LOS ANGELES — The Alabama men's basketball team has a simple mantra for this NCAA tournament: next.
As in the next play, next game, next everything.
What's next for the Crimson Tide now is the second Elite Eight appearance in program history.
Grant Nelson converted a go-ahead three-point play with 38 seconds remaining, and Alabama became the first team in this year's tourney to oust a No. 1 seed, with the fourth-seeded Tide beating North Carolina 89-87 in a West Region semifinal Thursday night.
"These guys are bringing their competitive side out at the right time," said Nate Oats, who is in his fifth season as Alabama's coach. "You want to be peaking in March, and we're peaking in March."
Nelson finished with a season-high 24 points, including 19 in the second half, and he blocked RJ Davis' attempt at a tying layup after giving Alabama the lead late. He had 12 rebounds and five blocks.
"I thought I had an advantage on Nelson," Davis said, "and he was able to swat it."
Rylan Griffen added 19 points, tying his career high with five 3-pointers along the way, and Aaron Estrada also scored 19 for the Tide (24-11), who will face sixth-seeded Clemson on Saturday for a berth at next week's Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. The Tigers defeated second-seeded Arizona in the evening's first semifinal at Crypto.com Arena.
"We've been working for this all season, but this isn't our end goal," said Nelson, a 6-foot-11 senior who played at North Dakota State his first three years.
Mark Sears, Alabama's leading scorer this season, finished with 18 points after making just two field goals in the second half as Nelson dominated.
"I was very proud of him," Sears said. "He was struggling the first two games. To see him carry us, it was very amazing."
After Nelson blocked a shot by Davis with 25 seconds left, Davis furiously dribbled around before missing a layup and the Tar Heels got called for a shot-clock violation with eight seconds left. They were forced to foul, sending Nelson to the line. He calmly made both free throws for an 89-85 lead.
Armando Bacot scored inside with a second left, leaving North Carolina trailing 89-87. The Tar Heels fouled Nelson again with 0.9 second left. He missed both free throws and time expired on the Tar Heels, who own six NCAA titles and reached the 2022 final before missing the tournament altogether last season.
"I'm definitely hurt. I think we all are a little shocked," Bacot said. "Felt like we hand a chance to win the national championship this year."
Bacot finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds in his final game for North Carolina (29-8). Cormac Ryan's 17 points included five 3-pointers, and Davis had 16 points while shooting 4-for-20 from the floor and missing all nine of his 3-point attempts.
"I just wasn't good enough, missed a lot of easy shots that I normally make," Davis said, his voice trailing off as he lowered his head and rubbed his eyes.
At times, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis looked like he was still playing for his alma mater, where he starred from 1988 to 1992 under Dean Smith, who coached the Tar Heels to two NCAA titles and more than 800 victories from 1961 to 1997. Davis dashed up and down the sideline in his white sneakers, gesturing and yelling and taking his glasses off and putting them back on as he lived each play through his team.
"We had good looks that we can make that we just missed," Davis said. "Sometimes your shots just don't go in, and stinks when it doesn't. Just came at a really wrong time."
The Tar Heels, who won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and were runners-up in the league tournament, had opened Thursday's game on a 19-9 run for their largest lead of a half in which there were eight ties and seven lead changes. Alabama trailed 54-46 at the break after North Carolina closed with a 20-7 spurt.
Nelson and Sam Walters combined to score nine of Alabama's first 13 points of the second half to take a 59-57 lead. The Tar Heels struggled early when big man Bacot picked up his third foul five minutes in, but they tied it at 59 on a basket by Harrison Ingram.
Estrada, Griffen and Nelson combined to score 21 of Alabama's next 23 points that produced an 82-77 lead. Nelson ran off seven in a row, capped by a 3-pointer. Carolina scored eight in a row, including six straight by Davis, to take its last lead, 85-82.
Oats' first season with the Tide ended without an NCAA appearance for his team — or anyone, for that matter, as the 2020 event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Alabama made the Sweet 16 in 2021, lost in the opening round in 2022, then returned to the Sweet 16 last year as the tourney's overall No. 1 seed.
The Tide made their only other Elite Eight appearance in 2004 under coach Mark Gottfried, losing their regional semifinal to eventual national champ Connecticut. Alabama, best known for its football program, has never made the Final Four.
Alabama is one of two Southeastern Conference teams to make the Sweet 16 this year, with Tennessee the other — the Volunteers are seeded No. 2 in the Midwest Region and will faced third-seeded Creighton on Friday in Detroit — as the league tries to regain some ground after tying the Big Ten with a tourney-best eight berths but losing five first-round games.
AP photo by Ryan Sun / Clemson guard Chase Hunter (1) and forward Daniel Nauseef celebrate after the West Region's sixth-seeded Tigers beat second-seeded Arizona in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.Clemson 77, Arizona 72
When Clemson has encountered rough stretches this season, Brad Brownell has told his team: "We're built for this, we can handle this."
In their biggest game of the season, the Tigers proved their coach correct.
Chase Hunter scored 18 points, and Clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in program history, with the ACC's Tigers (24-11) ousting Arizona (27-19) in what turned out to be its final appearance as a Pac-12 program.
Clemson was up 39-31 at halftime and led most of the game, but the Tigers didn't put it away until Hunter converted a three-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining.
"We have confidence in our team," said Brownell, who's in the Elite Eight for the first time in a 22-year coaching career that includes one previous Sweet 16 appearance in 14 seasons with the Tigers. "I've got an older team. These guys have seen a lot, done a lot and experienced success. And so just really happy that they were able to withstand it, and we executed some things really well down the stretch."
PJ Hall added 17 points for Clemson, which missed the NCAA tourney the past two seasons and until Thursday had most recently reached a regional final in 1980, when there were 48 teams in the entire bracket.
Jaden Bradley scored 18 points, Oumar Ballo added 15 and Caleb Love finished with 13 for the Wildcats, who had a horrific shooting night and were 5-for-28 (17.9%) from 3-point range. Bradley made half of his four attempts behind the arc, but no other Arizona player made more than one 3. Love missed all nine of his attempts beyond the arc.
"I feel like some of them were good looks and shots we've made all season, and today they just didn't go in," said coach Tommy Lloyd, who was ousted in the Sweet 16 for the second time in his three seasons at Arizona, which will join the Big 12 next season. "To have that sort of shooting night and get yourself in the game where you have a position to win ... I think it's incredible, and it just shows the resiliency and toughness of these guys."
The Tigers have held all three of their NCAA opponents to worse than 40% shooting, and it was the second time they held a team under 20% from the perimeter; New Mexico went 3-for-23 in the first round.
After Bradley's 3 got Arizona within 72-70, Hunter put it out of reach when he drove for a layup while being fouled by Bradley. Hunter's free throw made it a five-point game.
"I just wanted to make a play," Hunter said. "At the end of the day, I wanted to get to the basket, wanted to get an and-one, wanted to make something happen, and that's what I did."
The Wildcats had the edge in the paint and in transition, with all of their two-point field goals coming on layups or dunks, but the Tigers were 29-of-59 from the field (49.2%).
Ian Schieffelin added 14 points for Clemson, and Hunter's brother, Dillon, made a layup for the final margin, his only basket of the game.
It was tied at 56 midway through the second half before Clemson responded with a 9-2 run, including a layup by Hall and a 3 by Schieffelin.
"We harp on toughness. In the beginning we weren't so tough, but I feel at the end we did a great job battling and trying to get stops," Bradley said. "But Clemson did a great job with their plays and their shot making, and we couldn't really get over the hump."
AP photo by Michael Dwyer / San Diego State guard Darrion Trammell, left, tries to stop Connecticut's Tristen Newton during an NCAA tournament East Region semifinal Thursday night in Boston.EAST REGION
UConn 82, San Diego State 52
BOSTON — The rematch turned into another mismatch in favor of the University of Connecticut.
Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the reigning national champions, and the Huskies — seeded No. 1 overall in this year's tournament — advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, beating fifth-seeded San Diego State (26-11) in a Sweet 16 rematch of last year's title game.
Cam Spencer scored 18 points, and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for UConn (34-3), which will play third-seeded Illinois on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four. The Fighting Illini beat second-seeded Iowa State in the night's second East Regional semifinal.
A year after cruising to their fifth national championship — and winning their six NCAA tourney games by an average of almost 20 points — the Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth straight double-digit victory in March Madness matchups.
They have won by 39, 17 and 30 points in this year's tournament.
"We suck at winning close games," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "You've got to go with the alternative."
Backed by a virtual home crowd at TD Garden — the home of the NBA's Boston Celtics is about 90 miles from the UConn's campus in Storrs — the Huskies made it a double-digit lead early in the second half, 20 with about seven minutes left and 30 in the final minutes after the teams sent in their benches. Hurley's son Andrew even got into the game with 1:44 left, drawing a celebratory cheer.
"It means a lot just to be able to travel with our fans. ... I feel like it gives us kind of a boost, a little bit of an advantage," Castle said. "We tried to make it like Storrs North. They showed out for us, and it was definitely electric in there tonight."
Seven-footer Donovan Clingan, who played just 23 minutes after getting into foul trouble, had eight points and eight rebounds for UConn, which matched a school record for victories and gave the much-snubbed Big East a 7-0 record in the tournament after the conference got just three berths.
The Huskies trailed for just 28 seconds in the game and posted the largest margin of victory in the Sweet 16 since Kansas beat Purdue 98-66 in 2017.
"We have killer instincts. We play every possession with great desperation," Hurley said. "Obviously we're very comfortable in tournament play."
Jaedon LeDee scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half and Micah Parrish scored 10 for San Diego State, which followed up the only Final Four appearance in school history with another Sweet 16 run. But for the second straight year, the Aztecs ran into UConn, which won last season's NCAA final 76-59.
"It's not the ending we're going to remember; it's the journey. Because the journey is everything," coach Brian Dutcher said. "We've been on an incredible journey together.
"They're 7-2 on college basketball's biggest stage over the last two years. It's something to take great pride in. If losing a basketball game is the worst thing that's going to happen in your life, you're going to have a fantastic life."
UConn is the first reigning champion to reach the Elite Eight since Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006-07. The Gators remain the most recent repeat champs.
"It's kind of been against the odds in terms of the season we're having, following up the national championship with an even better season," Hurley said. "This team has defied what past champions have done and taken this program to a completely different level."
AP photo by Michael Dwyer / Illinois forward Dain Dainja hangs on the rim after a dunk against Iowa State during an NCAA tournament East Region semifinal Thursday night in Boston.Illinois 72, Iowa State 69
Offense carried Illinois through the first two rounds of this NCAA tournament.
Defense helped move the Fighting Illini within a victory of the Final Four.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 29 points, and Illinois advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2005, when the program also reached the Final Four for the fifth time and made its lone appearance in the NCAA championship game.
Shannon had 20 points in the first half for the Big Ten's Illini (29-8), who never trailed. He also had a steal and breakaway dunk in the closing seconds and later hit two free throws to help them finally put away the Big 12's Cyclones (29-8).
"When you face the No. 1 defense, you know they're not No. 1 because they're soft or they lack effort," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I also knew they'd come out and punch or counterpunch, and they did that."
The Illini shot only 42% from the field, but they held Iowa State to 39% shooting and forced nine turnovers.
Illinois made a regional final for the fourth time in the past 40 years.
Shannon was limited to 29 minutes because of foul trouble but remained the the Illini's workhorse. He hasn't spoken to the media since he was charged in December with rape or an alternative count of sexual battery for an incident that occurred in Kansas in September.
The charge led to him being suspended for six games before a federal judge reversed the ban, ruling that Shannon's civil rights had been violated. Shannon's attorneys have said he is innocent of the charges.
Underwood said Shannon has been a steadying presence all season.
"People who know Terrence know what a great competitor he is," Underwood said. "He was dialed in mentally."
Curtis Jones scored 26 points and Keshon Gilbert had 14 for Iowa State, which came into the tournament having blown out Houston for the Big 12 tourney title. The Cougars are the No. 1 seed in the South Region and face fourth-seeded Duke in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Dallas.
The Illini have made four consecutive NCAA tourney appearances under their seventh-year coach, but Underwood had never taken them past the first weekend until this year. Coleman Hawkins added 12 points and was the only Illinois player besides Shannon in double figures.
The Illini's lead was down to 68-64 with less than a minute to play before a turnover by Milan Momcilovic found its way to Shannon, who drove in a for a two-handed dunk with 24 seconds left.
Jones was fouled on a 3-point attempt and dropped in all three free throws to make it 70-67, but Shannon calmly made two foul shots with six seconds left.
"We weren't able to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves," said Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team trailed 36-26 at halftime but found its shooting touch after the break.
Illinois entered the night with the top offensive efficiency rating in the tournament, but its defense stood out at the start.
The Illini's game plan was to chase the Cyclones off the 3-point line and make them try contested shots inside the arc. It worked for most of the first half as Iowa State's shooting percentage fell under 20% near the midway point. The Cyclones also had a scoring drought that lasted more than five minutes.
"I think the game plan worked," Hawkins said, "forcing those tough 2s, making them make those tough shots."