What happened in the NCAA Men's Tournament Sweet 16

LOS ANGELES — Phew. Does anyone else need a breather? Because that was maybe the quickest, fastest-paced half of basketball I’ve seen in quite some time. North Carolina leads Alabama 54-46 at the half (!!)... which, yes, does mean we’re on pace for nearly a 100-point regulation game.

So much for North Carolina’s top-5 defense; Alabama has gotten basically everything it wants offensively, led by Rylan Griffen’s 3-point shooting — he’s 4-for-5 from deep — and Mark Sears’ general offensive wizardry. Sears has 14 points, those two representing over half of Alabama’s points scored.

As for UNC, that was maybe the worst half All-American R.J. Davis has played all season — he’s 1-for-8 overall, and has missed all three of his 3-pointers… and the Tar Heels still lead. Fellow guards Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble have stepped up, though, pouring in eight points apiece (and two surprising 3-pointers each, too).

Then there’s Cormac Ryan, the graduate guard who torched Alabama two NCAA Tournaments ago and is starting to do the same thing. He’s 4-for-4 from 3, looks completely unfazed by any defender, and has swung the momentum back in UNC’s favor to end the half.

So, first to 100 wins?

Cormac Ryan clapped in Mark Sears' face on defense, got the stop, drained a 3 on the other end to put UNC up 8... and then stole Sears' 3-point celebration, forcing Alabama to call timeout.

Armando Bacot is GASSED, and you can't blame him. This has been, as expected, a track meet.

Bent over at the waist as soon as that timeout came, and Paxson Wojcik even went over to check if he was OK. He's got eight points already.

For the second time in program history, and the first since 1980, Clemson is going to the Elite Eight.

Clemson outlasted Arizona’s furious comeback attempt at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night, holding on for a 77-72 win. Arizona, which trailed by as many as 13 points early in the first half, made it a two-point game with 49.6 seconds left, only for Clemson guard Chase Hunter to score an acrobatic layup — and get fouled in the process — on the next possession.

Hunter’s free throw made it a five-point game, and Arizona didn’t have enough time to close the gap after.

In the defining win of coach Brad Brownell’s 13-year tenure, Clemson held Arizona without a single field goal during a pivotal 10-minute second-half stretch. That the Wildcats — who are now the first No. 1 or 2 seed eliminated from this NCAA Tournament — were even able to keep the game close during that streak was a minor miracle.

But that 10-minute segment — from the 14:32 point in the second half to Jaden Bradley’s 3-pointer with 4:20 to play — was emblematic of the entire game. Arizona didn’t have its worst shooting performance of the season by accident; Clemson’s defense was rugged and lively from the opening tip. The Tigers missed their first six shots, looking surprisingly unsettled early. When Clemson shifted to a zone midway through the second half, it only further frustrated the Wildcats.

It became a priority for T.J. Otzelberger late in the season to get Milan Momcilovic his confidence back and get him back on track. The freshman is arguably Iowa State’s biggest matchup issue for opposing defenses.

He usually plays small forward, and at 6-foot-8, he usually has a height advantage and can back his man down and shoot Dirk Nowitzki one-foot fadeaways, an unstoppable shot when he’s on. He’s scored in double figures in four straight games and is averaging 14.5 points over that stretch.

In the previous 10 games, he averaged 6.1 points and went scoreless the last time Iowa State lost at Kansas State. Illinois is the best offensive team in the country. The Cyclones need another great week from Momcilovic to have a shot to get to the Final Four.

Illinois has been so good offensively this season that defense has been optional. The Illini’s defensive numbers are much worse than you would think they’d be considering the personnel.

Brad Underwood built a switchable unit with great positional size, a stopper (Terrence Shannon Jr.) and one of the most switchable centers in the country in Coleman Hawkins. It’s felt like the Illini had the talent to eventually flip the switch, and it was flipped over the first weekend.

Illinois kept both opponents in the 60s and got a lift from Dain Dainja, who blocked two shots in the first round. Now, the competition wasn’t what Illinois will see in Boston. Iowa State’s offense has been operating at its best the last two weeks, and a potential matchup against UConn could await in the Elite Eight.

The Huskies, with all their off-ball screening and cutting, are one of the most difficult teams to guard in the country. It takes focus, physicality and communication. The Illini are going to score, but they’re going to have to guard to get to the Final Four.

BOSTON — When his team advanced to the Sweet 16 four days ago, Connecticut coach Dan Hurley drew plenty of attention for the confident message he gave his players: Keep blowing teams out of the tournament.

His players followed the instructions Thursday.

In a rematch of last year’s national championship game, the Huskies were bigger, faster and better. UConn made more shots, crashed the boards when they didn’t, and ultimately overwhelmed San Diego State in an 82-52 victory at TD Garden to advance to the Elite Eight, where it will face the winner of No. 2 Iowa State and No. 3 Illinois.

The most impressive part of how UConn beat San Diego State for the second time in 12 months was that it wasn’t just one thing. The Huskies won different stretches of the game in different ways. They looked — to put it in a Hurley term — “bulletproof." Any weaknesses were fleeting.

In the first 10 minutes, they won with straight-up efficiency. Connecticut made 11 of its first 16 shots and scored on 12 of its first 14 possessions.

Cam Spencer, one of two starters who weren’t on last year’s national championship team, tossed in 16 first-half points. So far, when Spencer’s on, the Huskies can’t be beaten: They improved to 30-0 when he scores in double figures — compared to 4-3 when he doesn’t.

In the second half, they won with relentlessness on the offensive glass. UConn didn’t just score second-chance points — it capitalized on third chances, with second offensive rebounds leading to open 3-pointers.

At a time when San Diego State was still in range — trailing 42-33 two minutes into the second half — one such sequence went like this:

An Alex Karaban blocked shot attempt landed with Stephon Castle, who dribbled out to the right corner and missed a 3. Donovan Clingan, the tallest player on the court at 7-foot-2, used every inch of his wingspan to rope in a contested rebound, then passed out of the post to Tristen Newton for a corner 3 to stretch the lead to 12. Nine minutes later, a similar sequence led to a third-chance Hassan Diarra 3 to stretch the lead to 18.

UConn outrebounded San Diego State 50-29. The Huskies’ 21 offensive rebounds led to 12 second-chance points — a number that, if anything, means they left a few opportunities on the table.

And still won by 30.

• Iona by 24
• Saint Mary's by 15
• Arkansas by 23
• Gonzaga by 28
• Miami by 13
• San Diego State by 17
• Stetson by 39
• Northwestern by 17
• San Diego State by 30

By an average of 22.9 points. Just absurd.

On March 24, in a second-round NCAA Tournament game, Alabama put forth its second-best defensive effort of the entire year. Grand Canyon got swept up in chaos and pace and almost lawless physicality and wound up not scoring for the final four minutes, posting 61 points total. The best Crimson Tide effort of the season? Way back in November when it held South Alabama to 46 points. In between? Well, suffice it to say the performances added up to the No. 101 defense in the land as of Monday morning, per KenPom.com. In other words: Not great.

So which is it, when Alabama meets North Carolina (No. 16 offense nationally, as of Monday) in a Sweet 16 game on Thursday? Nate Oats believes his group is trending in the right direction at the right time, understandably, but one game is not proof. It’s not even necessarily a sign. It’s just an auspicious data point. If the Crimson Tide can complement its high-octane attack (No. 4 nationally) with regular stops on the other end, yes, that is the makeup of a Final Four-level team. But they’ve only done so a handful of times all season. Which version of the Alabama defense shows up in Los Angeles is one of the most consequential variables of the entire Sweet 16.

Thus ends Pac-12 men's basketball. Let history show the league's last national title came in 1997. Pac-12 teams fared well early in this tournament, and Arizona looked like it had a chance to play a Final Four in its home state. But the league died mostly as it lived for the last 27 years.

North Carolina won its first two NCAA Tournament games by 28 and 16 points … but those final scores don’t accurately reflect the Tar Heels’ slow starts. Wagner — a No. 16 seed with only seven active players, participating in its first tournament — kept the margin within five for the first 11 minutes of UNC’s opener. And Michigan State led the Tar Heels by as many as 12 midway through the first half, before a 23-3 UNC run flipped the game on its head. That Hubert Davis’ team was able to pull away in both instances is obviously the most important thing, but these slow starts have become a troublesome trend. UNC also trailed early in its final two ACC tournament games: by nine vs. Pittsburgh, and 10 vs. NC State. The Tar Heels led at the half of all those games … but will they be able to do the same against Alabama in the Sweet 16? The Crimson Tide are fourth nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom, and lead the country in points per game with 90.7. A slow start against an offense that explosive could spell trouble. And if Davis’ team does survive the Crimson Tide, it’ll face either Arizona — which is No. 9 in adjusted offensive efficiency, and third in scoring with 87.6 points per game — or Clemson, which scored 80 points and beat the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill in early February. (And in that game? UNC trailed 14-2, so … not exacting a great sign!) North Carolina earned a No. 1 seed for a reason, and its ability to respond mid-game makes it one of the toughest outs in the tournament. But falling behind like that, against increasingly good opponents, can only be a recipe for disaster.

PJ Hall is the leading scorer and Chase Hunter has been the team’s best player in this tournament, but don’t overlook the impact Ian Schieffelin is having for Clemson. Coach Brad Brownell talked last weekend about Schieffelin’s development this season and the way his versatility has allowed the Tigers to play through the post with him and Hall, while both still have the opportunity to step out and his 3s.

We’ve seen post-play lead to success in the past couple of weeks. As Hall has battled foul trouble, Schieffelin has helped pick up the slack for Clemson.

BOSTON — Connecticut has won parts of this game in different ways, but one consistent thread has been its dominance on the offensive glass. A third-chance 3-pointer by Tristen Newton early in this half contributed to what's now a 47-35 lead at the under-16 timeout.

UConn holds a 35-18 advantage in rebounding, including 15 offensive boards (SDSU has only 12 defensive rebounds).