Best Performances in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament
March 30th, 2024
by Alan Lu
Here are some of the best performances of the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Highlights and Best Performances from Thursday’s Games:
Alabama’s 6-11 big man, Grant Nelson had a tremendous, all-around showing to lift his team to a hard-fought win over North Carolina. (Photo: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports, via Yahoo Sports)
Alabama’s Grant Nelson scored 24 points, made both of his threes, and he had 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 steal in his team’s 89-87 win over North Carolina. Rylan Griffen scored 19 points and made 5 threes in this game. Cormac Ryan scored 17 points, made 5 threes, and hauled in 5 rebounds in North Carolina’s loss to Alabama.
(Source: Twitter/@UARoundballGuy)
Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. dominated from the get go, and he ended up scoring 29 points, made 4 threes, and had 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists in his team’s win over Iowa State. He also had arguably the play of the tournament, as he made a quick steal and threw down a ferocious dunk on the break that really gave a boost to Illinois. Iowa State’s Curtis Jones scored 26 points off the bench in his team’s loss to Illinois.
(Source: Twitter/@brhoops)
UConn’s Stephon Castle scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds and 2 assists in his team’s 82-52 win over San Diego State. Cam Spencer scored 18 points and had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, and made a pair of threes in this game.
Clemson’s 6-4 senior point guard, Chase Hunter continues to have a tremendous tournament, as he had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in his team’s surprising win over Arizona. For Arizona, their starting center, Oumar Ballo had 15 points and 15 rebounds in this game. Jaden Bradley scored 18 points off the bench.
Highlights and Best Performances from Friday’s Games:
Purdue’s 7-4 center, Zach Edey has been tremendous all tournament long, and he may be slowly erasing doubts about his ability to translate his immense production to the next level, as he’s a projected first round pick for the 2024 draft.
(Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images, via Yahoo Sports)
Purdue’s 7-4 center, Zach Edey continues to have a dominant NCAA Tournament, as he scored 27 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to lead his team to a double-digit win over Gonzaga, as he’s firmly put his team in title contention this year. Also, Braden Smith had 14 points, 15 assists, and 8 rebounds to help Purdue get the victory. Meanwhile, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike had 18 points, made 2 threes, and hauled in 10 rebounds in his team’s loss to Purdue.
(Source: Twitter/@DraftExpress)
Tennessee’s 6-6 senior swingman, Dalton Knecht scored 24 points, and had 6 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 block to lead his team to a win over Creighton. Zakai Zeigler and Josiah Jordan-James combined for 35 total points in this game. Baylor Scheierman scored 25 points, made 4 threes, and had 6 rebounds and 2 assists in his team’s loss to Tennessee.
(Source: Twitter/@DraftExpress)
Duke’s 6-11 sophomore big man, Kyle Filipowski scored 16 points, made 3 three-pointers, and had 9 rebounds and 2 assists to lead his team to a narrow win over Houston. Houston’s J’Wan Roberts scored 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting, and had 8 rebounds in his team’s loss to Duke.
It was a team effort for NC State to get an upset win over Marquette. NC State’s 6-10 junior big man, Mohamed Diarra is an athletic, high-motor player that has played solid defense in the tournament, and he had 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting, and 15 rebounds to help his team get the win. DJ Horne scored 19 points, made 4 threes, and had 5 rebounds, and Casey Morsell scored 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting in this game. Meanwhile, Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones combined for 37 points for Marquette in their loss, and Kolek also hauled in 10 rebounds.
There were a lot of strong candidates to earn the three stars of the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Without further ado, here it is.
The 3 Stars of the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament:
- Grant Nelson, Alabama (24 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, made 2 threes in a win over North Carolina)
- Zach Edey, Purdue (27 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Gonzaga)
- Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois (29 points, 4 made threes, 5 rebounds, 3 steals in a win over Iowa State)
Anyways, those are who I felt had the best performances in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Elite Eight and the rest of the tournament turns out. Thanks for reading.
