2023 NCAA Tournament

We’re back for the second day of the Elite Eight in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. After Florida Atlantic and UConn booked their tickets to the Final Four last night, four more teams will battle to join them for next Saturday’s games in Houston. We’ve got two interesting matchups today with the first matchup involving two teams that played each other in the first round of last year’s tournament. In that game, Creighton had a late comeback to beat San Diego State. In game two, Texas, arguably the hottest team in the country over the last four weeks takes on Miami who has one of the best offenses in the entire country this year. Let’s dive into what happened and recap who will be in Houston next week.

No. 5 San Diego State: 57 vs No. 6 Creighton: 56

Ugly game but quite a finish in the end. It seemed like Creighton controlled this game from the outset and seemingly set the pace throughout the first half. San Diego State never let get away though with their tough defense and physicality and it paid off in the end. Creighton took a five point lead in to half and didn’t even shoot all that well.

San Diego State came out of the half and immediately took the lead within three minutes, a total role reversal from what happened vs Alabama where they gave quickly gave up a lead. Creighton though would re-take the lead on the very next possession and not relinquish for the next 12 minutes. It was then that San Diego State never let Creighton lead again as the Blue Jays were only able to tie the game over the final six minutes of the games.

Creighton TIES THE GAME! #MarchMadness

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— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 26, 2023

San Diego State got a late stop up two with a chance to begin to ice the game away with free throws but the play above brought Creighton right back into it. That layup would set up a wild final sequence which saw a foul send San Diego State to the line with what initially looked like happened with zeroes on the clock.

San Diego State is headed to the Final Four for the first time EVER thanks to this foul! #MarchMadness

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— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 26, 2023

In what will no doubt be a controversial play talked about, was likely the right call. SDSU was able to nail the second free throw after the first shot rimmed out. Creighton then had one second to inbound and win the game but the pass was a bit wild and was knocked out of bounds with no time on the clock. Or so we thought, as replays showed there should be about .3 seconds remaining on the clock. But, because the clock had a slight delay starting on the first touch the officials determined that no time should be remaining on the clock therefore ending the game. Brian Dutcher now brings San Diego State to the school’s first ever Final Four where they will likely be favored over nine seed Florida Atlantic.

No. 5 Miami: 88 vs No. 5 Miami:81

This game was such a stark difference to the game before it both in terms of pace, shotmaking, and pure fan enjoyment. The pace was frenetic throughout the first half, especially the first five or so minutes with both teams flying up and down the court. The shotmaking was especially outstanding but after watching the game before it, it was hard not to notice the contrast. Texas like vs Xavier made Miami work hard for clean and contested looks. They ran Miami off the three point very well, which after Nigel Pack hitting 7/10 threes by himself vs Houston two night earlier seemed to be a focus. Only near the end of the half was Texas able to open up a little breathing room by taking an eight point lead into half.

Marcus Carr ??? #MarchMadness

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— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 26, 2023

Texas carried that momentum into the second half and looked like they were about rout their third opponent of this tournament so far. Miami though was not ready to go away quietly though and fought back to not only tie the game, but take the lead setting up a tie ball game as we entered the under-four timeout. From there Miami continued to be in complete control as they’d done throughout the run to get back into the game. Texas at one point had gone nearly 8 minutes without a field goal and the hot shooting from the first half had escaped them. Isaiah Wong and Wooga Poplar just made play after play for Miami while many of the Longhorns main men seemed to tighten up. It’s nothing new as the tournament and pressure can do that to teams and it seemingly caught up to Texas as the comeback became possible. They blew a 13 point lead as Miami gets revenge for the loss they suffered in last year’s Elite Eight to Kansas.

Jim Larranaga gets back to the Final Four 17 years to the day that he punched his ticket with George Mason as a cinderella. Miami is not quite a cinderella but they just took down the number one and two seed’s in their region. They set up a date with tournament favorite UConn on Saturday in which should be a fun track meet of a game. The 2023 NCAA Tournament has been a wild one but boy it has given us some really incredible games.

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