The final night of the Sweet 16 promised top-tier basketball, and the first set of games more than delivered.
Duke. UConn. Michigan. Michigan State. Alabama. St. John’s. Iowa State. Tennessee. Only one team on Friday night’s NCAA Tournament marquee had a seed higher than five, and it was the sixth-seeded Tennessee Volunteers.
With the final four spots in the Elite Eight up for grabs, and as many as 23 players from The Athletic’s top 100 prospects board suiting up, the stars showed up to start things off. Top-seeded Duke rallied from down double digits to outlast fifth-seeded St. John’s, while No. 1 seed Michigan pulled away from fourth-seeded Alabama in a back-and-forth affair that the Crimson Tide led at halftime.
Here’s a look at Friday night’s action in Chicago and Washington:
No. 1 Duke 80, No. 5 St. John’s 75
Duke-St. John’s delivered in the first of two Sweet 16 games at the loaded East Regional in Washington, and the Blue Devils can thank their stars they are moving on to the Elite Eight for a third straight season under coach Jon Scheyer.
Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans were the best two players on the court down the stretch, and top-seeded Duke rallied from 10 points down to eliminate St. John’s.
The Big East champions gave the ACC champions all they could handle. The Johnnies led for much of the second half before Boozer and Evans (47 points combined) took over late with a major assist from Caleb Foster, who returned from a foot injury to score 11 points.
For 73-year-old St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, the loss was just the second of his career in 14 Sweet 16 games.
Duke will face either Michigan State or UConn on Sunday for a second straight trip to the Final Four.
No. 1 Michigan 90, No. 4 Alabama 77
It was shaping up to be a night of dueling stars in the Sweet 16, with Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg and Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr. going shot for shot, each over the 20-point mark early in the second half.
But it was the supporting cast that helped the Wolverines pull away for a victory over Alabama. Michigan, the top seed in the Midwest Regional, advanced to its first Elite Eight since 2021 in Year Two under head coach Dusty May and set a single-season program record with 34 wins in the process.
Lendeborg, the Big Ten Player of the Year, led the way with 23 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and 4-of-5 shooting on 3-pointers. But he got a boost from guards Trey McKenney (17 points, 3 of 5 on 3s), Elliot Cadeau (17 points, 3 of 8 on 3s) and Roddy Gayle Jr. (16 points, 3 of 4 on 3s). Michigan made 13 of 27 3-pointers compared to just 14 of 47 for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama led by two at the break, but during one critical stretch early in the second half, that trio of Wolverines hit three straight buckets — triples by Gayle and Cadeau sandwiched around a McKenney layup — for an 8-0 run that put Michigan up by 13. Alabama never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
Philon was stellar with 35 points (10-of-21 shooting), seven rebounds and four assists, but it wasn’t enough. The Tide relied on him so much to initiate offense, and seemed to finally miss guard Aden Holloway, the team’s second-leading scorer who hasn’t been with the team during the Tournament after a felony arrest earlier this month. Philon had 16 of his team’s 28 points in the second half, as Michigan outscored the Tide 43-28.
The Wolverines will face the winner of No. 2 Iowa State and No. 6 Tennessee on Sunday.
No. 2 UConn vs. No. 3 Michigan State
9:45 p.m. ET, CBS
The Bracket of Death delivers a nightcap worth delaying bedtime.
A pair of blue bloods with 17 Final Fours and eight national titles between them — UConn has six (!) — meet for the right to face either the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils or Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm in the Elite Eight.
Sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. was a playmaking wizard for the Spartans last week, dishing 27 assists in tournament wins over North Dakota State (92-67) and Louisville (77-69). Junior forward Coen Carr and senior post Carson Cooper — the rare upperclassmen to actually stay at one school — took turns posting double-doubles. And the team was lights-out from 3-point range (21 of 46) in a relatively breezy weekend.
Now comes a date with a UConn team that has the size and experience to match up with anyone. Senior big man Tarris Reed Jr., who put up 41 points and 40 rebounds in wins over Furman and UCLA last week, is a 6-11 menace in the paint. Senior forward Alex Karaban — he of the 15-1 NCAA Tournament record — has a knack for meeting the moment. And 6-6 freshman guard Braylon Mullins (12.1 points per game) might be the best future pro of the bunch.
Both teams are ranked in the top 30 in KenPom’s offensive and defensive efficiency rankings. And both teams are led by head coaches with at least one championship banner hanging from the rafters — although Dan Hurley’s titles with UConn (2023 and 2024) are a bit more recent than Tom Izzo’s (2000) in East Lansing.
Needless to say, it doesn’t get much better than this. — Matt Schubert, staff editor
No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 6 Tennessee
10:10 p.m. ET, TBS/truTV
This Sweet 16 matchup should be a back-and-forth showdown between two teams with similar play structures.
If Tennessee hopes to make its fourth Elite Eight appearance in program history — and third straight — it will need to slow down Iowa State’s offense, which shoots 49 percent from the field. Milan Momcilovic leads the way in scoring at 17.2 points per game, and equally importantly, knocks down more than three 3-pointers per game. But the Cyclones don’t rely on any one scorer, with six players averaging at least 6.8 points per game.
Even more important is the status of Joshua Jefferson, who injured his ankle in the team’s blowout win over Tennessee State. The Cyclones didn’t need him in that 108-74 win, nor did they miss him much in a 19-point beatdown of Kentucky. Momcilovic stepped up and scored 20 points against the Wildcats, but he wasn’t the leading scorer, as Tamin Lipsey had 26. With Jefferson potentially back in the mix, even if he’s not playing at full strength, the Cyclones could be a problem for the Volunteers.
On the other side of the ball, Tennessee’s offense presents a challenge. Iowa State allows only 65.3 points a game, but the Volunteers far outpaced that number in their first two tournament games, scoring 78 and 79 points, respectively. Ja’Kobi Gillespie averages 18.4 points and 5.6 assists per game for the Volunteers, while freshman Nate Ament adds 16.9 points and 6.4 boards per game.
The Cyclones will need to continue their hot shooting, get Jefferson involved (if he plays), and limit the Volunteers’ second-chance opportunities.
Like Iowa State, Tennessee is only 6-4 in its last 10 contests. Yet, the Volunteers have found ways to win by riding the talents of Gillespie, a Maryland transfer who scored 50 points in the first two rounds, Ament and Bishop Boswell (6.4 ppg). And don’t count out the big-game coaching prowess of 71-year-old Rick Barnes.
Still, will all of that be enough against the red-hot Cyclones, who have proven to be versatile and tough on both ends of the floor? — Zach Powell, staff editor