NCAA TOURNAMENT
SWEET 16 GLANCE
Been a long time: Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a three-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining, and Clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, beating Arizona 77-72 in a West Region semifinal Thursday night in Los Angeles. PJ Hall, right, added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers. Clemson last reached the final eight in 1980, when there were 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Jaden Bradley scored 18 points for second-seeded Arizona, which had a bad shooting night, going 5 of 28 from 3-point range.
Easy does it: Top-seeded and defending champion UConn advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, beating San Diego State 8 2 -5 2 in a rematch of last year’s title game. Stephon Castle had 1 6 points and
1 1 rebounds. Tristen Newton had
1 7 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies in Boston. UConn will face No. 2 seed Iowa State or
No. 3 Illinois in the East Region final.
Deep in the heart: Marquette coach Shaka Smart is back in Texas again for the NCAA Tournament.
The former Longhorns coach is set to face North Carolina State in the Sweet 16 of the South Regional on Friday night in Dallas. Smart’s first tournament game with the Golden Eagles was two years ago in Fort Worth. Both cities are about 200 miles from the Texas campus in Austin. Marquette was blown out by North Carolina in the first round in 2022. Smart, right, is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since taking VCU from the First Four to the Final Four 13 years ago. The winner of Friday’s game will face either Houston or Duke. For more, turn to