HOUSTON (AP) — Houston is in the Candy 16 for a seventh straight season, and this outing may possibly possibly possibly be its sweetest yet.
The 2d-seeded Cougars meet No. 3 Illinois Thursday evening in the NCAA Tournament’s South Arena semifinals at Toyota Center, the dwelling of the Houston Rockets that sits correct over two miles from their campus.
Though it’s technically a impartial region, the Cougars, final 12 months’s nationwide runners-up, deem it a dwelling sport.
“Yeah, 100%,” Houston forward Joseph Tugler said. “We’re on the crib.”
And the plot does he query the team to be?
“Lit,” Tugler said. “That’s it. Can’t hear nothing. You ain’t gonna hear nothing accessible.”
While some coaches have complained in the previous when matched up in the tournament with a personnel genuinely playing at dwelling, Illinois coach Brad Underwood had no gripes.
Underwood recalled a time for the length of his first head instructing job at Dodge Metropolis Community College when he drove the personnel in a van bigger than 900 miles from its campus in Kansas to a tournament in Arizona.
“Must you had suggested me abet then that I’m getting to coach basketball in the Candy 16 and play Houston, I would join it, I would run to net there,” Underwood said. “If we want to beat them, irrespective of the set we play them, we would must play immense. Wager what? We’re going to must originate that tomorrow to come. And I feel about they’re going to must play properly if they want a guess to beat us.”
Though Houston is extremely happy to be playing so shut to dwelling, the Cougars know that a fair correct predicament received’t indicate one thing else if they don’t play properly. In final 12 months’s Candy 16, Houston met Purdue in Indianapolis, which is correct over an hour from the Boilermakers’ campus.
Houston received 62-60.
“It doesn’t in actuality give you too noteworthy of a bonus, in fact,” the Cougars’ Milos Uzan said. “Each and every personnel right here is appropriate. … I feel about we correct proceed with the an analogous preparation and live with the outcomes.”
Houston beat Idaho and Texas A&M in the major two rounds, and Illinois beat Penn and VCU.
Illinois is in the round of 16 for the 2d time in three seasons. Underwood led his personnel to the Elite Eight in 2024.
The Illini depend upon their highly efficient offense and are ranked 17th in the nation in scoring at 84.7 substances per sport. As has long been the case below coach Kelvin Sampson, the Cougars receive with defense, rating 2d in the nation by limiting opponents to 62.2 substances a sport.
Each and every squads are led by unbelievable freshman guards. Keaton Wagler averages 17.8 substances a sport to manual Illinois, and Kingston Flemings averages 16.2 substances for Houston.
“They’re each and every, I would speak, broken-down beyond their years by poise,” Underwood said. “And, clearly, the successes each and every those younger men have had this season are keen paralleled by their growth and what their affect’s been on their personnel.”
Nebraska and Iowa renew their Giant Ten rivalry
Nebraska and Iowa have long been rivals but Thursday evening’s matchup will seemingly be their first in March Madness. The Cornhuskers are having their most profitable season after snapping an 0-8 tournament streak with wins over Troy and Vanderbilt to punch their worth to Houston.
Iowa knocked off final 12 months’s champion, Florida, to achieve the Candy 16. Including to the rivalry is that broken-down Iowa player Pryce Sandfort is now starring for Nebraska.
The Giant Ten squads have met twice this season, with every winning as soon as.
“It’s clearly keen intense, each and every teams care about their sports, and I feel about it’s any sport you play, Iowa-Nebraska, it’s going to be high-stage intense and folks care about it plenty,” Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz said. “So, this may be a packed out area and proper taking a explore forward to it.”
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said the rigors of the convention have ready each and every teams for this discipline.
“Let me correct speak this relating to the Giant Ten: They’ve six teams in the Candy 16. That’s out of the ordinary,” he said. “And … it prepares you for this 2d playing against that quality of opponent evening-in and evening-out. I’m correct in actuality cheerful for the league. It’s been a relaxing run, it’s a grind to net thru it. Nonetheless it’s going to be relaxing to survey optimistically a pair of teams in the Ultimate Four.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
