Top storylines from Day 4 of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament

Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

Chalk continued to reign supreme in this year’s NCAA Tournament as Sunday’s action produced just a single victory by a lower-seeded team: sixth-seeded Ole Miss, which upended the undermanned and third-seeded Cyclones of Iowa State. But the games themselves were thrilling — most of them anyway — with a handful decided by single digits and one coming down to a fadeaway jumper at the final buzzer. The stage is now set for a heavyweight Sweet 16 featuring big brands and blue bloods across the bracket.

For that to happen, No. 1 Florida needed a late comeback against eighth-seeded Connecticut, the two-time defending national champions. Fourth-seeded Maryland needed a moment of magic from freshman phenom Derik Queen to stave off No. 12 Colorado State. And second-seeded Michigan State, which fell behind by 10 in the first half, surged away from New Mexico and the other member of the Pitino family in the waning moments.

Dive in for a recap of the day’s biggest storylines:

Michigan State advances to 16th Sweet 16 under Tom Izzo

By the arrival of the under-12 media timeout during Sunday night’s game between No. 2 Michigan State and No. 10 Mexico, the most glaring difference between the two teams had become readily apparent: depth. Such a discovery couldn’t exactly be considered revelatory; after all, schools from high-major conferences should almost always have more talent than their counterparts from the lesser leagues, especially as revenue sharing and NIL further stratify the sport. But what underscored the difference between the Spartans and the Lobos in the Round of 32 was the impact — or lack thereof — on each team when one of their respective stars endured an uncharacteristically quiet outing.

For Michigan State, which pulled away from Bryant in the opening round, that player was Jase Richardson, the explosive true freshman who entered the game averaging 17.5 points per game over his last eight. His growth and evolution is one of the biggest reasons why head coach Tom Izzo’s team, which otherwise lacks a bonafide star, has blossomed into a legitimate Final Four contender from the South Region. Richardson began 0-for-9 from the field against New Mexico and was held scoreless until the 1:32 mark of the second half.

For New Mexico, which pulled a mild upset over seventh-seeded Marquette in the first round, the decline in production belonged to point guard Donovan Dent, one of the best players in the country at his position with averages of 20.6 points and 6.4 assists per game. Now a junior, Dent had developed into the Mountain West Player of the Year and was the eighth-highest scorer in the country this season. He missed eight of his first 11 shots against Michigan State and had only six points when play was stopped with 11:55 remaining in the second half.

But where the Spartans had a handful of readymade replacements who, on any given night, could offset the frigid shooting from Richardson, the upstarts from New Mexico had nobody capable of filling Dent’s enormous shoes. Izzo’s team got 16 points from shooting guard Jaden Akins and 10 points from Omaha transfer Frankie Fidler, even though he hadn’t reached double figures since Feb. 18. The Spartans got 12 combined points from Coen Carr and Szymon Zapala and 14 from Tre Holloman, whose 3-pointer with 4:33 remaining extended the favorite’s lead to nine. By game’s end, Michigan State’s bench had produced 36 points compared to just seven for the Lobos.

It was the kind of multipronged attack that New Mexico, which built an early 10-point lead, simply couldn’t match as the game dragged on, even with the Herculean efforts of center Nelly Junior Joseph (16 points, seven rebounds) and Mustapha Amzil (14 points, four rebounds). They were responsible for shouldering most of the scoring load until Dent finally strung a few baskets together in the second half, ultimately finishing with 14 points overall. But once Joseph fouled out with 2:12 remaining, leaving Dent to absorb nearly all of the defensive attention himself, the prospect of erasing Michigan State’s narrow six-point lead seemed daunting. The margin proved large enough to usher Izzo’s team into the Sweet 16 with a 71-63 victory.

With a little kiss! Derik Queens hits game-winner as Maryland beats Colorado State

Through three and a half days of this year’s NCAA Tournament, one of the biggest and most unavoidable storylines was how little excitement there seemed to be when juxtaposed with Big Dances of yore. This was the first time since 2017, for example, when the top four seeds combined to finish 16-0 in the first round, depriving college basketball fans of the most mind-bending upsets. And of the teams that advanced to the Round of 32, only five of them had come from outside the power conferences in a reflection, perhaps, of the widening financial gap across the sport. Two of those mid-majors, No. 11 Drake and No. 12 McNeese, were ousted on Saturday to thin the ranks even further.

But with 12th-seeded Colorado State’s fearless start against fourth-seeded Maryland, the possibility of a double-digit mid-major reaching the Sweet 16 began to feel somewhat real. To that point, the only double-digit seed to reach this year’s second weekend was No. 10 Arkansas, though the Razorbacks had begun the season ranked 16th in the AP Poll after hiring Hall-of-Fame head coach John Calipari from Kentucky, undercutting some of the warmth and fuzziness of a low seed making an NCAA Tournament run. The Rams, however, certainly fit the description of a potential Cinderella as champions of the Mountain West.

And for the better part of 40 minutes on Sunday evening — for 39 minutes and 57 seconds, to be more precise — Colorado State was unquestionably the better team. Head coach Niko Medved’s group had built a 12-point advantage in the first half on crisp 50% shooting and a plus-three rebounding margin. The Rams remained in front for more than 31 minutes of game time overall before the Terrapins’ shooters finally came to life. Even when Maryland took a four-point lead with 2:30 remaining after four quick points from Julian Reese, who finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Colorado State clawed back on a breathtaking 3-pointer from Jalen Lake with :06 remaining, the play beautifully drawn up by Medved in a timeout. His team led, 71-70.

But Maryland head coach Kevin Willard drew up a fine play of his own, albeit a simple one, that got the ball to star center Derik Queen, a true freshman and presumptive first-round pick in this year’s NBA Draft. Queen caught the in-bounds pass near the top of the key and dribbled twice to his left against Colorado State forward Ethan Morton, a transfer from Purdue. Two long strides brought Queen within 10 or 12 feet of the hoop, at which point he faded away and delicately kissed a jumper off the glass as the final buzzer sounded. He clenched his fists and flexed while the Terrapins sprinted off the bench to join him. Maryland 72, Colorado State 71.

Just like that, a dulling iteration of the NCAA Tournament roared to life.

Florida survives as UConn’s pursuit of three-peat ends

The back-to-back national championship runs that were littered with one blowout victory after another gave way to this: A second-round NCAA Tournament matchup that almost no one expected Connecticut and Dan Hurley to win. Not against Florida, arguably the hottest team in the country after it won the SEC Tournament last week. Not after such a laborious regular season in which a roster that is far less talented, far less deep than what UConn put forth the last two years, had its numerous shortcomings exposed. Not after the Huskies barely knocked off ninth-seeded Oklahoma in the first round while the Gators racked up 95 points against 16th-seeded Norfolk State.

And yet, after 20 minutes in the Round of 32 from Raleigh, North Carolina, where many expected UConn’s pursuit of a three-peat to officially perish, the score was deadlocked at the break as Hurley and his staff were vibrating with glee. This was the kind of defensive effort they’d been pining for all season: limiting the nation’s most efficient offense to 38.5% shooting and just 31 points overall. This was the kind of intensity Hurley wasn’t sure existed within his team: five steals, two blocks, nine forced turnovers and nine offensive rebounds. That the Huskies had only made 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range didn’t matter because of how aggressive, relentless and prideful Hurley’s pupils revealed themselves to be. A byproduct of 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament victories over the last three years.

The compounding nerves and pressure on Florida, a popular national championship pick, were evident from the moment the second half began, both in terms of body language and on-court performance. The Gators missed five free-throws in the opening seven minutes of the second stanza alone after making all seven attempts in the first. They finished 22-for-34 from the line overall in a display that reflected some team-wide angst on this kind of stage. It was perhaps the first time all season that the pressure of chasing a third straight title worked in UConn’s favor, heavy were the expectations for so much of this pockmarked campaign. With every passing minute, the potential for the tournament’s first monumental upset swelled.

No one could have asked more of starting center Samson Johnson, who turned in perhaps the best performance of his career with 10 points, 10 rebounds and an all-around ferocity that he rarely flashed. Or point guard Hassan Diarra, who has battled tendinitis in his knee for the better part of three months and gritted his way through 32 minutes against Florida, running the offense at one end of the floor and playing smothering defense on Walter Clayton Jr. at the other, limiting Clayton to just 13 points in the opening 35 minutes. Or any of the other players who allowed UConn to finish with advantages in offensive rebounds (14-12), points in the paint (32-24), steals (8-4) and assists (16-12).

But the Huskies could only fight the rising tide for so long, could only neutralize a team with superior talent for a certain number of possessions before the law of averages came into play. Their lead evaporated with 2:54 remaining when Clayton buried his trademark sliding 3-pointer from the right wing, nudging Florida in front for the first time since the waning seconds of the first half. It was the psychological boost that head coach Todd Golden and his team needed to mount a late-game surge that UConn couldn’t match. Six consecutive made field goals over the final five minutes and change — including eight points from Clayton alone, who finished with a game-high 23 — that officially extinguished the Huskies’ pursuit of a third straight national title.

Florida 77, UConn 75. The Gators clawed back from the brink to reach the Sweet 16.

Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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