Men's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 roundup: Alabama sets 3-point record, Cooper Flagg carries Duke

New York Times

28-03-2025

The first night of Sweet 16 action in the men's NCAA Tournament left the nets scorched at the Prudential Center and the Chase Center.
Some of college basketball's veterans and biggest stars shined. Duke's Cooper Flagg, Alabama's Mark Sears, Arizona's Caleb Love and Arkansas' Johnell Davis all scored 30-plus points. The tournament's chalk-heavy theme continued with wins by all four higher-seeded teams — No. 1 Florida, No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Texas Tech — but the Red Raiders needed a herculean comeback effort in Thursday's final game to deny Arkansas a trip to the Elite Eight.
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Here's how it all went down.
NEWARK, N.J. — With an NCAA Tournament-record 25 3-pointers, Alabama earned a trip to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season as Sears scored 34 points in a 113-88 victory over sixth-seeded BYU in the East Region on Thursday night.
Sears missed his first 3 of the game, then made his next three and was on his way to a career-high 10, one short of the NCAA Tournament record.
'I was just in a zone,' Sears said. 'Once I saw the first 3 go in, I felt like the basket was as big as an ocean.'
Sears brought his teammates into the zone with him, with eight of Alabama's 27 assists. And then the shooting became contagious.
Second-seeded Alabama finished with 51 attempts from 3, which also set a tournament record. For the game, 77 percent of the Tide's shots were from 3-point range. In its first two tournament victories, Alabama took 33 percent of its 114 shots (34) from 3-point range.
The Tide (28-8) will try to reach the Final Four for the second straight season against top-seeded Duke on Saturday night. — Ralph Russo
To read more on Alabama's historic night, click here.
SAN FRANCISCO — A dominant performance on the boards (plus-22) and a balanced scoring attack (six players in double figures) helped No. 1 seed Florida top Maryland 87-71 in the Chase Center, sending the Gators to the Elite Eight.
Florida had just a two-point lead at halftime, mostly the result of self-inflicted wounds (13 turnovers). But the Gators looked much more like the hottest team in basketball — they've won nine straight, including three in the SEC tournament — after the break, outscoring Maryland 47-33 in the second half. Florida turned it over only four times after the break. In other lopsided stats, its bench outscored Maryland's reserves 29-3.
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The Gators are arguably the most loaded team in the field, but their depth took a hit — at least momentarily — when starting center Alex Condon badly twisted his right ankle and hobbled to the bench. He went back to the locker room immediately and got precautionary X-rays to rule out anything season-ending. Condon sprained the same ankle earlier this season.
Will Richard led the Gators with 15 points, while Alijah Martin (14 points, seven rebounds), Thomas Haugh (13 points, nine rebounds) and Rueben Chinyelu (10 points, eight rebounds) all had productive nights as well.
The Terps were led again by sensational freshman Derik Queen (27 points, five rebounds, two steals) in what is all but certainly his last college game. Queen, a Baltimore native whose commitment to the state school was a coup of sorts for Maryland basketball, is projected as a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
The bigger question for Maryland: Did Kevin Willard coach his last game for the Terps? — Lindsay Schnell
For more on Florida's momentum-building performance, click here.
NEWARK, N.J. — By the time the scoop pass hit Flagg's hands, Duke's freshman superstar only had time to steal a quick glance up at the rapidly expiring clock. Four seconds, three …
Just enough time. With his left heel still touching the logo, Flagg let a shot fly, leaned his head a little to track the trajectory of his would-be buzzer-beater — and then turned in jubilation as the ball dropped through the net, giving Duke a much-needed six-point halftime cushion.
For all his spectacular moments on Thursday night, no sequence better captures how Flagg willed Duke past Arizona, 100-93, and into the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season. And for as dominant as Flagg has been all season, this was his true breakout performance of the postseason: 30 points on nine-of-19 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds, three blocks and one steal.
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'One of the best tournament performances I've ever coached or been a part of,' Duke coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. 'He just did what he was supposed to do.'
Without every last one of those points, there's no telling whether No. 1 Duke would've survived No. 4 Arizona's valiant comeback attempt.
Love saved his best for last in his tenth career meeting against the Blue Devils. His 3 to beat Duke in the 2022 Final Four remains one of the greatest shots in college basketball history. On Thursday, after Duke led by as many as 19 points midway through the second half, the former North Carolina star turned into a shooting supernova, scoring a season-high 35 points and draining five triples to get things as close as five points in the final minutes. — Brendan Marks
Read more on Flagg and Love's memorable duel here.
Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams hit a 3-pointer to cap a massive comeback in regulation and then backed his way into a game winner at the rim with seven seconds left in overtime, sending the Red Raiders to an 85-83 win over the Razorbacks and into an Elite Eight matchup with No. 1 seed Florida.
D5. CLUTCH. AGAIN!
THE SECOND LARGEST COMEBACK EVER IN THE SWEET 16!#TTW | 📺 TBS pic.twitter.com/zndRzXTUQt
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 28, 2025
Texas Tech trailed by as many as 16 points and was down 13 with four and a half minutes to play. It appeared as though John Calipari would storm back into an Elite Eight for the first time in six years, after an ugly divorce with Kentucky and a move 700 miles west to Fayetteville. It appeared the SEC would guarantee itself a Final Four participant with a matchup of two of its record 14 NCAA Tournament entrants at the Chase Center on Saturday.
Instead, Arkansas put the ball in the hands of sophomore D.J. Wagner for three of the biggest shots of the game, despite getting 30 points from Davis and 20 from Karter Knox on the night. Wagner missed a potential game-winner at the end of regulation, tied it before Williams' heroics in overtime and then came up short on a jumper as time expired.
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Arkansas and Texas Tech effectively traded scores or stops for the first two and a half minutes of overtime. Davis was then swatted on a drive to the rim and JT Toppin followed with a score in the paint to nudge Texas Tech ahead 81-78 with 1:41 left.
No one could catch their breath, still. Brazile stepped into a top-of-key 3-pointer out of a timeout to tie it at 81-81. Toppin answered with a hook in the lane. Wagner made an impossible shot in the lane. Williams then backed down toward the rim and effectively willed a shot to go down. When Wagner's jumper at the horn came up short, it was Texas Tech — not Arkansas — ending an Elite Eight absence a half a dozen years long and doing so with the second-biggest comeback ever in a Sweet 16 game. — Brian Hamilton
Click here to read the full story of Texas Tech's comeback.
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