Gonzaga Bulldogs center Drew Timme was a man amongst boys as he carried his side to a comeback 79-76 victory over the two-seed UCLA Bruins in Thursday's Sweet 16 action at the NCAA Tournament.
Timme, a senior, was named a consensus First-Team All-American this year after back-to-back Second-Team selections in his sophomore and junior seasons.
While his career at Gonzaga has been littered with individual honours, the six-foot-10 fringe NBA prospect looked destined to end his run as a Bulldog without capturing their elusive first National Championship as they trailed 46-33 at half-time.
But Timme would not let three-seed Gonzaga go down quietly, putting together a monstrous 36 points on 16-of-24 shooting while adding 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks to turn their deficit into a 72-62 lead with 2:30 remaining.
UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr made things interesting with a quick eight-point burst on his way to a team-high 29 (12-of-25 shooting), 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals, setting up Amari Bailey for a three-pointer to put the Bruins back in front 76-75 with 13 seconds on the clock.
With the game on the line, Julian Strawther drained the clutch three to give Gonzaga the lead and the win, booking their fifth Elite 8 trip from the past eight editions of the tournament.
Gonzaga will face the four-seed Connecticut Huskies next after they wiped the floor with the eight-seed Arkansas Razorbacks 88-65.
It was another strong performance from UConn's top NBA prospect Jordan Hawkins, as the lanky six-foot-five wing dropped a game-high 24 points on six-of-13 shooting with three assists, marking the third tournament game in a row he has drained at least three three-pointers.
The nine-seed Florida Atlantic Owls are through to their first Elite 8 in school history after upsetting the four-seed Tennessee Volunteers 62-55.
The Owls came into the tournament at 31-3, and while there were questions about their strength of schedule, they have continued to prove they are one of college basketball's best teams this year, holding Tennessee to just 33 per cent shooting.
Florida Atlantic will play Kansas State in the next stage after the Wildcats survived a thrilling 98-93 overtime battle against Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans.
Five-foot-eight Wildcats point guard Markquis Nowell played the game of his life, ending up with 20 points (seven-of-18 shooting), 19 assists, five steals and just two turnovers in his 43 minutes.
He joins Chris Paul and James Harden as the only players from either division one college basketball or the NBA in the past decade to put up a game of at least 20 points, 15 assists and five steals.
Fever's Clark scores career-high 31 to win final matchup with fellow rookie Reese
Before a sellout crowd of 9,445, Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 31 points to go with 12 assists in her final regular-season matchup with fellow rookie sensation Angel Reese to lead the Indiana Fever to a100-81 rout of the reeling Chicago Sky on Friday night.
Clark became the only player in league history with three games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds in a season. She was 8 for 14 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, in her 11th double-double.
Reese tallied 10 points and 11 rebounds, breaking a tie with Tina Charles for rookie double-doubles with 23 and passing Sylvia Fowles for the Chicago season record. Reese got the record with 1:32 remaining, long after Clark and the other Indiana starters left the game. She also has a rookie record 399 rebounds.
Clark may have locked up the top spot in the much-hyped Rookie of the Year race as the Fever (16-16) beat the Sky (11-20) for the third time in four matchups, solidifying their probable playoff berth while Chicago is barely hanging on to the last spot as the season winds down.
Warriors, Curry agree to one-year, $62.6million contract extension
The Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry have agreed to terms on a one-year, $62.6million contract extension that will keep the four-time NBA champion with the only franchise he’s ever played for through the 2026-27 season.
That campaign will be the 18th in the NBA for Curry, who is slated to earn $55.7million next season and $59.6million in 2025-26.
Curry, who captured a gold medal with Team USA at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, has won four NBA titles and two league Most Valuable Player Awards while also earning 10 All-Star selections.
The 36-year-old guard was the MVP of the 2022 NBA Finals as well as the MVP of the NBA All-Star Game that season, and he’s been named to the All-NBA First Team four times.
Drafted by Golden State with the seventh overall pick in 2009, Curry is the all-time NBA leader with 3,747 made 3-pointers and is 10th in league history with a 42.6 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Curry is also the best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 91.0 percent.
Caitlin Clark continues record-breaking rookie season with latest landmark
Caitlin Clark has again written her name into the record books following her latest performance for the Indiana Fever.
Clark, the first overall pick in this year's draft, has already set a number of benchmarks in her rookie WNBA season.
And that continued on Saturday even as the Fever lost 90-80 to the Minnesota Lynx.
Clark finished with 23 points and eight assists, and in doing so improved her seasonal tally to 520 points and 240 assists.
She is now the youngest player in WNBA history to pass 500 points and 200 assists.
Clark had already set a new record for assists in a rookie WNBA season, with her performances keeping the Fever on course for the playoffs.
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