The Sweet 16 has arrived with a loaded slate of matchups. Sure, the first weekend of the men’s NCAA tournament was fairly chalky, with few major upsets, but that’s left us with an array of juicy matchups as we get deeper into the tournament.
The second wave of the tourney begins Thursday with the West and East regionals, which will feature two 1 seeds, two 2 seeds and plenty of basketball brand names, like North Carolina, UConn and Arizona.
Strap in for another fun day of college hoops.
Sweet 16 Thursday schedule
Thursday, Mar. 28 (all times Eastern)
7:09 p.m. — No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 6 Clemson (CBS)
7:39 p.m. — No. 1 UConn vs. No. 5 San Diego State (TBS/truTV)
9:39 p.m. — No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Alabama (CBS)
10:09 p.m. — No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 3 Illinois (TBS/truTV)
Live23 updates
It’s halftime in Los Angeles. Clemson leads Arizona 39-31 as the Wildcats have crawled back into the game in the minutes before the half.
Ian Scheiffelin has 9 for the Tigers, while Oumar Ballo leads Arizona with six.
UConn’s Cam Spencer is heating up with nine points in the first 9:30. The transfer guard from Rutgers did not play on last year’s title team. He’s a key player and a big-time scorer for a Huskies team looking to repeat. UConn leads, 27-18.
UConn’s flexing its muscle with LeDee on the bench. 7-0 run gives the Huskies a 22-14 lead. They’re controlling the paint.
Arizona’s run petered out not long after it started.
Clemson leads the Wildcats 35-24 at the under-4 timeout after Caleb Love inadvertently stepped out of bounds on the sideline.
Five different Clemson players have at least five points. Arizona’s leading scorer so far is Pelle Larsson. He has five pi
It’s a scorching start in the rematch of last year’s title game. UConn leads San Diego State, 10-9 at the first break. Each team is shooting 50% or better from the field. SDSU’s Jaedon LeDee leads the way with seven early points. The fifth-year senior forward leads SDSU with 21.5 points per game after playing off the bench during last year’s run to the title game.
Signs of life from Arizona. Clemson calls timeout with 5:42 to go in the first half after Arizona gets a fast-break dunk to cut the lead to 29-20.
Wildcats star Caleb Love is just 1 of 7 shooting so far.
In the East region, San Diego State scores first for a 2-0 lead, and UConn trails for the first time in the tournament. What a stat for the reigning champs.
Clemson has 11 points off turnovers as Arizona’s ability to capitalize on its myriad missed shots has kept the lead smaller than it could be. The Wildcats have nine second-chance points. Clemson leads 29-16 at the under-8 timeout.
Arizona calls a timeout with 7:16 to go as Clemson has extended its lead to 27-14.
The Tigers are shooting 58% from the field and are 5 of 7 from the 3-point line. Chauncey Wiggins has eight points off the bench and has made all three of his shots.
Arizona’s shooting has not improved … yet. The Wildcats are 2 of 13 from the field and trail 16-6 at the under-12 timeout. Clemson’s defensive pressure is frustrating the Wildcats.
Sluggish start for Arizona. Clemson leads 6-3 at the first TV timeout. Arizona is 1 of 8 from the field and 1 of 6 from behind the arc.
Annnnd we are underway with Clemson-Arizona!
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