By Colin Lawless, Staff Writer
This year’s edition of March Madness continues to deliver exciting moments, and the Elite Eight did not discontinue that trend. This round saw a lot of new faces looking to prove something, including the likes of Florida Atlantic, Miami, and San Diego State, who have had their best tournament showing in years. These teams will be joined by UConn in the Final Four, but each of their performances from this round must be discussed.
Kansas State and Florida Atlantic started things off on Saturday morning, and both teams put on a show. FAU narrowly defeated Kansas State by a score of 79-76 to reach their first ever Final Four in just their second ever NCAA tournament, the first way back in 2002. This sent Kansas State and Markquis Nowell home after an exceptional tournament, but Nowell in particular should certainly keep his head up. After setting the tournament record for assists with 19 in the Sweet Sixteen, he returned on Saturday to add 30 points, 12 more assists, and five steals. With that said, FAU got it done on the day, and they can thank Alijah Martin, Johnell Davis, Bryan Greenlee, and Vladislav Goldin for making that happen.
UConn and Gonzaga closed out Saturday night, and the winner was essentially UConn from start to finish. After heading into halftime up nine points, the Huskies came out firing and dropped 43 points in the second half en route to a dominant 82-54 win. Jordan Hawkins’s 20 points led the Huskies as they head to their first Final Four since 2014. Drew Timme and his Bulldogs once again went home disappointed.
San Diego State also moved on to the Final Four after an extremely close game with Creighton. Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard fouled Darrion Trammell with 1.2 seconds left, leading to SDSU’s 57-56 win. Lamont Butler led the Aztecs with 18 points, and Trammell added 12 more en route to the Final Four. Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Baylor Scheierman had 12, 17, and 12 points respectively, but it unfortunately was not enough for their season to continue.
The fourth and final game on Sunday evening was between Miami and the highest seed remaining, no. 2 Texas. The Hurricanes battled through and won, and they will make their first ever Final Four appearance. They were certainly determined after losing in the Elite Eight just a year prior. Jordan Miller led the charge with a dominant 27 point performance as Miami erased a 13-point Longhorns lead in the second half to win 88-81. ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong added 14 points of his own, and Nijel Pack tallied a significant 15. Strong performances from Texas’s Timmy Allen, Marcus Carr, and Sir’Jabari Rice weren’t enough to propel the Longhorns forward. Miami will now face UConn, and FAU has SDSU, in what will certainly be a strong end to an already great tournament.
