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March Madness rolls into the Sweet 16 as the men’s NCAA tournament resumes Thursday night, and we’re here to track all the on- and off-court action.
Alabama and BYU opened the round with a high-scoring affair in Newark. Now the 1-seed Duke Blue Devils will try to stave off the 4-seed Arizona Wildcats while John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks — the only double-digit seed (No. 10) to reach the second weekend — will aim to upset the 3-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Jump to: Results and analysis
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Thursday results, analysis
Final: Florida defeated Maryland 87-71
How Florida won: Florida let Maryland stick around for a half but quickly showed its superiority after that in what turned into a drama-free 16-point win in San Francisco. Will Richard led the Gators with 15 points, but they had five players in double figures, showcasing the depth that helped them earn a No. 1 seed. The lopsided win came despite iffy ball security, though, as Florida turned the ball over 17 times. The Gators outscored Maryland in the paint (38-30), got 29 points from their bench and shot the ball well from deep (11-of-28) in a comprehensive win to advance to the Elite Eight. — Kyle Bonagura
Florida’s key to Elite Eight: Alex Condon staying on the floor. During a February matchup against Mississippi State, Condon suffered a sprained right ankle. The injury affected the 6-foot-11 big man throughout the season and he tweaked the same injury in the first half of Thursday’s win over Maryland. Florida was noticeably less efficient and effective while Condon remained on the sideline earlier in the game, and when he returned, the Gators widened the gap against the Terrapins. Per EvanMiya.com, Condon is the 15th-most impactful player in college basketball — he is ranked ahead of stars like Hunter Dickinson and Ryan Kalkbrenner in the site’s BPR ratings. As Thursday showed, the Gators will need Condon healthy and available on Saturday to reach their peak. — Myron Medcalf
Final: Alabama defeated BYU 113-88
How Alabama won: The Crimson Tide put on an unprecedented shooting display, setting the NCAA tournament record for made 3s — with more than seven minutes still on the clock. They finished with 25 made 3-pointers, beating the record of 21 set by Loyola Marymount in 1990. Mark Sears played like the first-team All-American that he is, making 10 3s and finishing with 34 points and eight assists to become the first player in NCAA tournament history to have eight 3s and eight assists in a game.
BYU, which entered the contest ranked in the top 10 nationally in 3-pointers per game, simply couldn’t keep up. The Cougars went just 1-for-13 from 3 in the first half and couldn’t string together enough stops defensively in the second half to get closer than seven points.
Alabama will have to hope it saved enough made 3s for Saturday, when the Tide will look to get to their second consecutive Final Four. — Jeff Borzello
Alabama’s key to the Elite Eight: Guards must continue to take pressure off Mark Sears. Midway through the season, Nate Oats benched Sears for the second half of an SEC game. The conversation around that moment centered on the head coach’s relationship with his star player, but there was another factor at play: Sears was frustrated because teams were relentless as they tried to stop him. That defensive approach against Alabama doesn’t work when both Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway make an impact, though, which is exactly what happened in Thursday’s historic blowout of BYU. While Sears was unstoppable, both Holloway (23 points) and Youngblood (19 points) made it impossible for BYU to focus solely on the AP All-American. If Sears continues to get help from his backcourt mates, Alabama might not lose another game. — Myron Medcalf
