Morning Wrap-up: NC State upsets Villanova, Notre Dame wins OT thriller

Every day during the NCAA Tournament, theScore brings you the biggest, most interesting and most important stories as they happen. Check back each morning for a recap of what you may have missed the day before. It's okay, it's March Madness. There's a lot going on.

Saturday started much like Friday, with favorites winning the first four games, making it 27 favorites winning in the last 28 games, and it looked like chalk was set to rule another day.

And then the day changed ...

Vill-OH NO-va

No. 8 NC State shocked No. 1 Villanova, 71-68, throwing the East Region into tumult.

After scoring a one-point victory in the Round of 64, NC State was once again the Cardiac Pack, clinging to life late as Villanova had multiple chances to tie or even take the lead.

Normally a 39.2 percent shooting team from long range, Villanova shot 9-of-28 on threes and surrendered a minus-13 edge on the glass. The Wolfpack made the most of their ample opportunities at the line - shooting 20-of-27 on freebies - limited turnovers and had a little bit of good fortune in their favor.

Potentially working in NC State's favor moving forward: U-Conn knocked off Villanova in the Round of 32 last year and went on to win the title, and the last time NC State beat a one-seed, they, too, won a national championship.

Thanks a lot, Obama.

Con-naught-in this house

It's 55-55, it's been scoreless for nearly three minutes and Butler's Roosevelt Jones misses a jumper. Zach Auguste corrals the rebound for Notre Dame with six seconds left and ... double-dribbles? Yes, double-dribbles.

Butler ball, Kellen Dunham pulls up for a three ... and Pat Connaughton swats it into the crowd. After Butler misses a buzzer-beating try, we go to overtime, with a spot in the Sweet Sixteen on the line.

In overtime, it was the Irish hanging on for a 67-64 victory thanks to some timely 3-point shooting and a ridiculous layup from Jerian Grant. That pushes Notre Dame to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2003, and more importantly for everyone else, it was an unbelievable basketball game.

Seriously, I'll still be catching my breath when this post goes live in the morning. Damn.

One shining father-son moment

Cinderella bids ending on opening weekend instead of at the Sweet Sixteen is always a tough one to take. When teams have great stories, it's even tougher. These teams give an incredible amount of time and effort to a singular goal, and it's a shame only one team can win, cliche though that may sound.

In the case of Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter and his potentially NBA-bound son R.J. Hunter, a season-ending loss was cause for an emotional embrace.

After the game, the elder Hunter really opened up, and it's tough not to let the weight of the situation get to you:

Pac-12 and ACC still perfect

UCLA is on to the Sweet Sixteen. Is that enough to silence any remaining haters? How about the fact that the Pac-12 is now 7-0 in the tournament, with Arizona and Utah joining UCLA with wins on Saturday and Oregon still to play Sunday? It's been quite the couple of days for a conference that was perceived to be much weaker than in recent years.

Not to be outdone, the ACC has also been rolling, tallying a 9-0 record. North Carolina, Notre Dame and NC State are on to the Sweet Sixteen. Duke, Virginia and Louisville will all be favored Sunday, too.

We're facing a reality where the Sweet Sixteen could be made up of 10 teams from the Pac-12 and ACC alone.

Eat your heart out, Big 12. You could also question the strength of the SEC, with only Kentucky left standing. We're certain the Wildcats are still very, very good, but their in-conference performance feels slightly less impressive after three tournament days.

Prospect Watch

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson helped Arizona shut down top-five prospect D'Angelo Russell. It was a really impressive defensive team effort, but Hollis-Jefferson was at the forefront and has now had two strong games in the tournament. It was a tougher outing for Russell, who still did some impressive things but shot 3-of-19 in the loss.

And it wasn't just defense for RHJ:

You can check out a full prospect breakdown here, but here are a few notable performances:

• Kevon Looney had his freshman-high 15th double-double of the season, scoring 10 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Willie Cauley-Stein had another great defensive performance, as did Karl-Anthony Towns, and the twin towers combined for 17 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. They could both go in the top-five in June. Trey Lyles also had a double-double for Kentucky.
• R.J. Hunter went down gunning with 20 points on 6-of-15 from the floor in a loss, perhaps the last of his college career.
• Michael Qualls went out with a bang for Arkansas, scoring 27 points with 10 rebounds and three assists. Bobby Portis had 18-14-3 with five steals, too. Strong showings in a tough loss.

Other Top Performers

• Tony Parker shot 11-of-14 in a UCLA victory, finishing with a career-high 28 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. He couldn't have been a bigger problem inside for UAB. In response, UAB's Robert Brown scored 25 points and went 4-of-8 from long range.
• T.J. McConnell was everywhere for Arizona, helping Hollis-Jefferson with the Russell assignment and shooting 8-of-13 to finish with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals.
• Jalen Reynolds scored a career-high 21 points for Xavier, shooting 8-of-9 from the floor and adding six rebounds. Myles Davis went 5-of-8 from outside in support.
• NC State didn't have a stand-out scorer but Lennard Freeman (11-12) and Abdul-Malik Abu (13-12) each had big double-doubles.
• Darrun Hilliard went down shooting for Villanova, hitting 6-of-10 from long range for 27 points in the loss.
• Steve Vasturia scored a carer-high 20 points, Zach Auguste grabbed 13 rebounds and Pat Connaughton blocked five shots for Notre Dame, while Roosevelt Jones scored 23, Kameron Woods grabbed 15 boards and Andrew Chrabasz added 20 points for Butler. This game was everything.

Nice Play, Baby

There were plenty of entertaining highlights on Saturday - check out the top five here. Here are a few of the ones that can't wait for a click and a page load.

Cauley-Stein is a bad, bad man.

So is whoever conjured up this bit of black magic.

Qualls is even trickier.

There was also that whole send-a-game-to-overtime-with-a-block thing:

Full Results

11 UCLA 92 vs. 14 UAB 75
1 Kentucky 64 vs. 8 Cincinnati 51
2 Arizona 73 vs. 10 Ohio State 58
6 Xavier 75 vs. 14 Georgia State 67
1 Villanova 68 vs. 8 NC State 71
4 Georgetown 64 vs. 5 Utah 75
4 North Carolina 87 vs. 5 Arkansas 78
3 Notre Dame 67 vs. 6 Butler 64 (OT)

Need More?

If this recap wasn't enough, yesterday's live blog still exists.

Up Next

We're set to do it all again on Sunday, closing out what's been an excellent first week of March Madness. Thanks to all the chalk on Friday, there's only one team - No. 11 Dayton - seeded lower than No. 8. That may mean a little less Cinderella magic, but it could also mean a higher quality of games overall, with six of the day's games having a spread of six points or fewer.

Most notable among those is the highly-anticipated showdown between No. 7 Wichita State and No. 2 Kansas. Those teams haven't played in 22 years because of Kansas' refusal to play a non-conference game against their in-state rival. It should also be one hell of a game, as the team's are pretty evenly matched.

There's also a dick swinging contest set to take place, apparently.

From a prospect perspective, Duke's Jahlil Okafor and Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky both see the quality of interior competition pick up against San Diego State and Oregon, respectively.

The games tip off at 12:10 p.m. ET. Here's a more detailed look at what to watch.