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NCAA Tournament 2019: Saturday's Elite 8 Scores, Updated Bracket and Schedule
March 31, 2019
The NCAA tournament field continued to dwindle when four of the Elite Eight teams took the floor on Saturday.
The first batch of basketball came from Anaheim, California, between No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 3 Texas Tech in the West Regional Final.
No. 1 Virginia and No. 3 Purdue gave the encore performance in Louisville, Kentucky, shortly afterward with both teams trying to make the Final Four for the first time since the 1980s.
Peek at an updated bracket, schedule and results below.
Saturday Matchups and Results
No. 3 Texas Tech def. No. 1 Gonzaga, 75-69
No. 1 Virginia def. No. 3 Purdue, 80-75
Bracket
Schedule
Keep up with the tournament's schedule at NCAA.com.
Recap
Texas Tech Red Raiders 75, Gonzaga Bulldogs 69
Watching the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs and No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders go at it bordered on whiplash.
This matchup was expected to be tight on paper, as KenPom.com's most efficient offense (Gonzaga) and most efficient defense (Texas Tech) clashed, and players on both sides delivered. Neither team held a lead larger than seven.
The first half rained threes, while the second half was mostly defined in the paint.
That said, three-point land decided the game in the final minutes. Texas Tech sophomore guard Davide Moretti swished two clutch threes with under four minutes to go, each one making the game a two-possession game.
Then with 56 seconds left and Texas Tech up 68-62, Red Raiders senior forward Tariq Owens blocked Gonzaga junior forward Rui Hachimura's three-point attempt. Owens had five blocks in the game.
It felt like Owens' block was the dagger to Gonzaga's season, but sophomore guard Zach Norvell Jr. stole the ball, which led to senior guard Josh Perkins hitting a three-ball to cut Texas Tech's lead back to two points with 22 seconds left.
Ultimately, the Red Raiders put the game away when Perkins was assessed a technical foul for reaching over the line and interfering with Texas Tech's inbounds pass with 12 seconds to go.
The Red Raiders forced Gonzaga into an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers. Overall, though, both teams were even statistically. Texas Tech shot 43.9 percent from the field, followed closely by Gonzaga's 42.4 percent, while each team was active on defense with 17 combined steals.
Hachimura led all scorers with 22 points, Texas Tech sophomore guard and Big 12 Player of the Year Jarrett Culver finished with 19 points despite struggling the most he has all tournament.
Five seniors departed from last year's Elite Eight team, but this Red Raiders squad muscled its way to the program's first-ever Final Four appearance.
Texas Tech will face the winner of Sunday's matchup between No. 1 Duke and No. 2 Michigan State.
Virginia Cavaliers 80, Purdue Boilermakers 75
Nobody has had a better tournament than Purdue's Carsen Edwards, and it was the junior guard that looked to be sending the Boilermakers to their first Final Four since 1979-80 with his 10th three-pointer of the game making it 69-67 with 1:11 to go in regulation.
Virginia didn't like that fairytale ending and instead creating their own.
Up 70-67, Purdue head coach Matt Painter advised his team to foul with five seconds remaining. Cavaliers junior guard Ty Jerome was sent to the line. He made his first free throw and purposefully missed his second. Freshman guard Kihei Clark scrambled for the offensive rebound and found junior forward Mamadi Diakite in the paint.
We've seen heartbreaking misses at the buzzer in earlier rounds, but Diakite found the net as time expired to tie the game at 70 and force overtime.
Virginia put the clamp on Purdue in overtime, but not before Edwards gave Boilermakers everywhere hope once more with a running jumper to put his squad up 75-74 with 43 seconds remaining.
After singlehandedly keeping his team alive, it was Edwards who ended Purdue's season with a poor pass to senior guard Ryan Cline that went out of bounds with a little over one second remaining and Virginia up 78-75.
And so, the Cavaliers became the first No. 1 seed to punch a Final Four ticket this year and the first team in program history to make the Final Four since 1983-84.
Edwards led all scorers with 42 points and is the highest scorer through the Elite Eight in the men's NCAA tournament since Stephen Curry in 2008 with 139 total points (dating back to 2000).
For the Cavaliers, junior guard Kyle Guy and Jerome combined for 49 points and nine three-pointers.
Virginia will face the winner of Sunday's matchup between No. 2 Kentucky and No. 5 Auburn.