The Auburn Tigers and Houston Cougars will look to join fellow No. 1 seeds Duke and Florida in the Elite Eight. The 2-seed Tennessee Volunteers and 3-seed Kentucky Wildcats will face off in the highest-seeded matchup of the round. And Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans will open the night against the Ole Miss Rebels.

With Auburn's season on the brink, Tahaad Pettiford and Denver Jones suddenly became unstoppable. On to the Elite Eight for the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Pettitford and Jones scored 20 points apiece to lead a second-half barrage that rallied the Tigers to a 78-65 victory over Michigan in the Sweet 16 on Friday night.

The Auburn Tigers take on the Michigan Wolverines in a Sweet 16 matchup in the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday, March 28.

The third-seeded Red Raiders (28-8) earned the matchup against the Gators (33-4) by erasing a 13-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation before winning 85-83 in overtime in the Sweet 16.

Houston is 32-4 and has won 15 consecutive games since Feb. 1, including victories over NCAA Tournament qualifiers Arizona (twice), Iowa State, Texas Tech, Kansas and BYU in Big 12 play. The Boilermakers have made the Sweet 16 the past two seasons.

Now with 11 transfers, eight of them who had previous NCAA Tournament experience, they are in the Sweet 16 for the first time after sweeping the Big 12 regular season and conference tournament titles,

While some people may decry the lack of upsets in the first two rounds of the men’s NCAA Tournament, the result is a Sweet 16 filled with the best teams in the country.

For the 16th time during his 30 seasons as head coach of Michigan State basketball, Tom Izzo and his Spartans have advanced to the Sweet 16 round of March Madness. Izzo and his teams are 10-5 in Sweet 16 play of the NCAA tournament,