What happened in the NCAA Men's Tournament Sweet 16

DALLAS — Duke's Ryan Young just fouled out after a four-point, four-rebound night, and after a missed Kyle Filipowski jumper, it's Houston's ball, down 54-51, with 16 seconds left. The Cougars saw in their last game that A LOT can happen in the final seconds of regulation. So ... this one isn't over quite yet.

DALLAS — As DJ Burns Jr. walked over to the roaring NC State fan section in the American Airlines Center, he held both forearms up, elbow down and palms facing the sky. Teammates followed with the same pose. A simple shrug and a smile. That look sums up this current NC State team. An improbable run at a school known for some improbable runs, now heading to the program’s first Elite Eight in 38 years after handling No. 2 seed Marquette 67-58. Where the heck did these guys come from? A No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament. A team that wasn’t even on the bubble until five wins in five days in Washington D.C. to win the ACC tournament. It’s now eight in a row.

DALLAS — We've got a good (albeit low-scoring) one going at American Airlines Center with about three minutes left. Duke leads 52-48. Houston won't go away, but the Cougars can't quite get over the hump.

There's a fan who keeps holding up a Ted Lasso-inspired "Believe" sign about a dozen or so rows behind the Houston bench. Belief is nice and all, but the Cougars need buckets (and stops) in these final minutes.

DALLAS — Feels like the Houston portion of the crowd was a little muted after Jamal Shead's injury. But they're coming alive a bit more as minutes tick away in the second half, and a couple of timely shots by the Cougars kept Duke from getting comfortable at the under-eight timeout.

Two Duke players (Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach) are in double figures, while Jared McCain and Tyrese Proctor have seven points each. After that 8-0 deficit to start the game, the Blue Devils have used a pretty balanced attack to gain the edge.

DALLAS — Not long before the under-11 timeout, Houston forward Ja'Vier Francis airballed a short jumper from the baseline.

It was pretty clear that Francis was a little down on himself after the miss. As the Cougars huddled up, Cedric Lath and others could be seen patting Francis on the back and shoulder as Francis nodded along, presumably agreeing with some words of encouragement from teammates.

Francis has seven points and seven boards so far, so he's been far from invisible. If he steps up his game even more in the final 10 or so minutes, that sideline pick-me-up may be a turning point.

DALLAS — Not that it's a great strength of the team, but we're about 25 minutes into the game, and Houston has yet to hit a 3-pointer (the Cougars only have taken four).

Duke, by comparison, is 4-of-13 from beyond the arc. Could certainly see a couple of timely long-range shots being the difference down the line if this one stays as tight as it's been since the first couple of minutes.

CBS's Tracy Wolfson said that Jamal Shead got X-rays at halftime and they were negative. His ankle is heavily taped and the team is leaving the door open that he could still return to the game. He started the second half on the bench.

Houston point guard Jamal Shead came out of the locker room with his team and has his shoes on, but he is not warming up with his team

DETROIT —With Tennessee senior guard Santiago Vescovi out with the flu and officially “day to day,” and with the plan to compensate for his loss disrupted by foul trouble, the Vols let Creighton loose late in the first half Friday at Little Caesar’s Arena.

The Bluejays lead 35-34 at the break and finished the half on a surge, though neither team has led by more than four. Creighton got 15 points from All-America wing Baylor Scheierman. Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey – the two players whose minutes stood to increase from Vescovi’s absence – both picked up two fouls in the second half, and Rick Barnes kept them on the bench.

He went deep into that bench, finding minutes for seldom-used guard Freddie Dilione and Cameron Carr, along with big man JP Estrella. Carr promptly hit a 3-pointer after entering the game, helping the Vols stabilize late in the half. Dalton Knecht has 10 points and Zakai Zeigler has seven points and four assists. The Vols are 5-for-10 from 3-point range after going 3-for-25 in their round-of-32 win over Texas.

The second half may be as simple as which star transfer, Scheierman or Knecht, can make more plays.

The CBS broadcast just showed Houston's Jamal Shead exiting a locker room on a knee scooter, with no shoe on his right foot. Didn't look like an encouraging sign for his possible return.

DETROIT —In your Portal Showdown of the Sweet 16, Dalton Knecht versus Baylor Scheirman, Big Sky versus Summit League in the Sweet 16 is delivering. Scheierman has 15, Knecht 10, both leading the sort of Power 6 schools teams that wanted nothing to do with them coming out of high school.

DALLAS—A Tyrese Proctor free throw gave Duke its first lead of the game against Houston, and after the teams traded buckets, the Blue Devils took a 23-22 advantage into halftime. Houston scored just six points after Jamal Shead's apparent ankle injury.

This one is physical, defense-focused, and honestly, a little ugly. You'd think that would play into the Cougars' hands, but if Shead can't return, things are bound to stay interesting in the second half.

DALLAS — I noted to our front-office insider John Hollinger a few weeks ago that I was headed down to Waco, Texas, to catch Houston-Baylor on a Saturday afternoon.

He said that he considered Cougars guard Jamal Shead one of his draft "sleepers" (and if John didn't want that publicly known, then I'm talking about some other guy with the same name).

If Shead can't return after his nasty slip and fall on a missed layup attempt, that'll obviously be a big blow to Houston's chances against Duke. But big picture, I'm not sure anyone is sleeping on Shead now. At 6-1, he's a bit on the small side, but his leadership is evident when you watch on TV and even clearer when you see and hear him communicate and direct his teammates in person.

Jamal Shead turned his right ankle. Walking off now and putting a little bit of weight on it. Houston is already missing two rotation players.