MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The NCAA Tournament came in, captured Memphis for six glorious games and moved out like only March Madness can.
The last two games wrapped up on Sunday night with the Houston Cougars and the Clemson Tigers surviving and advancing to the Sweet 16.
Game 1, Clemson (6) vs. Baylor (3)
The Clemson Tigers led the Baylor Bears the entire game, at one point by as much as 15. But with 36.2 seconds left, the Bears had a chance to tie it from the line but couldn't.
Despite not scoring a field goal for the final 6:41, Clemson held on to beat the Bears 72-64 to knock out the 2021 champions and advance to the program's second Sweet 16 in the past 25 years.
"I love these guys to death," Clemson center PJ Hall said. "There's so many guys on this team that care, from the 15th man on the bench to the managers. This is a special group. Golly, this is fun."
The Tigers will play Arizona (2) on Thursday, March 28.
Game 2, Texas A&M (9) vs. Houston (1)
The Houston Cougars led by as many as 13 points with 3:49 left in the game and somehow, someway the Texas A&M Aggies clawed their way back in a late rally, and Andersson Garcia hit a three-point buzzer beater to send the game to OT.
In OT, the Cougars managed to hold on and win 100-95. With four of Houston's five starters fouling out, the Cougars were the definition of surviving and advancing.
Houston's win means all of the one and two seeds in the Tournament are in the Sweet 16.
Houston will play Duke (4) on Friday.
