The Southeastern Conference had a big Friday night.
Chris Chiozza's incredible running 3-pointer at the buzzer lifted Florida past Wisconsin in overtime, and it gave the SEC three teams in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1986.
Kentucky beat UCLA in the South Region, while South Carolina beat Baylor in the East. The Gators closed the night by eliminating the Badgers and the Big Ten.
No other league has multiple teams alive, with North Carolina (Atlantic Coast), Kansas (Big 12), Gonzaga (West Coast), Oregon (Pac-12) and Xavier (Big East) representing the rest of the Elite Eight.
Final Four tickets go out Saturday.
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EAST REGION
Sports
SOUTH CAROLINA 70, BAYLOR 50
Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded South Carolina cruised past third-seeded Baylor 70-50 on Friday night in the East Regional semifinals, the Bears' worst NCAA Tournament loss.
The Gamecocks (25-10) were in control from the middle of the first half on, mixing defenses and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
South Carolina will meet the winner of the Wisconsin-Florida game on Sunday with a trip to the Final Four at stake.
DJ Dozier and Chris Silva had 12 points each and Duane Notice added 11 for the Gamecocks.
Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which just couldn't get any offense going. The Bears missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and it didn't get a whole lot better the entire game. They finished 17 for 56 from the field (30.4 percent), including 3 for 13 from 3-point range.
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FLORIDA 84, WISCONSIN 83
After Zak Showalter's incredible shot for Wisconsin, Florida's Chris Chiozza came up with an even wilder one to send the Gators into the Elite Eight.
Chiozza took an inbounds pass, sprinted nearly the length of the court and hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to help Florida beat Wisconsin 84-83 in overtime.
Chiozza's shot came after Nigel Hayes had hit two free throws with 4.0 seconds left to put the Badgers up 83-81.
The game went to overtime — the first of the tournament — when Showalter hit an off-balance 3-pointer off his right foot with 2.5 seconds left in regulation to cap a late comeback for Wisconsin.
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SOUTH REGION
NORTH CAROLINA 92, BUTLER 80
Joel Berry II scored 26 points and Justin Jackson added 24 as top-seeded North Carolina moved to the Elite Eight with a 92-80 victory over Butler in the NCAA South Region on Friday night.
Luke Maye recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, helping fuel a quick start for Carolina (30-7). The Tar Heels never let their lead get under double digits in the second half.
Andrew Chrabascz led the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (25-9) with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Kelan Martin finished with 16 points for Butler, which struggled shooting early and did not recover.
Carolina, which reached the Elite Eight for the 27th time, will face the winner of Friday's second game between UCLA and Kentucky. The Tar Heels connected on 54.4 percent of their shots, while Butler was at 43.5 percent.
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KENTUCKY 86, UCLA 75
Kentucky has advanced to the Elite Eight behind a big night from freshman De'Aaron Fox.
The second-seeded Wildcats beat third-seeded UCLA 86-75 in the South Region semifinals in Memphis, Tennessee. And Fox scored a season-high 39 points to get the better of UCLA's Lonzo Ball in a matchup of star freshmen point guards.
Fellow freshman Malik Monk scored 21 points to help Kentucky earn a matchup with No. 1 seed North Carolina in Sunday's regional final.
Ball managed just 10 points.
