INDIANAPOLIS — The University of Houston men’s basketball team spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought the Cougars might need against Purdue in the NCAA Division I tournament’s Sweet 16.
Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection Friday night.
He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who sent a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with nine-tenths of a second on the game clock, giving the Midwest Region’s top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday’s Elite Eight.
“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
The Cougars (33-4) made just one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final five seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.
Uzan took over from there for the Big 12 champions.
“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer), and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders), and he just made a great play to hit me back.”
Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a No. 1 seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation’s longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s game with the Volunteers (30-7), who advanced with a 78-65 victory against sixth-seeded Kentucky as Southeastern Conference rivals faced off in Friday’s first regional semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year’s Elite Eight and did it in the same venue where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.
They haven’t lost this season since Feb. 1, a run that allowed them wrap up their league’s regular-season championship and tournament title, and they lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
Against the Big Ten’s fourth-seeded Boilermakers (24-12), Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
The Cougars still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith’s shot was well off the mark.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for Purdue, which reached the title game last season. Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could, and we just had a little miscommunication at the end, and they converted. Props to them.”
Coach Matt Painter’s Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves worthy competitors by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called a timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper, and Tugler’s tip-in shot rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.
Sharp’s scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year’s tourney.
“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That’s why you work on that stuff day after day.”
The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
SOUTH REGION
Auburn 78, Michigan 65
ATLANTA — With their team’s season on the brink, Auburn guards Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford suddenly became unstoppable.
Now it’s on to the Elite Eight for the NCAA tourney’s overall No. 1 seed.
Jones and Pettiford scored 20 points apiece to lead a second-half barrage that rallied the SEC’s regular-season champs to a double-digit victory over Big Ten tournament champ Michigan in the Sweet 16 at State Farm Arena.
The Tigers (31-5) wiped out a nine-point deficit, outscoring fifth-seeded Michigan 39-17 over the final 12 1/2 minutes to advance to the Elite Eight for only the third time in program history. They also became the fourth SEC team to reach a regional final this year, with the SEC joining the Atlantic Coast Conference (2016) and Big East (2009) as the only leagues to do that in a single NCAA men’s tourney.
“Just the kids’ will to win,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Denver got heated up. Tahaad got heated up. We went to them, and they delivered.”
Auburn will face another Big Ten opponent, second-seeded Michigan State, in Sunday’s South Region final with a trip to next weekend’s Final Four in San Antonio on the line.
Johni Broome had a double-double for the Tigers with 22 points and 16 rebounds, but it was Pettiford, a freshman, and Jones, a senior, who took control when Auburn needed them most.
The Wolverines (27-10) built their biggest lead, 49-38, and seemed headed for their most improbable performance yet in a remarkable comeback season under first-year coach Dusty May.
Pettiford sparked the comeback with a step-back jumper from beyond the 3-point stripe, Jones knocked down two straight from long range before scoring on a drive to the hoop, and Pettiford finished off Michigan with two stunning shots: a 3 after briefly losing the ball but getting it back, followed by a three-point play when he knocked down a shot before landing flat on his back after being fouled.
“I saw one go in, and I just saw the basket get bigger and bigger,” Jones said. “So I just kept shooting.”
Danny Wolf led Michigan with 20 points, but no one else on the team managed more than 10.
Still, the Wolverines had plenty of reasons to be proud after bouncing back from an 8-24 debacle a year ago that set a program record for losses in a season and led to the firing of former Fab Five star Juwan Howard as head coach.
“They left a legacy,” May said of this year’s group. “They established an identity. They should be very, very proud of their body of work.”
The first half was played at a frantic but sloppy pace, with both teams plagued by turnovers and struggling to hit shots.
One sequence epitomized the opening 20 minutes. Tre Donaldson threw the ball away with a lazy pass, but Auburn gave it right back when Chad Baker-Mazara’s unnecessary behind-the-back effort was picked off by Roddy Gayle Jr. The Wolverines took off the other way, only to have Donaldson turn it over again with an errant lob that sailed way out of bounds.
In just nine seconds, the teams had combined for three turnovers.
Auburn led 30-29 at halftime despite hitting just 12 of 37 shots (32.4%) from the field, including a 3-of-16 showing from beyond the 3-point arc, and committing 10 turnovers. The Tigers gave themselves plenty of second and third chances, and even a fourth on one possession. They finished with 48-33 edge in rebounds, including 19 at the offensive end.
Broome and the rest of Auburn’s frontcourt held up just fine against Michigan’s two 7-footers, Wolf and Vladislav Goldin.
“We took the game personal,” Broome said. “That’s a great front line, but we wanted to challenge ourselves to make it tough on them.”
It felt a bit like an Auburn home game with the Tigers playing only 110 miles from their campus just across the state line in eastern Alabama. The crowd, largely clad in orange and blue, broke into a “Let’s go Auburn!” chant shortly after tipoff at the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. They really erupted when the Tigers rallied in the second half.
“It obviously helped to elevate their play,” Pearl said. “If you’re the overall No. 1 seed, you should be able to play close enough to home so the fans can see it.”
It definitely felt like a road game to the Wolverines, who were cheered on by a much smaller contingent.
“Obviously in the second half, they hit a few shots and the crowd erupted,” Wolf said. “That was a huge momentum swing.”
Pearl did not like one line in particular on the stat sheet: 15 turnovers.
“If Michigan can turn us over 15 times, Michigan State could turn us over 25 times,” the coach said. “That’s a concern.”
Michigan State 73, Ole Miss 70
Jase Richardson’s hot shooting helped Michigan State overcome a poor start and move into another Elite Eight, though the Spartans need at least one more win for a real celebration.
“We don’t put up any banners for Elite Eights,” coach Tom Izzo said. “We put up banners for Final Fours and national championships.”
Richardson kept the Spartans in the hunt for one with 24 points as second-seeded Michigan State surged past sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the second half for the victory in Friday’s first South Region final at State Farm Arena.
Ole Miss (24-12) was denied in its bid for its first Elite Eight appearance despite leading by 10 points in the first half and by nine in the second half.
Michigan State (30-6) rallied to keep alive Izzo’s bid for his ninth Final Four and second national championship.
Izzo, in his 16th Sweet 16, earned his 59th NCAA tournament win, breaking a tie with retired Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim for fourth on the all-time list.
For most of Friday night’s game, however, the Spartans didn’t appear to be a threat for another trip to the national semifinals. The Rebels led 29-19 in the first half and 48-39 in the second. The Spartans’ first lead, at 51-50, came with less than eight minutes left on the clock.
“I think for us, in the first half we weren’t being as aggressive as we should have been,” Richardson said. “The second half, it opened up for us.”
Richardson, the son of former Michigan State and NBA standout Jason Richardson, shot 6-for-8 overall and 4-for-6 on 3-pointers.
“I just felt like my teammates were putting me in position to be successful today,” Richardson said.
A drive and short jumper by Jaden Akins gave Michigan State a 65-63 lead. After two misses by Rebels guard Dre Davis, Izzo called a timeout with 57 seconds remaining and then pumped his fist as he welcomed his players back to the bench.
After the timeout, Carson Cooper’s layup stretched the lead to 67-63, the Spartans’ biggest advantage of the game to that point. A floater by Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla, who led the Rebels with 24 points, cut the lead to two.
Ole Miss coach Chris Beard was emotional in his postgame news conference.
“I’m just thankful,” Beard said. “What these guys did, they raised expectations, first for them and then for the program.”
Ole Miss, one of seven SEC teams to make it to the second week of this year’s NCAA tourney, was making only its second Sweet 16 appearance after losing to Arizona 66-56 and failing to advance to the 2001 Elite Eight.
Beard said the Rebels’ lack of Sweet 16 experience “had zero factor” in being outscored 42-37 in the second half.
Despite the Rebels taking big leads in each half, the finish fulfilled expectations for a tight game. There were 10 ties. The Spartans’ biggest lead was six points, at 73-67.
Beard’s bunch gained some respect from Izzo for attacking the glass. Izzo noted that Michigan State had been expected to have an advantage in rebounds. Instead, Ole Miss finished with a 33-29 advantage, including a 12-5 domination of the offensive rebounds.
“They were supposed to be a poor rebounding team,” Izzo said. “They kicked our butts.”
Jaemyn Brakefield led Ole Miss with seven rebounds.
Coen Carr scored 15 points for Michigan State, including a powerful left-handed jam for a 59-58 lead.
Carr, returning to his native Peach State — he’s from Stockbridge, an Atlanta suburb — made his first career start and won the opening tipoff. The 6-6 sophomore started ahead of 7-foot center Szymon Zapala, providing the Spartans more athleticism on the wing to match up with the Rebels.