Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (4) dunks over Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Darrion Williams (5) during the second half during a West Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Chase Center. (Eakin Howard-Imagn Images)

Staff, Wire Reports

SAN FRANCISCO — For most of two halves Thursday, Texas Tech guard Darrion Williams kept firing away and kept seeing the basketball clang off the rim. But with the season on the line, Williams was deadly accurate.

Williams’ driving layup with seven seconds left in overtime lifted the third-seeded Red Raiders to an 85-83 victory over 10th-seeded Arkansas in an NCAA Tournament West Region Sweet 16 contest at Chase Center.

Texas Tech will face top-seeded Florida in the regional final on Saturday (5:09 p.m., TV: TBS, truTV).

Before that, Williams nailed a 3-pointer from well beyond the top of the arc with nine seconds left in regulation to force the extra period.

“My coach and my teammates kept telling me I was gonna make them when it counts,” Williams said. “To see that come to fruition in this big moment was pretty cool.”

Williams, who went to school in Sacramento — about 100 miles east of San Francisco — said he had 40 to 50 family members and friends in the seats. He did not give them much to cheer about initially. He made just 2 of 12 shots in the first half.

“He’s just a resilient guy,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I put faith in him, because I believe he will find a way in a one-game scenario to do whatever it takes to win. He could’ve been embarrassed with his family here thinking it was not his night. But that’s just not his way.”

Christian Anderson led Texas Tech (28-8) with 22 points while JT Toppin added 20. Kevin Overton had 12 off the bench.

The loss kept the 10th-seeded Razorbacks (22-14) from advancing to an Elite 8 contest for the first time since 2022. It also prevented head coach John Calipari from reaching a regional final for the 13th time.

Johnell Davis had a game-high 30 points for Arkansas while Karter Knox scored 20. The Razorbacks let a 61-45 lead evaporate over the final 10:23 of regulation.

“Hard game,” Calipari said. “Two teams went at it. Slugfest. But I told the guys. There’s nothing individually or what my team did that could disappoint me.”

The Red Raiders’ victory gives them an opportunity to play for a return trip to the Final Four for the first time since 2019, when they reached the national championship game. Florida will be seeking its first trip to the Final Four since 2014.

“The biggest thing for me in watching them play,” McCasland said. “Man, can they score. They have a plan that they execute as well as anyone in the country.”

Arkansas had grabbed a 72-66 lead after Knox picked up a loose ball and canned a corner 3-pointer. But Texas Tech outscored the Razorbacks 19-11 the rest of the way. A 15-6 run by the Razorbacks got them a 61-45 lead and included a flurry that featured a Jonas Aidoo dunk, consecutive layups by Johnell Davis and JT Toppin and a thunderous dunk by Trevon Brazile that turned into a 3-point play when he was fouled and made the free throw. Texas Tech refused to concede, however. The Red Raiders scored 23 of the next 33 points over the next nine minutes to pull within 69-66 with 1:55 left.

“What an unbelievable college basketball game,” McCasland said. “They came out and punched us good. I kept telling these guys in timeouts that we’re going to win the game. D5, I don’t know what he started the game out 0-for quite a few from 3. And Christian was 0-for. I told them we’re going to make it when it matters. I believe it with all my heart. That’s Red Raider basketball. It doesn’t matter what the score is, what’s stacked against us — I think we got down to 16 at one point and telling JT we’ve got to get stops and rebounds.”

The loss sent Arkansas home, but their heads weren’t down after contemplating their final destination following five straight losses to begin the season.

“It shows are chemistry, how much of a brotherhood we are,” Knox said. “We went from 0-5 to the Sweet 16.”

ALABAMA 113, BYU 88

Mark Sears led a historic 3-point barrage with 10-of-16 accuracy from deep, racking up 34 points to power No. 2 seed Alabama to a 113-88 victory over No. 6 seed BYU in an East Region Sweet 16 matchup Thursday in Newark, N.J.

Alabama (28-8) made 25 3-pointers on 51 attempts, breaking NCAA Tournament records with both marks. The Crimson Tide are looking for their second straight Final Four berth.

Sears added eight assists and came one 3-pointer shy of tying the individual tournament record (Jeff Fryer, 1990 Loyola Marymount). Aden Holloway joined in with 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the arc.

Richie Saunders paced BYU (26-10) with 25 points and Egor Demin contributed 15 points and seven assists. The Cougars outscored the Crimson Tide 50-16 in the paint but went 6-for-30 (20 percent) on 3-point tries.

DUKE 100, ARIZONA 93

Freshman star Cooper Flagg tallied 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three blocks as the Blue Devils survived the Wildcats in Newark.

The Blue Devils (34-3) made 13 consecutive shots from the floor, including their first nine of the second half, to leap ahead before fending off a valiant Arizona comeback spearheaded by Caleb Love’s season-high 35 points.

Kon Knueppel scored 20 points and Sion James 16 for Duke. Jaden Bradley contributed 15 and Henri Veesaar added 13 for the Wildcats (24-13), who couldn’t keep up despite making 12 3-pointers.

FLORIDA 87, MARYLAND 71

Will Richard scored 15 points to pace six players in double figures, and the Gators defeated the Terrapins in San Francisco.

Alijah Martin added 14 points and Walter Clayton Jr. had 13 for Florida, which held a 29-3 advantage in bench scoring. The Gators (33-4) also outrebounded the Terrapins 42-20.

Maryland freshman Derik Queen, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and potential NBA draft lottery pick, scored 27 points for Maryland (27-9). Guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 17 points.