John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks put an end to St. John’s dream season while Michigan advanced past Texas A&M with a double-digit comeback.
OK, now it’s starting to feel a bit more like March. Saturday’s slate may have opened and closed with a couple games that lacked much second-half intrigue, but there was plenty of action packed into the middle of the schedule.
The day opened with probably the least interesting game of the day. Purdue snuffed out McNeese’s fire and led for almost the entirety of its 76-62 win, which was made to look a lot closer by the Cowboys’ 15-3 run over the final few minutes. Trey Kaufmann-Renn led the Boilermakers with 22 and 15 to book Purdue’s spot in the Sweet 16. Soon after, the Dance’s other top Cinderella candidate — Drake — fell to 3-seed Texas Tech as D’Maurian Williams and JT Toppin combined for 53 of the Red Raiders’ 77 points.
In the final game of the day, 2-seed Tennessee pulled away from 7-seed UCLA in the second half and never let it get too juicy. It was back and forth for most of the early going, but a 9-0 run keyed by 3-pointers from Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey put the Vols up for good.
But there was also plenty of excitement throughout Saturday’s lineup. There was one major upset, a few big comebacks — some successful, some not — and two potential game-tying shots in the final seconds. Let’s get into it.
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Defense, Billy Richmond help Calipari reach first Sweet 16 since 2019
In mid-January, Arkansas’ season appeared on the brink. Injuries and inconsistency plagued Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, both marquee portal additions. Prized freshman Boogie Fland suffered what was initially considered a season-ending thumb injury. And a 0-5 start to conference play landed as the latest black eye on John Calipair’s resume.
Yet, the Hogs never wilted, stacking enough wins to enter the dance as a 10 seed. Still, a 9-6 close to the season wasn’t exactly what Arkansas fans expected when their program hired the Hall of Fame coach. But Calipari has shown new signs of life two games into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and it has started with defense. The Razorbacks have held both opponents under 1.1 points per possession, walling off the paint and ensuring every shot at the rim is contested. Most recently, they suffocated 2 seed St. John’s in the paint, containing the Red Storm to just 8-for-25 on layups.
Aidoo and Trevon Brazile continued their strong defensive play that stamped every Hogs’ win down the SEC stretch. But equally impressive was freshman wing Karter Knox, who finished with a career-high four blocks.
Karter Knox with a DOUBLE BLOCK for Arkansaspic.twitter.com/0ZCYLps9au
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 22, 2025
His classmate Billy Richmond led Arkansas on the other end, getting into the lane and converting on his shot around the basket — a rarity when playing St. John’s. He also hit a mid-range dagger after the Johnnies cut a 13-point Razorback lead to two late in the second half. Richmond finished with a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds. —Riley Davis
May, Goldin recapture some March magic in Michigan’s comeback
In addition to Arkansas’ Johnell Davis, two more members of the 2023 Florida Atlantic Final Four run are back in the tournament’s second weekend. Michigan head coach Dusty May and leading scorer Vladislav Goldin are also moving on after the Wolverines’ 91-79 comeback win over 4-seed Texas A&M. (Another star from that FAU team, Florida’s Alijah Martin, could join them on Sunday.)
Goldin had 23 points and a team-high 12 rebounds in the win, but it was Roddy Gayle who led the Wolverines with 26 off the bench. After trailing by 10 with just over 13 minutes to play, Michigan brought that down to four by the under-12 timeout — thanks to Danny Wolf and L.J. Cason — and that’s where it sat at the under-8 after Wade Taylor IV’s crowd-quieting three.
But there was no quieting the Wolverines’ comeback.
By the time the next media timeout came, Michigan had reeled off a 15-2 run to flip a four-point deficit into a nine-point lead. Gayle kicked off the run with a 3-ball, Goldin dumped in eight points, Tre Donaldson hit a layup to send it to commercial. A few minutes later, Donaldson hit another impossible shot in the paint to stave off Texas A&M’s last-ditch effort to pull back the win:
MY GOODNESS, TRE DONALDSON! pic.twitter.com/YiltGyji3e
— Heat Check CBB (@HeatCheckCBB) March 22, 2025
Now that they’ve booked their ticket back to the Sweet 16, May and Goldin and the rest of the Wolverines will look to recapture some of that FAU magic. They’ll need it if they’re going to knock off the tournament’s top overall seed, Auburn. The Tigers had their own struggle on Saturday, as 9-seed Creighton refused to go away until the final minutes of a 82-70 affair. Freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford led Auburn with 23 points in the win. —Andy Dieckhoff
Gonzaga, Wisconsin come up just short in the late window
Following the Wolverines’ big comeback, it looked like two more might be unfolding late Saturday night. However, both 1-seed Houston and 6-seed BYU were able to beat back the respective late surges from 8-seed Gonzaga and 3-seed Wisconsin — in surprisingly similar circumstances.
Over in Denver, BYU held its biggest lead of the night with 10:25 to play, up 14 points with a 70-56 lead. A bit later in Wichita, Houston held its biggest lead of the night with 11 minutes remaining, up 14 points with a 60-46 lead. Both teams would see those advantages nearly evaporate — and while neither Gonzaga nor Wisconsin ever led on Saturday, each had the ball in the final seconds with a chance to tie the game.
For the Badgers, there was no doubt that the ball was going to John Tonje, whose herculean 37-point performance is what got Wisconsin into that position. Tonje was unable to get a good look over BYU’s Mawot Mag, though, and his potential game-tying shot fell short.
Per our Lukas Harkins, Tonje’s scoring performance in the loss put him in a relatively small group that includes some relatively big names:
In the 32 NCAA Tournaments between 1991 and 2023, only eight times had a player scored 37+ points in a losing effort.
— Lukas Harkins (@hardwiredsports) March 23, 2025
Between Zach Edey and Dalton Knecht last season, and John Tonje tonight, it has happened three times in the last two tournaments. https://t.co/b5ZDwaRhBE
For the Bulldogs, there were a few options, but it was ultimately Khalif Battle who took the final shot — or at least tried. After briefly losing control of the ball, Battle became trapped in the corner with three Houston defenders and Ryan Nembhard needing three points with only five seconds to play. His attempt was stuffed summarily by Houston’s Ja’Vier Francis, effectively ending the game. It also ended the Zags’ streak of nine consecutive Sweet 16 appearances. —Andy Dieckhoff