ATLANTA — Jace Richardson scored 24 points and Michigan State surged past Mississippi in the second half for a 73-70 victory Friday night in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Ole Miss (24-12) was denied in its bid for its first Elite Eight appearance despite leading by 10 points in the first half and by nine in the second half.
Michigan State (30-6), the South Region’s No. 2 seed, rallied to keep alive coach Tom Izzo’s bid for his ninth Final Four and second national championship. The Spartans will play No. 1 seed Auburn on Sunday.
Izzo, in his 16th Sweet 16, earned his 59th NCAA Tournament win, breaking a tie with Jim Boeheim of Syracuse for fourth all time.
A drive and short jumper by Jaden Akins gave Michigan State a 65-63 lead. Following two misses by Rebels guard Dre Davis, Izzo called timeout with 57 seconds remaining and then pumped his fist as he welcomed his players back to the bench.
Following the timeout, Carson Cooper’s layup stretched the lead to 67-63, the Spartans’ biggest advantage of the game. A floater by Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla, who led the Rebels with 24 points, cut the lead to two.
Ole Miss was making only its second Sweet 16 appearance after losing to Arizona 66-56 and failing to advance to the 2001 Elite Eight.
Auburn 78, Michigan 65
ATLANTA — Freshman Tahaad Pettiford and senior Denver Jones turned in dazzling performances when it mattered most, rallying top-seeded Auburn to a victory over Michigan.
The Tigers (31-5) wiped out a nine-point second-half deficit, outscoring No. 5 seed Michigan 39-17 over the final 12½ minutes to advance to the Elite Eight for only the third time in school history. They also became the fourth SEC team to reach a regional final, with the conference joining the ACC (2016) and Big East (2009) as the only ones to do that.
Auburn will face Michigan State on Sunday in the South Region final with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
“Just the kids’ will to win,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Denver got heated up. Tahaad got heated up. We went to them, and they delivered.”
Johni Broome scored 22 points to go along with 16 rebounds, but it was Pettiford and Jones who took control with Auburn’s season on the brink.
The Wolverines (27-10) built their biggest lead at 49-38 and seemed headed for their most improbable performance yet in a remarkable comeback season under first-year coach Dusty May.
But Pettiford sparked the comeback with a step-back jumper from beyond the 3-point stripe, Jones knocked down two straight from long range before scoring on a drive to the basket and Pettiford finished off Michigan with two stunning shots: a 3 after briefly losing the ball but getting it back, followed by a three-point play when he knocked one down before landing flat on his back after being fouled.
Pettiford and Jones scored 20 points apiece.
Danny Wolf led No. Michigan with 20 points, but no one else on the Wolverines managed more than 10.
Auburn led 30-29 at halftime despite hitting just 12 of 37 shots (32.4%) from the field, including 3-of-16 on 3-pointers, to go with 10 turnovers. The Tigers gave themselves plenty of second and third chances and even a fourth on one possession. They finished with 48-33 edge on the boards, including 19 rebounds at the offensive end.
Houston 62, Purdue 60
INDIANAPOLIS — Milos Uzan soared for an uncontested layup on a beautifully executed inbounds play with 0.9 seconds left, and No. 1 seed Houston survived a late collapse to beat fourth-seeded Purdue.
Houston led 56-46 with just less than eight minutes remaining but made only one field goal from there until Uzan’s tiebreaking bucket. He inbounded the ball from the baseline to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 junior took it to the rim.
Coach Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars (33-4) advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years. They’ll take the nation’s longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final against No. 2 seed Tennessee.
Houston, the Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion, became the fourth No. 1 seed to reach the Elite Eight. The Cougars haven’t lost since Feb. 1 and won this time at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tournament run ended with a Final Four loss to eventual national champion Baylor.
Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer L.J. Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith added seven points and 15 assists to lead Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after a replay review confirmed the ball went off of Purdue, and Uzan took over from there.
Smith’s half-court heave was an air ball at the buzzer, giving this tournament a rare dramatic finish in a tough, physical contest with players repeatedly hitting the floor.
Sharpe had a scoring flurry early in the second half to give Houston some separation. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead.
Tennessee 78, Kentucky 65
INDIANAPOLIS — Zakai Zeigler had 18 points and 10 assists, and Tennessee outhustled and outplayed Kentucky on both ends of the court in a victory Friday night that sent the Volunteers to a second consecutive Elite Eight.
The second-seeded Vols (30-7) beat their border rival in the first all-Southeastern Conference Sweet 16 matchup since 1986 and will play Sunday against Houston in the Midwest Region final.
Chaz Lanier added 17 points and Jordan Gainey had 16 for the Vols, who lost twice to Kentucky in the regular season but prevailed on a much bigger stage this time.
No one enjoyed the show at Lucas Oil Stadium more than Peyton Manning, who was back in the town where he spent 13 years and won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts. The Vols’ most famous sports alum was in a bright orange ballcap seated behind the bench as Tennessee ran off with a no-doubt victory in the “House Peyton Built.”
Lamont Butler scored 18 points to lead first-year coach Mark Pope’s third-seeded Wildcats (24-12), who were held 20 points under their season scoring average. Their 65 points matched their fewest in a game this season.
The Vols did what they failed to do in their first two meetings with Kentucky. The Wildcats had shot 12 of 24 on 3-pointers in each of those games.
It was apparent early the Vols weren’t going to let the Wildcats and their 85-point-per game offense put up those kind of numbers again. Kentucky finished 6 of 15 from distance.
The Vols were in full control by the middle of the first half, using relentless defense and attacking the glass to generate offense and build a 19-point lead.
They generated 13 second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds on their way to a 43-28 lead at half, only the second time Kentucky has been held under 30 points in a first half this season. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes is now 15-0 in the NCAA Tournament when up by 10 or more at halftime.
The Vols picked up where they left off at the start the second half, forcing a shot-clock violation and an airball 3 by Koby Brea on Kentucky’s first two possessions. Their effort on the boards continued, too. They finished with 19 points on 14 offensive rebounds.
The Vols all but finished off the victory with under nine minutes to play after Butler cut the lead to 12. Felix Okpara chased down his missed shot and dunked it, and Lanier made a steal and passed to Ziegler. The 5-foot-9 Zeigler hit a 3 from the wing and then looked up and held a stare at the 6-10 Brandon Garrison, who was the nearest defender.
This was the fourth time in 11 years the Wildcats took a big loss in Indianapolis.
In 2015, they took a 38-0 record into their Final Four matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium and lost 71-64 to Wisconsin. They began the 2018-19 season with a 118-84 loss to Duke in a top-five matchup at nearby Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and three years later they lost their NCAA Tournament opener to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s 85-79 in overtime at Gainbridge.
