UR MAG

His Arkansas team had been high flying all month. It was dunking like it was the "Lob City" Los Angeles Clippers, and shooting like it was the Golden State Warriors' "Splash Bros."Darius Acuff Jr. was showing why he's destined to be an NBA star, giving belief the coach could get the Hogs back in the Final Four.

That was until he saw the bracket.

Before the tournament began, Calipari thought if there was one team he didn't want to see, it wasArizona. He knew it was a bad matchup for his team, and if he was going to meet them on the court, the goal was to hope it could hang around long enough to turn the pressure on them.

After Thursday, March 26, Calipari might as well have been Nostradamus, correctly predicting the unfortunate fate the Razorbacks faced,falling to top seed Arizona,109-88, in the Sweet 16. It wasn't just a loss, it was a beatdown.

"Arizona is really good," Calipari said.

Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Nebraska's Berke Buyuktuncel celebrates with fans following a second-round game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament between Nebraska Cornhuskers and Vanderbilt Commodores at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on March 21, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Arkansas Razorbacks cheerleaders in the second half against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center on March 19, 2026 in Portland, Ore.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> A Texas Christian University Horned Frogs cheerleader practices before the game during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 19, 2026 in Greenville, SC.

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Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournamentat Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

The nightcap in San Jose was billed as having the potential to blow the roof off of SAP Center with all the fireworks each team could light off. But what was expected to be a fun battle ended up being a dud for nearly all 40 minutes of action, with Arkansas never leading in the game.

That's not necessarily saying Arkansas fell apart. It's just the fact it happened to be directly in the path of the Arizona buzzsaw.

"They got us from right at the beginning," Calipari.

The Wildcats have looked like a national championship contender all season, but their Sweet 16 performance might have been their best one yet.Coach Tommy Lloydwas hesitant to call it that, but so many signs point to it.

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They shot 63.8% from the field, the best mark against a Power conference team this season. Only eight 3-pointers were shot, but five of them went in. A team that prides itself on getting to the foul line shot a whopping 39 free throws.

"Our guys did a great job of just staying steady and making the game simple and trying to find our advantages every possession," Lloyd said.

Arizona played to its strengths. The star freshman were running up and down the court, driving to the bucket and the bigs were punishing the interior.

All of it sucked the life out of Arkansas. It frustrated every member, leading to two technical fouls – one on Calipari – and two Flagrant foul calls. There weren't endless 3-pointers or hard-hitting dunks that built this March run. For the last part of the second half, Calipari and his team sat on the bench, knowing it just got the worst version of the bad matchup.

"We went out there and played our Arizona brand of basketball," said freshman Koa Peat. "Everything fell in place."

With the win, Arizona is once again on the cusp of breaking its dreaded Final Four drought, last appearing in the national semifinals in 2001. One could argue a curse has hovered over Tucson for 25 years, but if there is one team to snap it, it's this one. After the Sweet 16, all the signs point to it.

But remember, Arizona has been in this same exact position before. Outstanding seasons have been washed out plenty of times. The Wildcats have been to the Elite Eight five times since the last Final Four then – with some great squads – but have failed to break through every single time.

Lloyd knows having 35 wins, tying the program record set in 1987-88, doesn't guarantee finally breaking through. Arizona will face an experienced Purdue team with players that know what it's like to get to a Final Four.

"The great thing about basketball and the tough thing about basketball is, unfortunately, that doesn't automatically translate to Saturday," Lloyd said. "We've got to find a way to kind of recreate that rhythm we had tonight. We know that's going to be a big-time challenge."

If Arizona does in fact recapture what happened in the Sweet 16, then that buzzsaw will stay on, ready to take out anyone in the way of the Wildcats finally breaking through.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Arizona is ready for March Madness breakthrough after Sweet 16 rout

Freshmen David Mirkovic and Keaton Wagler produced point-rebound double-doubles, Andrej Stojakovic scored 13 points off the bench and third-seeded Illinois parlayed a 17-0 second-half run into a 65-55 victory over second-seeded Houston on Thursday for its second Elite Eight berth in three seasons.

The Fighting Illini (27-8) will face a Big Ten rival, ninth-seeded Iowa (24-12), on Saturday with the winner advancing to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Mirkovic paired 14 points with 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. Wagler, a standout guard, posted 13 points and a career-high 12 boards. The Illini produced a plus-9 rebounding margin thanks in large part to Wagler, who paced Illinois in scoring this season.

"We knew that (Houston's Chris) Cenac (Jr.) and (Joseph) Tugler, they back-tap a lot of balls. They're elite at it," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "So our bigs were going to have to hit bodies, but our guards were going to have to come clean it up. So we needed a big, big rebounding game from our guards.

"I thought Keaton just takes everything to heart. He's had some big rebounding games this year, but to do this in this moment -- you guys got to understand what a joy it is to coach him, and he doesn't worry about needing to score points."

Wagler responded to a driving layup from Tugler that pulled the Cougars (30-7) to within 27-26 by sinking a second-chance layup at the 17:37 mark of the second half. That ignited the decisive rally for Illinois, with Jake Davis and Mirkovic adding layups off dribble penetration before Davis knocked down a second-chance 3-pointer that extended the lead to 36-26.

Mirkovic and Ben Humrichous later added 3-pointers as the Illini extended their lead to 44-26. The Cougars went six-plus minutes without scoring before Milos Uzan hit a trey with 11:20 left.

Emanuel Sharp led the Cougars with 17 points and spearheaded a furious rally that closed the deficit to seven in the waning moments. Kingston Flemings added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for Houston, which shot 34.4% from the floor.

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"We have used our size and length to our advantage all year long, and I think that was one of those games where when you have a team with good shooters and good inside presence as well, you kind of have to use all your tools to win the game," Stojakovic said.

"Our presence down there really affected their want to drive throughout the game. I thought the perimeter guys did a great job of keeping their guys in front and limiting that."

Only Stojakovic appeared able to play through the first-half slog.

Houston missed its first seven shots yet pulled even at 3-3 when Sharp drilled a 3-pointer at the 15:12 mark, thanks in part to Illinois' 1-for-10 start. Mirkovic lifted the Illini to a 14-10 lead when he followed his trey with a layup, only for Tugler to tie it with consecutive hook shots.

Stojakovic sank a difficult turnaround jumper that beat the shot-clock buzzer, giving Illinois a 21-14 lead. Wagler pushed the Illini to their largest advantage of the first half at 24-16 with a 3-pointer at the 3:23 mark.

The Cougars cut that deficit to 24-22 entering the break when Flemings beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer. Houston shot 27.3% in the first half, but the Illini countered with 35.7% shooting and scored only two points from seven offensive rebounds.

"You can tell we had a week to prepare for each other," Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. "We knew what they were going to do, and they knew what we were going to do. But they got some good looks and missed, and we got some really good looks, too, and missed.

"Sometimes making shots can be contagious. Sometimes missing shots can be contagious, too."

--MK Bower, Field Level Media

NCAA Illinois Houston Basketball

Problem was, they couldn't get their shots to fall.

Houston was limited to its lowest point total of the seasonin a 65-55 loss to Illinoisin the South Region semifinals, a gut-wrenching ending for last year's national runner-up.

"We gave it our all, we played hard, it was just one of those days, nothing was going in the rim," Houston's Chris Cenac Jr. said.

Players openly wept in the locker room and at the podium as they discussed the abrupt end to a season that saw the Cougars reach the Sweet 16 for a seventh consecutive time.

"Sometimes it's not your night on the offensive end," star freshman Kingston Flemings said. "We were getting good shots, shots that we expect to make… we were getting the shots that we wanted, noncontested, but sometimes it doesn't swing that way."

A 3-pointer by Flemings, who is expected to be an NBA lottery pick this summer, got Houston within 2 points at halftime. But things went wrong quickly early in the second half.

The Illini were up by one early in the half when they broke it open with a 17-0 run for a 44-26 lead with about 12 minutes left. Jake Davis scored five points during the burst, including a 3-pointer, and David Mirkovic and Ben Humrichous capped it with consecutive 3s.

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The Cougars missed seven consecutive shots as Illinois built its lead. When Milos Uzan finally ended Houston's drought with a 3-pointer with 11:20 left, it had been almost seven minutes since the team had scored.

While the offensive struggles were Houston's biggest problem, senior Emanuel Sharp was disappointed in the defensive execution, too.

"Our whole defense is based on a good pick-and-roll coverage, so when we don't get our coverage calls right, our defense kind of breaks down," he said. "So I think we had a couple of those and they capitalized on each one. I think that really hurt us to start the second half."

Flemings had 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting and Uzan made just 2 of 11 shots. But they were far from the only Cougars who struggled offensively as the team shot just 34%.

Flemings expected Houston to fare better in the friendly environment. But noted that a great crowd can't do much if the team isn't having a good night.

"Yeah, it's in Houston, but at the end of the day it's hardwood, 94 feet," he said. "That's a great team out there. Kudos to them… hopefully they can go win it all, but they were better than us tonight, and that's all it takes in March Madness."

AP March Madness bracket:https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracketand coverage:https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness