Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Kelvin Sampson of Houston were looking to resurrect their careers after being handed show-cause penalties by the NCAA for recruiting violations.

Despite turning his left ankle and suffering a right elbow injury, Johni Broome finished with 25 points. His health will be massive for Auburn against the Gators. Florida beat the Tigers 90-81 at Auburn on Feb. 8. Auburn won the regular-season SEC title but Florida won the SEC tournament.

Tennessee never saw the NCAA Midwest Region final against Houston unfolding the way it did. The Volunteers missed 19 of their first 22 shots and scored just eight points in the first 15 minutes of their 69-50 loss.

The Houston Cougars have now won 17 consecutive games, the longest active winning streak in college basketball in the nation. Houston will face Duke in the Final Four.

Houston and Tennessee are battling in the Elite Eight round of March Madness. Follow the latest scores, updates, stats and highlights.

Anytime they could, it felt like the Vols went out of their way to let the Cats know they were going to out-tough them on this night.

Houston jumped to a big lead by limiting Tennessee, and the Cougars cruised past the Volunteers to advance to their Final Four since 2021.

The nation’s stingiest defense held the Volunteers, who've never made a Final Four, to 15 first-half points, the fewest in an Elite Eight game since 1979.