March Madness 2017: Thursday’s NCAA Tournament scores, highlights, and news

After three long days of a basketball-free existence, we all get to be transported back to the beautiful world of March Madness Thursday night.

Be sure to refresh this page throughout the evening for constant updates, videos, pictures and analysis from Thursday’s games.

12:48 — Stunner. Xavier scores the game’s final nine points and knocks off second-seeded Arizona, 73-71. Musketeers will play Gonzaga for a trip to the Final Four.

12:42 — Tied at 71, 1:09 to play. Wake up the kids.

12:40 — Just like that, Malcolm Bernard scores five straight and we have a two point game with under two to play. Thanks for making it worth staying up for, boys.

12:37 -- Bluiett hits a three Xavier had to have to keep this thing interesting. Kadeem Allen responds with a lay-up that pushes the lead back to seven. Xavier has about zero margin for error moving forward.

12:33 — It’s a now a 10-0 run for ‘Zona and they lead by six. Quite the answer with their season on the line.

12:32 — Allonzo Trier is going full hero. He’s scored 15 straight points for Arizona to bring them back from a 4-point deficit and put them ahead by three.

12:29 — Quick reminder that Xavier had lost six straight games before beating DePaul both to end the regular season and begin the Big East tournament. If they lose either of those games, they’re probably not in the field of 68. Instead they’re tired with Arizona with five minutes to go.

12:20 —Bluiett hasn’t scored this half and Xavier still leads by 1 at the under 12. Big 10:40 coming up for Sean Miller and company. And, you know, for Xavier too.

12:10 — Xavier not going away. They’re up one and Bill Murray is loving it.

11:48 -- Final: Kansas 98, Purdue 66. Jayhawks scored 45 of the game’s final 60 points.

11:37 — Decent second half for Bill Self’s team.

11:32 — Terrific final flourish to the half in San Jose, where Arizona leads 37-35. Trevon Bluiett continues his unreal postseason with 18 first half points for the Musketeers. It would be cool if this game weren’t going to end an hour after midnight on the East Coast.

11:28 — After an extremely slow start, Xavier has fought back and now leads Arizona by two late in the first half. The Musketeers played the Wildcats extremely close in this round two years ago.

11:20 — Kansas is now casually dropping 360 dunks in the middle of a Sweet 16 game.

11:14 — Frank Mason is doing a lot of Frank Mason things and Kansas has blown open what was a highly competitive game for the first 29 minutes. Jayhawks rolling by 16 with 8:33 to play.

11:06 — Is this shellshocked Bob Huggins or just new, normal Bob Huggins? I can never tell.

11:00 — If you missed Chris Webber openly clapping after the key sequence for Gonzaga, your ship has arrived.

10:51 — Arizona and Xavier are underway. There’s nothing like dads and sons across the country staying up together until 2 a.m. on a school night to see who wins a Sweet 16 game. March truly is magical.

10:26 — A disastrous end of half sequence for Purdue has them heading to the locker room down seven. I’m still thinking about the Yakety Sax video.

10:23 — This should win an Emmy:

10:18 — Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go enjoy three minutes of Kansas-Purdue before halftime.

10:17 — We just had a Sweet 16 game whose two major highlights were maybe the worst final possession of all-time, and an announcer berating the officiating crew for seven straight minutes during an inexplicably lengthy replay review.

This. Is. March.

10:13 — There are lots of debates about what to do in the final seconds of a three-point game. No one will ever say to do this:

10:11 — The game ends the way it was destined to: West Virginia airballs a three, gets the rebound, missed another one, gets the rebound, inexplicably holds the ball and doesn’t get a last shot off before the buzzer. Final: Gonzaga 61, West Virginia 58. The Zags are one win away from their first Final Four.

10:10 -- More missed free-throws. Just five minutes left in the first half of Kansas-Purdue, by the way.

10:08 — A hectic sequence after to missed WVU free-throws ends in a Jordan Matthews three to put Gonzaga up two. It was like a reverse Gonzaga/UCLA ‘06 final minute sequence.

10:04 — After a seven minute replay review (swear to God), we’re back underway and West Virginia leads by one. Shockingly, there has just been another foul call and the Mountaineers are about to shoot more free-throws.

10:01 -- Xavier-Arizona currently set to tip-off at some point after the third round of The Masters.

9:59 — Officials have been reviewing this call for the “20th 8” time, in Chris Webber’s words. I’m so delirious at this point that it makes sense.

9:56 — Daxter Miles hits a huge three to tie the game. West Virginia then gets a steal and a fast-break, Nathan Adrian appears to get shoved, and then appears to clearly save the ball in-bounds .... and the ball is given to Gonzaga.

9:53 — This is like that episode of The Office where they have the dueling Christmas parties, and we’re all stuck at Angela’s. We’ve got double fudge brownies and a an assload of turnovers and foul calls. Zags up 2 with 2:48 left.

9:49 — This is the worst competitive Sweet 16 game I’ve ever seen. All tied up at 52. Purdue leads Kansas by four and it sounds like they’re having fun over there.

9:32 — West Virginia’s halfcourt offense right now seems to be a whole lot of idle dribbling and then a desperation force at the end of the shot clock. If they’re not getting points in transition or early in the shot clock, they’re not getting points.

9:29 -- This game is more than making up for the swiftness of Michigan-Oregon. Things are dragggggging in San Jose, where West Virginia has clawed back to within two. Seventy-five minutes to go. Or something.

9:19 — Przemek Karnowski has it rolling right now and Gonzaga’s lead is eight. Check out Ricky O’Donnell’s great feature on the big man from earlier today. Also, help settle a debate: Is he more Wildling or more Clegane? I say Wildling but I’ve been out-voted all day.

9:12 — Here’s Walton’s potential game-winner for Michigan. He had a solid look.

9:10 — Gonzaga playing more freely now that they’re not as worried about fouling as they were at the end of the first half. Jordan Matthews hits back to back threes and the Zags are up 41-34 three minutes out of the break.

9:05 — Here’s what proved to be the game-winning basket from Tyler Dorsey:

9:02 — Quack, quack, quack Mr. Ducksworth.

9:01 — Oregon misses the front end of a 1-and-1, but Derrick Walton’s hero moment on the other end comes up just short. Final: Oregon 69, Michigan 68. The Ducks are the first team through to the Elite 8.

9:00 — CJ Wilson missed everything on his 3-point attempt, Dillon Brooks misses a lay-up on the other end but Jordan Bell gets the rebound and Michigan is forced to foul. Bell also had a huge offensive rebound and putback off a free-throw moments earlier. Bell has 16 points an 13 rebounds, and has been a total difference maker for the Ducks.

8:58 — Tyler Dorsey is a damn maniac this month. Hits the 20-point threshold for a sixth straight game and it gives Oregon a 1-point lead with a minute to go. Let’s see if Derrick Walton can answer yet again.

8:55 — Me as a coach:

8:53 — Tyler Dorsey and Zak Irvin exchange treys. Michigan’s up 1 and all the sudden neither team can stop scoring.

8:48 -- Michigan finally has it rolling from the outside and they’ve stormed back to take a 61-60 lead over Oregon with 4:15 to go. Derrick Walton drilled the three to give the Wolverines the lead. He’s got 18. I think has also been the shortest game of the tournament in terms of actual time. We tipped off around 7:12 and could be done before 9.

8:41 — Halftime: Gonzaga and West Virginia tied up at 30.

8:24 — Back on CBS, Oregon leads Michigan, 47-44.

8:23 -- Big time foul issues for Gonzaga, which has four players two or more fouls. West Virginia has successfully uglied up this game and we’re knotted at 22.

8:09 — The Zags continue to be extremely aggressive to combat West Virginia’s pressure. It’s helped them build a 21-18 lead, but I’m not sure if it’s a sustainable gameplan for 40 minutes.

7:54 — Tyler Dorsey’s ridiculous March is continuing. Duncan Robinson can’t guard him and he’s got 12 pints early on. Oregon leads 35-33 after an extremely competitive first half.

7:51 — Instead of trying to react to and survive West Virginia’s pressure, Gonzaga is going straight at it. It’s working early on, they lead 10-6.

7:42 — West Virginia and Gonzaga now underway on TBS.

7:38 — Michigan’s uncontested defense continues to shine this March, as Oregon blows a wide open cram and then gives up an easy deuce on the other end. John Beilein’s team leads, 18-16.

7:23 -- Oregon really forcing some bad shots on offense, but it’s getting the pace it wants and its athleticism is giving Michigan fits. Tied at 11 here as we head to the under 12 timeout.

7:15 — Oregon doesn’t appear to be as dedicated to running Michigan off the line as Louisville was in the last round. It’s resulted in two early treys and a 6-5 Wolverines lead.

7:10 — The tournament’s officially back, as Oregon and Michigan are underway from Kansas City.