{"id":1346167,"date":"2023-03-25T23:54:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T03:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=1346167"},"modified":"2023-03-26T00:08:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T04:08:09","slug":"half-of-the-march-madness-final-four-is-set-as-uconn-fau-advance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/half-of-the-march-madness-final-four-is-set-as-uconn-fau-advance\/","title":{"rendered":"Half of the March Madness Final Four is set as UConn, FAU Advance"},"content":{"rendered":"

With No. 1 seeds Alabama and Houston losing on Friday, the Elite Eight will not field a top-seeded team for the first time in NCAA Tournament history. Instead 9th<\/sup> seed Florida Atlantic and 4th<\/sup> seed UConn are the first schools to punch their tickets to the Final Four.<\/strong><\/p>\n

March Madness Indeed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic became the first and lowest-seeded team to reach this year’s Final Four as the Owls withstood another huge game by Kansas State’s\u00a0Markuis Nowell to beat the Wildcats 79-76.<\/p>\n

FAU (35-3), making just its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament, won the East Region and will head to Houston to play the winner of Sunday’s South Region final between Creighton and San Diego State.<\/p>\n

The winningest team in Division I this season had never won an NCAA Tournament game before ripping off four straight, all by single digits. They were also the underdog in all four games.<\/p>\n

Nowell led Kansas State once again, finishing with a double-double. He finished with 30 points and 12 assists.\u00a0He became the first player to have 50 assists during an NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament since Illinois point guard Deron Williams in 2005.<\/p>\n

It was a balanced effort by FAU. Four players scored in double digits. Alijah Martin, Bryan Greenlee, Vladislav Goldin and Johnell Davis all scored at least 10 points. The Owls also outrebounded the Wildcats 44-22.<\/p>\n

In a classy and unexpected move, K-State head coach Jerome Tang visited FAU\u2019s locker room to deliver a message:<\/p>\n

\n

"Y'all the toughest son of a guns we played all year long."<\/p>\n

Jerome Tang visited the FAU locker room to congratulate the Owls. \ud83d\udc4f pic.twitter.com\/DUw0H49xSM<\/a><\/p>\n

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n