for the last ten seconds and ultimately walked away with a 77-72 victory.
(1) UConn vs (5) San Diego State
The next game to tip off would pit one-seed UConn against five-seed San Diego State in a rematch of the 2023 National Championship game. This game started out competitive for the first five minutes with UConn holding a one-point lead after the first five minutes. Over the next five minutes, UConn took the momentum and began to expand upon their slim lead. After the first ten minutes of play, UConn was leading 27-18. Throughout the remainder of the first half, San Diego State fought valiantly to stay competitive in this game. While they fought hard, the Aztecs found themselves down 40-31 at halftime.
In the second half, things started to look a bit different. It was apparent very early that UConn just seemed to be too much to handle for this Aztec team. UConn would go on to completely take over the second half. After the first ten minutes of the second half, UConn led by a score of 59-44. Over the remaining ten minutes, UConn would outscore San Diego State 23-8. UConn would go on to win this game by 30 points with a final score of 82-52.
(4) Alabama vs (1) North Carolina
The next one-seed to go over from Thursday’s Sweet 16 recap was North Carolina who was taking on four-seed Alabama. This game started out fast and competitive with both teams scoring points early. After the first five minutes of play, North Carolina led 17-9. Although North Carolina led by as much as ten points, it never felt like Alabama was out of this game. It felt as though Alabama could go on a run at any moment to close the gap. And that’s exactly what happened.
With just over nine minutes remaining in the first half, Alabama managed to tie it up at 26. They would take the lead not long after. The remainder of the first half was a highly competitive back-and-forth spectacle. With only five minutes remaining in the first half, Alabama was leading 39-34. Alabama would then go on a short run that tied the game at 41. North Carolina would eventually fight back out to a lead and after a three-pointer from Tarheel junior Harrison Ingram, North Carolina took a 54-46 lead into halftime.
After battling through an intensely competitive first half, Alabama came out of the break quickly trying to close the gap that North Carolina took into halftime. After the first five minutes of the second half, Alabama fought their way back to just a three-point deficit. Just one minute later, Alabama hit a three that would give them a two-point lead. With a trip to the Elite Eight on the line it was clear neither team was ready for their season to end just yet. Following Alabama taking the lead, North Carolina went on a run to not only take back the lead but also expand it to six with just 8:35 remaining.
Of course, just in time, Alabama went on a run of their own, eventually tying the game with just 5:21 left in the game. The remaining five minutes was some of the most highly competitive basketball we’ve seen in this year’s tournament. With just 39 seconds remaining, Alabama hit a highly contested as well as the and-one layup to put the Crimson Tide up two. A couple of free throws late and a block on a full-court heave gave Alabama an 89-87 victory, as well as a spot in the Elite Eight.
(2) Iowa State vs (3) Illinois
The fourth and final game of Sweet 16 day one recap was between two-seed Iowa State and three-seed Illinois. This game started slowly with only five points being scored in the first three minutes. All five of those points belonged to Illinois. Illinois would eventually push this lead to 8-0. After the first ten minutes of play, Illinois led 16-9. A large majority consisted of Iowa State trying to dig themselves out of the 8-0 hole that they dug themselves early. However, no matter how hard they fought, they were unable to close the gap. Illinois went into the half with a 36-26 lead.
The second half was another half of very competitive back-and-forth basketball. Iowa State came out early in the second half and cut their ten-point halftime deficit down to just four points. With only ten minutes remaining in the second half, Iowa State still found themselves down four points. The next ten minutes would be a showcase of each team’s interior prowess on both the defensive and offensive ends. With just 25 seconds remaining in the game, and a four-point lead, Illinois Guard Terrence Shannon Jr. came up with a big steal and fast break dunk. This dunk would ultimately prove to be the dagger to the hearts of all Iowa State fans as Illinois would walk off the court with a 72-69 victory over Iowa State.
Friday
Friday did not provide the same level of intensely close matchups that the previous day provided. While Thursday had a 30-point blowout on the docket, it also included two games that finished as a one-possession game, as well as a five-point game in Clemson vs Arizona. Well, Friday gave us just one matchup that finished as a one-possession game. It also provided us with a seven-point, a nine-point, and a 12-point victory over the course of the four games. When it comes to upsets, Friday had two lower-seeds take out higher-seeded teams. This includes the Cinderella story of this year’s March Madness tournament upsetting a two-seed.
(2) Marquette vs (11) NC State
The first, and in my opinion best, game to recap on Friday’s Sweet 16 slate gave us the Cinderella story of this year’s March Madness tournament in 11-seed NC State taking on two-seed Marquette. Coming into the Sweet 16, there has been one player who has stolen the hearts of all those who are seeing him play for the first time. This player is of course NC State’s big man DJ Burns Jr. While Burns did not have the greatest game in terms of scoring on Friday (four points on 2-4 shooting), or rebounding (four rebounds), he did make a major impact on the game by leading all players on both teams in assists.
This game would start very competitively with both teams trading buckets for much of the first ten minutes of play. NC State did manage to run out to a ten-point lead a few times throughout the first half. However, Marquette would always fight back to stay in the game. Late in the first half, NC State was able to extend their lead out to 14. NC State would eventually go into the locker room with a 13-point lead. The halftime score was 37-24.
In the second half, NC State would be the first to score by knocking down a three-pointer that would extend their lead to 16. Marquette would continue to fight but weren’t having any luck closing the seemingly growing deficit they were facing. With just 3:54 remaining, Marquette had managed to cut the deficit to just six points. With only 1:35 remaining and NC State nursing an eight-point lead, NC State guard Michael O’Connell hit a big three that would propel NC State into the Elite Eight. NC State continues to enjoy the ball as the clock has not yet struck midnight on their Cinderella story. NC State walked away with a 67-58 victory.
(1) Purdue vs (5) Gonzaga
The next matchup to tip off on Friday was between one-seed Purdue and five-seed Gonzaga. This game would be a rematch from a Nov. 20, 2023 matchup that took place at the Maui Invitational quarterfinal. Purdue came out on top of this earlier matchup 73-63. This second matchup started out competitive as both teams traded buckets for the first five minutes. After ten minutes of play, Gonzaga was holding on to a two-point lead. But Purdue wasn’t going anywhere staying close on their tail.
As we approached the ten-minute mark of the first half, Purdue managed to tie the game at 20. Purdue would eventually take a lead with 8:38 remaining in the half. A three from Gonzaga star Anton Watson two minutes later would give Gonzaga the lead yet again. This trend of trading the lead would continue on for the remainder of the first half. After a late dunk and free throw from Zach Edey, Purdue took a 40-36 lead into halftime.
The beginning of the second half was much like the end of the first with both teams trading baskets. Purdue slowly started pulling further ahead as they were shooting the lights out to start the second half. At the ten-minute mark of the second half, Purdue was holding on to a 61-53 lead. Gonzaga would continue to shoot threes in an attempt to close the gap they were facing, but ultimately it was to no avail. Purdue managed to extend the lead even further reaching an 18-point lead with under three minutes left to play. Gonzaga would go on a small run to close out the game as they held Purdue scoreless for the last two minutes. However, Gonzaga ultimately fell short. Purdue advanced to the Elite Eight with a score of 80-68.
(1) Houston vs (4) Duke
The Final one-seed to cover in my Sweet 16 recap was Houston who faced four-seed Duke on Friday. Houston managed to jump out to an early eight-point lead in the first three minutes of the first half. Houston managed to keep Duke scoreless for the first 3:30 of this game. After Duke managed to break their scoreless drought they quickly managed to close the gap cutting the lead to just three with just under 14 minutes left in the half. A couple of free throws with less than three minutes remaining gave Duke their first lead of the night with a score of 21-20. A late fade away from the free throw line would secure the halftime lead for Duke with a score of 23-20.
Within the first minute of the second half, Houston was able to tie the game. Both teams would go on to trade buckets for a while with no team securing the momentum needed to take control of this game. With just ten minutes remaining in the game, Duke was holding on to a narrow 43-37 lead. Houston would quickly cut the deficit to just one with just over seven minutes remaining. With just over a minute left to play, Duke guard Jeremey Roach hit a jumper from the elbow to push the lead to six. This would ultimately be the winning shot as Duke takes down one-seed Houston 54-51 to advance to the program’s 24th Elite Eight.
(2) Tennessee vs (3) Creighton
The final Sweet 16 matchup to recap on Friday night was a matchup between two-seed Tennessee and three-seed Creighton. This game started slowly but competitively. After the first five minutes, Creighton was leading by one after mustering up seven points. Throughout the first ten minutes of the first half, both teams relied heavily on their three-point shooting. Neither team managed to take control of this game as they continued back and forth for the majority of the first half. After the eighth lead change of the first half, Creighton managed to go into halftime with a 35-34 lead.
The second half of the game started much like the first with both teams relying heavily on their three-point shooting. An early second-half run would give Tennessee a 16-point lead in the first six minutes of the second half. Tennessee now had all the momentum and had no plans of giving it back. Eventually, Creighton was able to stop the bleeding and attempt to fight back into this game. With just under six minutes remaining, Creighton managed to fight their way to a deficit of just three. A late and-one layup from Tennessee would give the Volunteers a late 70-64 lead.
Over the course of the last 1:40, Tennessee would go on to score another 12 points. At the same time, Creighton managed another 11 points. Yes, there were 23 points scored in the final 1:40 of this game! This ultimately resulted in Tennessee beating Creighton by a score of 82-75.
What’s next?
This concludes my Sweet 16 recap and now those lucky enough to call themselves one of the Elite Eight will battle to cut the nets down and become a member of the Final Four. They have now moved one step closer to being able to forever call themselves national champs.
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