March Madness 2026: The Best and Worst from Day 3

Saturday gave us three absolute thrillers and nearly one of the greatest March Madness moments of all-time.

Let’s get to it.

March Madness’ 3 best games of Day 3

1. (4) Nebraska 74, (5) Vanderbilt 72 (South)

Nebraska-Vandy wasn’t just the best second round game of Saturday, it was one of the best second round games the tournament has ever seen.

Playing in front of what seemed like 75,000 Go Big Red fans, the Cornhuskers and Commodores put on a shot-making show for the ages in the second half, one which came tantalizingly close to giving us one of the all-time buzzer-beaters in March Madness history.

The two teams — who both seemed incapable of missing for long stretches of the second half — traded the lead four times over the game’s final two minutes. Nebraska seized the advantage for the final time with 2.2 seconds remaining when Pryce Sandfort, the team’s leading scorer, passed up the opportunity to play hero in favor of finding teammate Braden Frager for a driving layup that sent Paycom Center into a frenzy.

That is an all-time first weekend crowd pop right there.

The same crowd was nearly sent to its collective knees moments later when Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner came as close as you can possibly come to making a halfcourt buzzer-beater without actually making a halfcourt buzzer-beater.

This shot somehow did not go through the basket.

Absolute madness.

Three days ago Nebraska was the only power conference program that had never won a game in the NCAA Tournament. Now, they’re the talk of the tournament and guaranteed to be one of the last 16 teams standing.

A lifetime of changes can happen over these first few days of the tournament. Or, in the case of this particular game, over the course of a split second.

2. (4) Arkansas 94, (12) High Point 88 (West)

The tournament’s final shot at having a bonafide mid-major Cinderella came crashing down in the final hours of Saturday as John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks outlasted High Point to punch their ticket to a second straight second weekend appearance.

The teams exchanged leads in the game 15 times, and found themselves tied for the sixth time when the score was knotted up at 83 with 3:17 to play. That’s when Darius Acuff completely took over.

The SEC Player of the Year scored seven straight points on his own to give the Hogs the separation they hadn’t been able to find over the game’s first 39 minutes, and put his team in position to salt away a 6-point victory.

When Calipari was asked after the final horn what the difference in the game was, he didn’t mince words.

“I think it was that kid Darius Acuff,” Calipari said. “We put it in his hands, and the team trusts him. What you saw it what he be’s.”

Acuff’s 36 points overshadowed a Herculean effort from High Point’s Rob Martin, who finished with 30. The last mid-major standing, the Panthers finished the season with a sparkling 31-5 record, the best mark in program history.

3. (11) Texas 74, (3) Gonzaga 68 (West)

Who says Cinderella is dead?

We’ve got an 11-seed dancing its way on to the Sweet 16 despite facing the overwhelming odds stacked against a little guy with … the largest overall budget of any athletic program in the country.

See? This is fun. We’re having fun.

The Longhorns became the sixth team in the history of the tournament to win three games in five days and go from the First Four to the Sweet 16 thanks in large part to Camden Heide’s game-sealing three-pointer in the closing moments.

After not a single underdog prevailed on Friday, Texas’ upset snapped a 23-game tournament winning streak for favorites, and also marked the Longhorns’ third win in five days as a dog.

The lovable little guy from the Lone Star State just keeps chuggin’ along.

3 teams that won it the best

1. Houston

The Cougars broke Texas A&M’s soul early in this one, forcing the Aggies into 12 straight missed shots at one point in the first half on their way to an 88-57 demolition of Bucky Ball. Freshman standout Chris Cenac Jr.‘s 17 points and nine rebounds led the Houston onslaught.

After also beating Idaho by 31 points on Thursday, Houston became the first team since North Carolina in 2008 and just the fourth team ever to win its first two games of the tournament by 30 points or more. Kelvin Sampson’s squad will now look to become the first of those four teams to go on to win the national championship.

2. Michigan

The first 10 minutes of Michigan-Saint Louis was remarkably entertaining. The lead changed hands six times and both teams showcased extremely high levels of offensive efficiency. Then the Wolverines went on a 9-0 run and never looked back.

Facing the best field goal percentage defense team in the country, Michigan shot a scorching 55.7 percent from the field and nearly breached the 100-point mark for a 10th time this season. Before Saturday, Saint Louis hadn’t allowed an opponent to shoot better than 48 percent from the field in a game.

3. Illinois

Illinois trailed for a grand total of 24 seconds in what proved to be a breezy 76-55 win over 11th-seeded VCU. The Illini used their superior size to dominate the Rams on the glass (45-29) and hold them to 35.0 percent shooting from the field. Adrej Stojakovic came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points to lead the rout.

The Illini victory was the 300th career win for head coach Brad Underwood.

The 3 Biggest Disappointments

1. Gonzaga

Gonzaga haters will be well-fed for another offseason.

After seeing its streak of nine consecutive Sweet 16 appearances come to an end last season, the Bulldogs will now miss out on the tournament’s second weekend for a second straight year following their upset loss to 11th-seeded Texas.

Not only did Gonzaga become the first top four seed to lose in this tournament, but the upset loss to the Longhorns matched the record for the worst-seeded team to beat the Zags in March Madness.

Rest easy, “yeah but they’ll never win it all” crowd; Your watch has ended for yet another March.

2. Texas A&M

Feel good, overachieving teams from major conferences have a long history of lopsided losses in the tournament’s opening weekend. Texas A&M, which was picked to finish 13th in the SEC before the start of the season, became the latest squad to make that list with their 31-point beatdown at the hands of Houston.

It was a very bad day for the Aggies, but “Bucky Ball” is still off to an amazing start in College Station.

3. TCU

There wasn’t a real obvious or natural fit for this third spot, so we went with TCU purely because of the final margin of their loss to Duke. The game wasn’t as straightforward as the final score would indicate (more on that in a bit), but still, a 23-point loss is a 23-point loss.

5 Day 3 Cheers

1. Nebraska fans

When you’ve waited your entire life to watch your favorite team advance in the NCAA Tournament and then suddenly you get two March Madness wins in three days, this is the result:

This is the definition of an earned moment.

2. Houston remaining the new Sweet 16 king

A year after ending Houston’s nine-year streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, Houston extended its own streak of second weekend appearances to seven. The Cougars are just the fifth team in the tournament’s modern era to make seven consecutive Sweet 16s.

Not bad for a program that hadn’t made the second weekend since 1984 when the streak started.

3. Bucky McMillan going out of his way for local reporters

This is quickly becoming the tournament of respecting hard-working reporters.

Even Mick Cronin showed love to a reporter on Saturday. Sure, it came at the expense of all other reporters, but you know, baby steps.

4. The double-digit seed in the second weekend streak

Texas’ upset of Gonzaga ensured that a double-digit seed will crash the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for an 18th consecutive year. With VCU and Texas A&M losing earlier in the day and no double-digit seeds scheduled to play on Sunday, the Longhorns were the final shot to keep the streak going.

In each of the last three years, just one double-digit seed has made the second weekend, and in each of those three years that double-digit seed has been from a power conference (NC State as an 11 in 2024, Arkansas as a 10 last season, and 11th-seeded Texas this year).

5. Kent Pavelka

You call losing basketball for 52 years … you deserve a week like this week and a night like last night.

They’re a 4-seed from the Big Ten, but the Huskers are still the best feel-good story going this March.

5 Day 3 Jeers

1. The early standalone games

We’re going to do this every year until it changes.

I will never, ever, ever understand the layout of the tournament’s first Saturday and Sunday. I’m sure the explanation is rooted in something related to television ratings and money, but it still defies basic logic from a fan perspective.

After being flooded with games at all hours for the previous 48 hours, we get just two games back-to-back for the first five hours of the day. No games going on at the same time. Even the first half of the third game is alone on an island. And then BAM, we’ve got six games hurled at us during the evening session.

There’s no reason to have second round games wrapping up after midnight on the East Coast. It’s an easy fix, and it blows my mind that it hasn’t happened yet. Having at least one other option as Michigan was routing Saint Louis in the early afternoon would have been nice.

Giving us all these options for 48 hours straight and then yanking them away without a proper adjustment period is cruel and unusual punishment.

2. The officiating in Duke-TCU

TCU held its own with Duke for about 30 minutes before a string of extremely questionable calls that all went against the Horned Frogs opened the flood gates.

Jamie Dixon’s team trailed 59-50 when a seemingly very obvious goaltend by Duke was not called.

Dixon rightfully argued the call and was assessed what seemed to be — and what he believed to be — a very quick and undeserved technical.

With the aid of a questionable double flagrant whistle and a handful of other baffling calls, the Blue Devils ended the game on a 22-8 run.

Does Duke win this game without the aid of a friendly whistle? Almost certainly, but that doesn’t change the fact that TCU was robbed of the opportunity to take a fair shot at the Blue Devils down the stretch. This was a competitive game for 30 minutes and viewers deserved the opportunity to watch a competitive finish.

3. Tyler Tanner’s shot not falling

As great as the Nebraska story has been … how did Tyler Tanner’s halfcourt shot not drop? And how cool would it have been if it did?

He thought he made it from the moment it left his hands, and that reaction would have gone down as an all-time March moment. As it is, we’ll have to settle for an all-time March game.

4. Robbie Avila getting torched by an Ady Mara

You can’t do this to Larry Blurred in his last college game, man.

5. The over-inflated basketballs striking again

We won’t stop until this is addressed and corrected. We can’t stop until this is addressed and corrected.

PERHAPS if it had already been addressed and corrected, we get a halfcourt buzzer-beating game winner in the final moments of Saturday night.

All Day-3 Team

Darius Acuff, Arkansas

Not only did Acuff go off for a day-high 36 points against High Point, but his 58 points through two games are the most ever by a freshman in the first two games of an NCAA Tournament.

Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt

The honorable mention All-American was sensational in the final game of his sophomore season, scoring 27 points to go along with four assists and four steals.

Rob Martin, High Point

Overshadowed by Acuff’s effort on the other side, Martin dropped 30 points on Arkansas in the final game of his college career.

Coen Carr, Michigan State

With things looking a little dicey in the second half against Louisville, Carr took over. His stretch of three consecutive baskets and a blocked shot gave the Spartans the separation they needed to hold off the Cardinals over the game’s final minutes. Carr finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds for the long-awaited first double-double of his college career.

Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Saint Louis simply had no answer for the First Team All-American, who scored a game-high 25 points on a highly efficient 9-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-5 from deep.

5 Best Day 3 Dunks

1. Kellen Thames, Saint Louis

Two of the best dunks of the tournament happened in the same game about five minutes apart. Here’s the first one:

2. Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Here’s the second one:

3. Zvonimir Ivisic, Illinois

“Take me to the Balkans, please!”

4. Coen Carr, Michigan State

It was a day that ended with a Y, so Coen Carr had a highlight dunk.

5. Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt

The stars were cramming on Saturday.

3 Best Day 3 Images

1. How?

2. Sweet Corn 16

3. Flying Illini

5 Notable Quotes From Day 3

1. “I was just praying all the prayers that I know. Saying ‘God, please, we worked so hard, just don’t go in. Don’t go in.‘ Then backboard, bounce out. I was like ‘Oh my God.’ I didn’t say oh my God, but I say the F word. Sorry.” —Nebraska’s Berke Büyüktuncel on Tyler Tanner’s halfcourt shot

2. “Best birthday yet.”—Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg

3. “You can’t grow in 24 hours.“ —Saint Louis head coach Josh Schertz on trying to come up with a game plan to combat Michigan’s size advantage

4. “You asked a question and didn’t listen. You sound like my wife right now.” —VCU head coach Phil Martelli Jr.

5. “If you want players to be empowered, they gotta know that there’s a commitment to the players. We have that at Arkansas and you have that at High Point. They are committed, which is why you have a chance to win championships.“ —Arkansas head coach John Calipari

Full Sunday schedule for 2026 men’s NCAA tournament

Last day of the first weekend. Let’s leave it all out there.

• (2) Purdue vs. (7) Miami (Fla.) | 12:10 p.m. | CBS
• (2) Iowa State vs. (7) Kentucky | 2:45 p.m. | CBS
• (4) Kansas vs. (5) St. John’s | 5:15 p.m. | CBS
• (3) Virginia vs. (6) Tennessee | 6:10 p.m. | TNT
• (1) Florida vs. (9) Iowa | 7:10 p.m. | TBS
• (1) Arizona vs. (9) Utah State | 7:50 p.m. | truTV
• (2) UConn vs. (7) UCLA | 8:45 p.m. | TNT
• (4) Alabama vs. (5) Texas Tech | 9:45 p.m. | TBS