By JACK BATTEN Field Level Media
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ATLANTA — Johni Broome recorded a game-high 22 points and 16 rebounds to lead No. 1 seed Auburn to a 78-65 win over No. 5 seed Michigan in Friday’s NCAA Tournament South Region semifinal.

Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford added 20 points apiece for the Tigers (31-5), who rallied from a nine-point, second-half deficit en route to the program’s third Elite Eight, where they will face No. 2 seed Michigan State on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four.

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Danny Wolf scored 20 points to lead Michigan (27-10), while Vladislav Goldin chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds and Nimari Burnett also had 10 points, paired with seven boards.

Trailing 30-29 at halftime, Michigan opened the second half on a 13-6 run, capped with Roddy Gayle Jr.’s three-point play to build a 42-36 edge with 14:36 left.

Broome cut Auburn’s deficit in half with a three-point play of his own, before Wolf’s consecutive layups and Will Tschetter’s two free throws extended the Wolverines’ lead to 48-39 with 12:26 to play.

From there, Pettiford and Denver Jones each buried a 3-pointer, beginning a 12-0 Auburn run to grab a 51-48 lead at the 9:19 mark.

Rubin Jones answered with a much-needed layup for Michigan, but Jones continued to find the range, knocking in two more 3-pointers and a layup to push Auburn’s cushion to 59-50.

The prolonged run was extended to 28-6 after Pettiford’s triple and three-point play gave the Tigers a 67-54 edge, igniting the Auburn-heavy State Farm Arena crowd. Chaney Johnson’s dunk punctuated Auburn’s 31st win – setting a program record.

After an early 6-0 spurt gave Auburn a 9-5 edge, Goldin and Tre Donaldson’s back-to-back baskets stamped a 10-4 Michigan run to grab a 15-13 lead with just over 11 minutes left.

Wolf scored the Wolverines’ next seven points, including his dunk for a 22-21 advantage. Michigan’s largest lead of the first half came at the 5:22 mark, when Burnett’s 3-pointer pushed the margin to 27-23.

Broome accounted for the final three points of the opening half, giving Auburn a one-point halftime lead. In a sloppy first 20 minutes, the Tigers turned the ball over 10 times, while Michigan was forced into eight giveaways.

Tennessee’s defense smothers Kentucky

INDIANAPOLIS — The smallest player in the stadium was Kentucky’s biggest problem.

Zakai Zeigler and No. 2-seeded Tennessee booked a spot in the Elite Eight with a 78-65 win over the No. 3 Wildcats, avenging a pair of regular-season losses to their SEC rivals and advancing to a regional final for the second consecutive season.

Only a few short years ago, Zeigler was recruited by head coach Rick Barnes to Tennessee with only a promise to have a chance to compete for playing time. On Friday night, Zeigler sat in the postgame media session pinching himself with the Volunteers one win away from the first Final Four appearance in program history.

Tennessee (30-7) will face No. 1 Houston on Sunday after the Cougars edged No. 4 Purdue 62-60 later Friday night.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people doubted us,” Zeigler said, his grin partially blocked by the microphone while seated at a table.

Zeigler scored or assisted on half of Tennessee’s 43 points in the first half against Kentucky (24-12) and never slowed down with 18 points and 10 assists to power the Vols to the Elite Eight.

“I feel like coming out in this game, we really wanted to set the tone and show them who we were,” Zeigler said.

A Zeigler steal on the inbounds led to a contested 3-pointer from the right wing as Kentucky’s 6-foot-10 Brandon Garrison — closing out with a lunge and both arms outstretched toward the shot — turned into just another Superman freezeframe for the Tennessee point guard.

As the triple circled the rim and went down, a back-breaking play for Kentucky, Zeigler posed in Garrison’s mug and the Wildcats trudged off the floor down 65-48 with less than nine minutes to go.

Sparked by Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalists Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee appeared to be playing with five All-SEC defenders on Friday. Mashack had five steals and helped force 12 Kentucky turnovers.

The Vols went from Sweet to Elite on Friday with a super-sized effort from their 5-foot-9 dynamo, a Bronx, N.Y., product who is the only four-time All-Defense team member in the SEC.

Zeigler crippled the Kentucky defense in the first half, repeatedly carving his way into the lane to establish a double-digit lead the Vols carried most of the game. However, he didn’t operate alone.

Chaz Lanier scored 17 points and Jordan Gainey added 16 for the Volunteers.

Lamont Butler led Kentucky with 18 points and hit four of the Wildcats’ six 3-pointers.

“He’s a really good player, really good player. It was a great matchup,” Butler said.

Butler brought his best Friday night but the urgency set in too late for Kentucky.

Still down double-digits with nine minutes to go, Butler began knocking down shots and sparked some faint noise from the Wildcats’ crowd with a pair of 3s and an aggressive downhill drive, only to be shaken by Zeigler on the other end with Gainey cutting through the lane for a sweeping right-handed flush to kick the Tennessee advantage back to 15.

Michigan State knocks off Ole Miss to reach its 15th Elite Eight

ATLANTA — If ever there was a moment for the sometimes-surly Tom Izzo to show a softer side, Friday night was perfect.

Michigan State freshman Jase Richardson scored a team-high 20 points to lead the No. 2 Spartans to a 73-70 win over No. 6 Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament South Region semifinals, and afterward, an emotional Izzo was mobbed by his team.

“I love these guys,” Izzo said. “It’s hard to believe that in two days we’re playing for a chance to do one of the all-time great things in any basketball player’s life, to play for a Final Four. I’m proud and happy for them. They’ve earned it. They deserved it. They did it.”

Coen Carr added 15 points and Jaden Akins scored 13 for the Spartans (30-6), who are headed to the program’s 15th Elite Eight, with an opportunity to reach their 11th Final Four and ninth under Izzo. Tre Holloman added 10 points off the bench for Michigan State, which rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit.

Sean Pedulla scored 24 points to lead Ole Miss (24-12), and Matthew Murrell added 13.

Malik Dia chipped in with 11 points for the Rebels, who were playing in just their second Sweet 16.

Akins’ hard-earned layup gave Michigan State a 65-63 edge with 1:29 remaining, and the Spartans doubled their lead on Carson Cooper’s basket with 40 seconds left.

Pedulla hit a floater, but Akins answered with a pair of free throws. Pedulla’s putback layup cut the Rebels’ deficit to 69-67 with 13.9 seconds left, but Holloman knocked down four straight foul shots to seal the victory.

Izzo and company will face top-overall seed Auburn on Sunday for a chance to reach the Final Four.

“We don’t put up banners for Elite Eights,” Izzo said. “We put up banners for championships and Final Fours. The coaches I’ve got on my staff that have been to the Final Four have talked to the players. … We’ve got to play better, but I’m so proud of them.”

Michigan State hasn’t reached college basketball’s pinnacle since topping Florida for the national championship in 2000. An impressive freshman on that team was future NBA veteran Jason Richardson — father of Friday’s hero Jace.

“We always say we play better when we’re having fun, but we know that you’ve got to come in with a mentality,” Jase Richardson said. “We try to have as much fun as possible playing, but we’ve also got to be locked in because we’ve got to key into our defensive things, key into our offensive things.”

Top seed Houston sinks Purdue with last-second layup

INDIANAPOLIS — At a quarter ‘til 1 a.m. local time, Houston guard Milos Uzan dropped in a game-winning layup and the Cougars grabbed the final Elite Eight spot in a 62-60 thriller over Purdue in the late-night Midwest Region semifinal that began Friday.

With the game tied at 60, top-seeded Houston began its final possession with 2.8 seconds left and the ball out of bounds to the right of the basket it was attacking. Uzan inbounded the ball to Joseph Tugler in the lane and stepped in to catch a pass from Tugler and lay it in with the clock reading 0.9.

Purdue’s subsequent inbounds pass was caught by Braden Smith moving from left to right on the Boilermakers’ side of halfcourt, but a final heave fell short.

Uzan had 22 points and six assists for the Cougars (33-4), and Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points. Houston will play second-seeded Tennessee on Sunday afternoon in the Midwest Region final, the Cougars’ first appearance in the Elite Eight since 2022.

Houston leading scorer LJ Cryer was 1 of 11 from the field when he popped to the right off of a flare screen to connect on his first 3-pointer of the game for a 60-55 lead with 3:34 to go.

Purdue called its last timeout with 2:32 remaining, and Smith found Trey Kaufman-Renn on a high pick-and-roll for his 14th assist of the game to whittle the deficit to 60-57.

In the last minute, Kaufman-Renn gave Purdue an extra possession with an offensive rebound of Smith’s missed 3-point attempt, and Smith, the Big Ten Player of the Year, made the most of it.

He would get a 15th assist to keep the Boilermakers in position to win and advance to a regional final against Tennessee for the second consecutive season.

Smith dribbled the ball at edge of the March Madness logo as the clock ticked under 40 seconds and attacked across the top of the key, into the lane before finding Heide for another chance from the corner directly across the floor from Purdue’s bench. Hedie atoned with a game-tying trey to even the game at 60-all.

The Boilermakers stacked defensive stops and fought back to make it a two-point game with under four minutes to play after falling behind by double figures.

Heide drained his second 3-pointer of the game, an NBA range shot beyond the top of the key, and Kaufman-Renn put in two free throws with 4:17 left to erase most of Houston’s largest lead of the game.

Uzan found the gas pedal with foul trouble factoring into head coach Matt Painter’s Purdue lineup combinations. He canned his career-best fifth 3-pointer of the night to hike the Houston lead to 53-46, then made the lead 10 with his sixth make in nine attempts.

Smith played all 40 minutes for the third consecutive NCAA Tournament game and had seven points and Kaufman-Renn had 14 points and five rebounds.