Four teams have moved into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament by winning on Thursday night.
Loyola-Chicago has continued its Cinderella run through the tournament by beating 10th seed Nevada, 69-68 in Atlanta. The Ramblers were clinging to a one-point lead until Marques Townes hit a 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds to play. Townes finished with 18 points, including the huge 3 that negated Caleb Martin’s 3-pointer seconds later.
Loyola closed the first half on a 20-4 run to take a 28-24 lead into the break.
Martin had a game-high 21 points for the Wolf Pack, who finished 29-8.
The Ramblers have a Saturday meeting with Kansas State after the ninth-seeded Wildcats pulled out a 61-58 victory against No. 5 Kentucky. Barry Brown provided a tiebreaking layup with 19 seconds left to put Kansas State one win away from reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1964.
K.U. pulled out the win without Xavier Sneed, who scored 22 points before fouling out with 1:14 remaining.
Kentucky had a chance to force overtime until Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer, leaving the Wildcats at 26-11.
No. 3 Michigan moved on in Los Angeles by shooting 62 percent from the floor in a 99-72 rout of Texas A&M. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored 24 points and Moe Wagner added 21 to send the Wolverines to the Elite Eight for the third time in six years. Abdur-Rahkman also chipped in four 3-pointers, five rebounds and seven assists.
Michigan hit 10 of their 14 3-pointers by halftime and stretched its winning streak to 12 games.
Next up for the Wolverines will be No. 9 Florida State.
The Seminoles rode Terance Mann’s 18 points to a 75-60 stunner against No. 4 Gonzaga. C.J. Walker and Braian Angola added 9 points as Florida State advanced to the regional finals for the third time in school history.
The Seminoles entered the tournament having gone just 9-9 in the ACC before dropping its opening game of the conference tourney.