NCAA Tournament Day 4: Purdue steamrolls Utah State, Houston wins OT thriller vs. Texas A&M

The field continues to dwindle as the NCAA Tournament marches on, with the winners of Sunday’s games securing their tickets to the Sweet 16. All four No. 1 seeds — UConn, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina — are through to the next round.

Purdue trounced Utah State, as Zach Edey recorded his third double-double this season in the first half and the Boilermakers scored the most points in an NCAA Tournament game in program history (106).

In a thrilling late game, Houston overcame Texas A&M after Aggies forward Andersson Garcia hit a stunning buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime.

In New York, UConn easily defeated Northwestern in the latest victory on the defending champions’ dominant roll.

Below is the full recap of Sunday’s action in the 2024 men’s NCAA Tournament.

Purdue wholly dominates Utah State

INDIANAPOLIS — As the Purdue bus followed its three motorcycle police escort down South Street en route to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, it happened upon the intersection with Maryland Street. One policeman dashed ahead and gave two buses waiting to make the turn the stiff arm, putting his hand up to signal that the buses wait to allow the Boilermakers to continue ahead.

The first bus belonged to the Utah State band, and the second to the basketball team. Never has there been a more apt metaphor. Purdue stopped the Aggies dead in their tracks, delivering a second-round humiliation that felt personal. Not, mind you, against Utah State. Despite Matt Painter’s end of pre-game speech to “shove it down their throat,'” the intended receivers were not the overmatched team from Logan, Utah; it was against everyone and anyone who has considered the Boilermakers not worthy, not real, not good enough.

This was an exorcism and a statement, Purdue gifting its happy fans with a 106-67 parting gift as it heads to Detroit for a Sweet 16 date with Gonzaga.

The Boilermakers knew they had to win their first-round game; they also knew that once they did, the goalposts would move again. Now it’s about proving that Purdue isn’t somehow fatally flawed, that its style of play can survive this three-weekend tournament. The answer came at about the eight-minute mark of the first half, Purdue turning an uncomfortable 25-24 game into a rout that ended with the scrubs in the game, swishing threes like the starters, Lance Jones’ pointing to the scoreboard as he exited the game, and Zach Edey chilling on the bench with a towel around his neck. The box score read like a near work of art, the Boilermakers dishing 29 assists on 37 made field goals, mixing up 11 3s with 44 points in the paint, following Painter’s constant harping to crash the boards to the tune of a 49-26 advantage. Four players finished in double figures, including, of course, Edey.

Much to the consternation of the Utah State fan who, from a safe zone of 30 feet and a table away, screamed over and over again that Edey is soft, the Big Maple finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and three assists. He sent Utah State’s two big men to the bench with two fouls early and treated the rest of the Aggies like Godzilla used to treat the airplanes in those old black-and-white movies.

This, of course, will not be enough either. The Boilers have reached the Sweet 16 six times under Painter and have but one Elite Eight to show for it (albeit an epic of regional final loss to Virginia in 2019). There’s only one final destination for Purdue and that’s Phoenix, the site of the Final Four.

But perhaps this will question at least some who think if they’ve got the engine to get there. — Dana O’Neil

Houston takes down Texas A&M in OT

MEMPHIS — Houston won 100-95 in overtime against Texas A&M in one of the wildest games of the NCAA Tournament thus far. Texas A&M came back from a 10-point deficit with 1:24 remaining in regulation, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Andersson Garcia to send the game to OT. Houston held on in the extra period despite four of five starters fouling out. Walk-on Ryan Elvin was put in the game during overtime and went to the foul line, where he made one of two to give the Cougars a four-point lead in the closing seconds. — Justin Williams

UConn rolls Northwestern, cruises to Sweet 16

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Connecticut men’s basketball team is now just four wins away from repeating as national champions.

The top-ranked Huskies cruised to a 75-58 victory over No. 9 Northwestern on Sunday night to advance to the Sweet 16, where they will play San Diego State. Dating back to last season, UConn has now won 29 of its last 30 games against nonconference opponents and all 29 wins came by double digits.

Last season, the Huskies won their six games in the NCAA Tournament by an average of 20.0 points, the fourth-largest average margin of victory since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Through two games this year, UConn is beating its opponents by an average of 28 points.

Talk about dominance.

UConn’s big three of Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan accounted for 45 points. Clingan finished with a 14-14 double-double to go along with an astonishing eight blocks, while Newton posted a game-high 20 points and 10 assists.

The Huskies were in such control of Sunday night’s game that there was zero doubt about its outcome … even though UConn shot 3-of-22 from beyond the arc (13.6 percent). It didn’t matter one bit, especially with the ease with which its players could score inside. Fifty-two of UConn’s 75 points came in the paint.

Connecticut is trying to become the first team since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back national championships. — Nicole Auerbach

Marquette holds off late Colorado comeback effort

INDIANAPOLIS — If this first game was any indication, then Sunday is going to be a heck of a day of basketball in the NCAA Tournament. No. 2 seed Marquette hangs on against No. 10 seed Colorado for a 81-77 victory to advance to its first Sweet 16 in 11 years. It also represents the first time Marquette coach Shaka Smart has been to the Sweet 16 in 13 years, since he led VCU to the Final Four.

Marquette led by nine points at the half, but the ensuing 20 minutes were back-and-forth. Colorado took its first lead at 55-54 on KJ Simpson’s 3-pointer, but a short jumper from Tyler Kolek in the lane gave Marquette the lead right back. Somehow, the Golden Eagles managed to hang on the rest of the way in what often was a one-possession game. David Joplin’s clutch free throws with 7.4 seconds remaining gave Marquette the breathing room it needed to escape with a win.

Colorado deserves a lot of credit for making this a game, particularly after trailing by double figures in the first half. It looked as though the Buffaloes were out of gas after already playing two NCAA Tournament games, including a First Four game on Tuesday. But Marquette executed better down the stretch. Kolek was phenomenal, finishing with 21 points and 11 assists. Leading scorer Kam Jones, who was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game, still finished with 18 points. — Jesse Temple

Duke easily dispatches James Madison

BROOKLYN — There was very little drama in the first half of our doubleheader, as No. 4 Duke easily dispatched No. 12 James Madison, 93-55, to advance to the Sweet 16. Freshman guard Jared McCain led all scorers with 30 points (including a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers), and three other starters finished in double figures. Kyle Filipowski, who only attempted one shot in the Blue Devils’ first-round win over Vermont, finished with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.

I’m not sure anyone saw this type of performance coming a week ago, as Duke finished the regular season with a disappointing loss to North Carolina at home before following that up with a one-and-done trip to the ACC Tournament, where the Blue Devils fell to red-hot N.C. State. But here we are. — Auerbach

Clemson outlasts Baylor after Bears’ late push

MEMPHIS — No. 6 Clemson didn’t make a field goal for the last six-and-a-half minutes of the game but held off a late comeback effort by No. 3 Baylor for the win, 72-64.

It was a great freshman season for Baylor’s Ja’Kobe Walter, who is projected as a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, but he will be haunted by two missed free throws that could have tied the game in the final minute. He finished the game with 20 points but was just 5-for-11 from the stripe, including multiple missed front ends of one-and-ones. Walter walked off the floor with his head in his jersey in what is expected to be his last game for the Bears. — Williams

Alabama avoids upset in win over Grand Canyon

SPOKANE, Wash. — With a fraction less than 45 seconds to go, Mark Sears fell to the Spokane Arena floor (again) and then got up (again).

Alabama’s leading scorer shared a smile with a game official. He began to make his way to the free-throw line and stopped to stretch a left calf muscle that was tightening up on him. He hit the first freebie, then stretched his calf once more. After making the second free throw, Sears did what an unruly, unkempt and borderline lawless second-round NCAA Tournament game demanded of both sides: He just kept going.

A 72-61 win ultimately propelled the No. 4 seed Crimson Tide into the West Region round of 16, and it ultimately proved to be a case of Alabama being born in the chaos and No. 12 seed Grand Canyon trying to adopt it for an afternoon. One team knew how much it would take to survive the maelstrom. The other team was the Lopes, who didn’t score for the final 4:05 and thus collapsed shy of the finish line.

The only question is whether there is enough ice and pain medication in the state of Alabama to get the Crimson Tide right before a Thursday night Sweet 16 game against top-seeded North Carolina.

“Character win, I think,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We had a chance to fold. A lot of things didn’t go our way. A lot of foul trouble. Our guys started to show a little frustration, and I thought we pulled it together and showed a lot of mental toughness.”

Grand Canyon actually had turned the action on its head after trailing by eight at halftime, with an 8-0 burst creating a 58-55 lead with six minutes to go. But Alabama answered with its own 7-0 run and didn’t trail after that. A Mouhamed Dioubate three-point play put the Crimson Tide ahead for good and a Dioubate drive capped the run and forced a Grand Canyon timeout with 4:48 left.

“I was just playing hard and I got lost in the game, honestly,” Dioubate said.

Or as Sears put it: “He won us the game, the last five minutes. We don’t win this game without him.”

While the Lopes self-inflicted plenty of wounds — missing 14 free throws, missing 18 of 20 3-pointers — the end result was Alabama holding an opponent to a measly .859 points per possession in a game.

Alabama, the team with a turnstile defense, got in the gaps and forced 14 turnovers that turned into 18 points. Alabama, after shutting Charleston down for the first 30 minutes in the first round, perhaps found a way to be balanced at the most important time of the year. Oats, in fact, didn’t even know his team pitched a shutout in the final four minutes or so until he was informed on the postgame dais.

“Our defense is getting better as the year goes on,” Oats said, “and this might be our best defensive game of the year.”

We’ll see if it travels down the West Coast later this week. — Brian Hamilton

San Diego State knocks off Yale, locks in Sweet 16 spot

SPOKANE, Wash. — With a comprehensively unmerciful performance on Sunday night, San Diego State seized the final spot in the Sweet 16. And the 85-57 romp over Yale wasn’t even the best part. An opportunity for an epic NCAA Tournament redemption now lies ahead, a second chance afforded by the way the seeds fell in a room in Indianapolis a week ago.

The Aztecs get another shot at UConn.

A rematch of the national championship game from 2023, staged Thursday night in Boston. If San Diego State had any regrets about how that went — and surely there were more than a few — it can vanquish all of them. Because while UConn looks even better than it did a year ago, the version of the Aztecs that showed up at Spokane Arena on Sunday is terrifying in its own right.

Yale’s fairy tale ending was shredded by the usually elite San Diego State defensive effort complemented by 13 3-pointers and 52.7 percent shooting overall — the sort of offensive efficiency that makes it an unfair fight on any night. Jaedon LeDee led the way with 28 points on 9-for-12 shooting, with Darrion Trammell adding 18, including a team-high four connections from long distance.

On a very emblematic flipside? First-round hero John Poulakidas followed up a career-high 28 points with a 2-for-9 shooting night for Yale, which shot 37 percent overall. Leading scorer Danny Wolf couldn’t come close to matching LeDee, with the 7-footer scoring just nine points on 2-for-8 shooting himself.

So thorough was the domination, Brian Dutcher started pulling his mainstays before even that moment, with the lead swelled past 30. It’s one thing if the Aztecs draw you into a rock fight. It’s quite another when they have all the rocks. — Hamilton

Required reading

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(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)