Here’s a complete recap of Thursday’s NCAA Tournament action with a lookahead to today’s games. Plus, the updated bracket and top pics.
TOP STORY
Notae, Arkansas muscle top overall seed Gonzaga out of NCAAs
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For 40 frenzied minutes, JD Notae, Jaylin Williams and Arkansas played a maddening, muscular style on both ends that took Gonzaga out of its game — and right out of the NCAA Tournament far earlier than these Zags expected.
Notae scored 21 points despite missing 20 shots and the determined, fourth-seeded Razorbacks dashed the No. 1 overall seed Bulldogs’ title hopes with a 74-68 win in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.
“We’ve been disrespected the whole year, so it’s just another thing for us,” Williams said. “We saw everything they were saying, we felt like they were dancing before the game. That was disrespect for us. We just came into the game playing hard and we had a chip on our shoulder. Every game we do.”
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Click here for full stories from all 4 of Thursday’s Sweet 16 games:
SCOREBOARD & SCHEDULE
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
No. 4 Arkansas 74, No. 1 Gonzaga 68
No. 2 Duke 78, No. 3 Texas Tech 73
No. 2 Villanova 63, No. 11 Michigan 55
No. 5 Houston 72, No. 1 Arizona 60
TODAY’S GAMES
All times Eastern
No. 15 Saint Peter’s vs. No. 3 Purdue, 7:09 p.m.
No. 4 Providence vs. No. 1 Kansas, 7:29 p.m.
No. 8 UNC vs. No. 4 UCLA, 9:39 p.m.
No. 11 Iowa State vs. No. 10 Miami, 9:59 p.m.
UPDATED BRACKET
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
GAME OF THE DAY: SAINT PETER’S VS. PURDUE
This is where the Saint Peter’s storybook run should end, right? Powerful Purdue with 7-foot-4 Zach Edey is favored by 12 1/2 points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. But this is March, and anything can happen.
Count on fans all around the country, plus a packed arena in Philadelphia, to be rooting for an upset in this East semifinal. No doubt plenty will drive down the New Jersey Turnpike to pull for the Peacocks to become the first 15 seed to make the Elite Eight. As it is, they’re only the third team seeded so low to go so far.
Saint Peter’s plays great defense, but will have to get creative to keep third-seeded Purdue in check. The Big Ten Boilermakers have weapons all over the court in likely NBA lottery pick Jaden Ivey, 6-10 Trevion Williams, deadeye 3-point shooter Sasha Stefanovic and Edey.
For the little team from Jersey City, New Jersey, a lot of eyes will be on plucky point guard Doug Edert. Especially his mustache, which has attracted so much attention it now has its own Twitter account. More things to watch tonight:
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Photos: Top pics from Thursday’s NCAA Sweet 16 action