Elite Eight set
The NCAA Men’s Tournament field is down to four teams — Purdue, Iowa, Illinois and Arizona have all advanced to the Elite Eight with matchups slated for March 28–29. Purdue survived a last‑second finish thanks to a Trey Kaufman‑Renn putback, and three of the four remaining teams hail from the Big Ten, underlining the conference’s dominance this year (nbcsports.com) (espn.com).
No. 3 Illinois faces No. 9 Iowa Saturday, March 28 at 6:09 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center in Houston, and No. 1 Arizona meets No. 2 Purdue the same day at 8:49 p.m. ET in San Jose; both regional finals will air on TBS/truTV. (ncaa.com) Arizona piled up a 109-88 Sweet 16 win over Arkansas as Brayden Burries scored 23 and freshman Koa Peat added 21, the Wildcats extending a 12-game win streak and reaching the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015. (espn.com) Illinois beat Houston 65-55 in the Sweet 16, with David Mirkovic registering a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double and Keaton Wagler pulling down 12 rebounds to eliminate last season’s national runner-up. (espn.com) Iowa edged Nebraska 77-71 as senior Bennett Stirtz logged 20 points and played all 40 minutes while Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 25, sending the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987. (espn.com) Purdue, the No. 2 seed, survived a 79-77 thriller over No. 11 Texas; Trey Kaufman‑Renn finished with 20 points and eight rebounds while Texas guard Tramon Mark poured in 29. (espn.com) Three of the four regional-finalists — Purdue, Illinois and Iowa — are Big Ten programs, a total that ties the conference’s previous high for Elite Eight representatives reached in 2000, 2005 and 2019. (sports.yahoo.com) Winners of the March 28–29 regional finals will advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 4, with the Elite Eight played at the regional sites in Houston, San Jose, Chicago and Washington, D.C. as listed on the NCAA schedule. (ncaa.com)
