Men’s March Madness 2026 takeaways: Texas stuns Gonzaga; Nebraska, Arkansas escape
The best came last in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 action on Saturday.
After a series of blowouts and runaways, with high seeds Duke, Michigan and Houston facing little resistance on the way to grabbing spots in the Sweet 16, things got interesting.
First No. 11 seed Texas, a First Four team that lost five of its last six games heading into the tournament, knocked off No. 3 Gonzaga. That was followed by a Nebraska-Vanderbilt game that more than lived up to its status as a 4-5 matchup, with the Huskers advancing only after a desperation heave by Vandy popped out of the bucket.
Finally, No. 12 seed High Point, the feistiest of Cinderellas – pushed No. 4 Arkansas to the limit – it was 83-83 with a little more than three minutes left – before fading late.
The Athletic breaks down Saturday’s matchups and results.
No. 4 Nebraska 74, No. 5 Vanderbilt 72
The joy and the agony don’t get much more intense than what was seen on the faces of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Vanderbilt Commodores, respectively, on Saturday night at Paycom Arena.
Vandy’s Tyler Tanner scored 27 points and had a half-court would-be game-winner go halfway down and pop out, as the Huskers survived with a two-point win. Nebraska’s Braden Frager won it with a driving layup with 2.2 seconds left.
So many enormous shots and plays led up to that moment. Now South No. 4 seed Nebraska (28-6) will play No. 1 seed Florida or No. 9 seed Iowa in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in Houston. – Joe Rexrode, senior writer
No. 4 Arkansas 94, No. 12 High Point 88
In a battle of small guards, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. got the better of High Point’s Rob Martin, scoring 36 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including a dagger 3-pointer with 1:03 left that helped the fourth-seeded Razorbacks hold off the upstart Panthers and advance to the Sweet 16. Martin, HPU’s 5-foot-10 point guard, had 30 in the loss.
In an exhilarating, breathless, back-and-forth game that featured 15 lead changes and six ties, Arkansas’ ability to turn nine High Point turnovers into 15 points made the difference. The Razorbacks were clutch down the stretch, connecting on their final three field goal attempts over the last 2:52 – all Acuff makes – to send Cinderella packing. – Lindsay Schnell, senior writer
No. 11 Texas 74, No. 3 Gonzaga 68
Texas entered the NCAA Tournament with five losses in its previous six games. The Longhorns now have three wins in five days. With a dramatic victory over third-seeded Gonzaga (31-4), the 11th-seeded Longhorns (21-14) became the sixth team to advance to the Sweet 16 out of the First Four. Since the tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011, there always seems to be one squad that unexpectedly catches fire after needing, in essence, a play-in victory to compete in the first round.
Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis scored 17 points apiece Saturday, but the real story was the much-improved Longhorns defense. After struggling most of the season, Texas has locked in on that end. In the second half, Sean Miller’s team held Gonzaga to 38.1 % from the field to separate from the Zags, who suffered their second straight round of 32 defeat after a nine-year streak of advancing to the Sweet 16.
Camden Heide iced it, sinking a clutch corner 3-pointer out of a timeout that gave the Longhorns a 4-point lead with 14 seconds to go – only his second shot of the game and his lone points in the contest. – Jerry Brewer, sports columnist
No. 3 Illinois 76, No. 11 VCU 55
For the second straight game of this NCAA Tournament, VCU dug itself a big hole. This time, the Rams couldn’t climb out.
In Saturday’s round of 32 matchup against No. 3 Illinois, No. 11 VCU fell behind 56-37. But two days after a 19-point comeback for the ages against North Carolina, the Rams had no such luck against the bigger, more skilled Illini, ultimately falling 76-55.
At the very least, credit Phil Martelli Jr.’s team for keeping things interesting for a half – and even briefly taking a 2-point lead, before a 9-0 run by Illinois wing Andrej Stojaković entering halftime put the Illini up for good – and for being one of the four double-digit seeds to win a game in March Madness. But ultimately, the Rams’ half-court offense was nowhere near good enough to keep up with the ruthless efficiency of Brad Underwood’s team; Illinois finished the second half shooting 50% both overall and from 3, with four double-digit scorers.
Now, though, after consecutive blowouts against double-digit seeds, Underwood’s squad gets its heavyweight bout: No. 2 Houston, which earlier Saturday became the fourth team in tournament history (and first since 2008 UNC) to win its first two games by 30-plus points. We really get the nation’s No. 2 offense against the nation’s No. 4 defense? Giddyup. – Brendan Marks, national college basketball writer
No. 1 Duke 81, No. 9 TCU 58
Well, it took longer than expected – not to mention surviving arguably its sloppiest four-minute stretch all season – but Duke eventually pulled away from TCU midway through the second half Saturday for a decisive win, one that sends the Blue Devils to their third straight Sweet 16.
Only days after a scare against No. 16 Siena, Duke found itself tied at 44 with the Horned Frogs with just under 14 minutes to play, only to rattle off a monstrous 30-8 run that completely ended any semblance of competitiveness. But in a game that featured four flagrant fouls and a technical on TCU coach Jamie Dixon, the real story was Duke center Patrick Ngongba returning to action for the first time after four missed games.
Ngongba only finished with 4 points, four rebounds and four assists in 13 minutes – as well as four personal fouls and four turnovers – but moved decently well and gave coach Jon Scheyer another much-needed interior option. Up next for the Blue Devils in the East Region? Either St. John’s and Rick Pitino, or Kansas and Bill Self (who Duke beat in November in the Champions Classic). – Brendan Marks, national college basketball writer
No. 2 Houston 88, No. 10 Texas A&M 57
The most consistent NCAA Tournament achiever in men’s college basketball has done it again, and the reward is a trip home to keep playing. Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars made “Bucky Ball” look like child’s play at Paycom Center, crushing Bucky McMillan’s Aggies to earn a trip to the South Region semifinals Thursday at Houston’s Toyota Center. This is Houston’s nation-best seventh straight Sweet 16 appearance.
The No. 2 seed Cougars (30-6), who next play No. 3 Illinois, rolled Saturday with balanced scoring, despite subpar shooting (8-for-31 from 3) and thanks to another big game from freshman big man Chris Cenac Jr. He had 17 points and nine rebounds, giving him 27 boards on the weekend. The No. 10 seed Aggies (22-12) can still call McMillan’s debut season a clear success. – Joe Rexrode, senior writer
No. 1 Michigan 95, No. 9 Saint Louis 72
The top-seeded Wolverines were too much for a game against ninth-seeded Saint Louis on Saturday in the second round of the Midwest Region. Too much size. Too much athleticism. Too much versatility.
Blowouts were routine for Michigan for most of this season as it started 25-1. Coach Dusty May said as the season went on, opponents started slowing games down and mucking things up, and the margins became smaller. Purdue beat Michigan in the Big Ten title game heading into the NCAA Tournament. The competition in Buffalo was not quite as tough as in Indianapolis, and Michigan took advantage.
Credit to the Billikens for putting up a fight for about 30 minutes, but Saint Louis couldn’t stop the Wolverines, who limited folk hero/big man Robbie Avila (9 points, five assists) with their size. Avila came out with 2:05 remaining to a standing ovation from SLU fans and chants of “Rob-bie, Rob-bie!”
Michigan All-American Yaxel Lendeborg had 25 points, six rebounds and a soaring, one-handed slam over the Billikens that nearly brought the house down. Moments later, Lendeborg made a 3 from up top that pushed the lead to 69-58 with 11:14 left in the second half as Michigan began to assert itself.
Aday Mara, the 7-foot-3 center, had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and four blocks for the Wolverines. – Ralph Russo, college sports senior writer
No. 3 Michigan State 77, No. 6 Louisville 69
Make it 17 trips to the Sweet 16 for Michigan State under coach Tom Izzo.
The third-seeded Spartans are heading to the regional semifinals for the second consecutive year after beating sixth-seeded Louisville in a physical, grinder of a game that MSU finally broke open late in the second half.
Jaxon Kohler had a five-point possession after taking a Flagrant 1 foul from Vangelis Zougris to up the lead to 13 with 6:41 left in the second half.
Coen Carr scored 21 points and thrilled the crowd with two of his signature rim-rattling dunks. He also converted a traditional 3-point play with 4:32 left to put Michigan State up 16.
Jeremy Fears Jr. had 16 assists for Michigan State, breaking Magic Johnson’s school record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game.
The winner of UConn-UCLA awaits the Spartans in Washington, D.C., in the East Region semifinals.
Louisville, playing yet again without injured star guard Mikel Brown Jr. (back), left the tournament with its first NCAA victory since 2017 but is still looking for its first Sweet 16 trip since 2015. – Ralph Russo, college sports senior writer