While Katie and I watched Les Miserables, the first two teams punched their ticket to Houston. Thanks to March Madness’s app Condensed Games video, I was able to catch up pretty quickly today – it is a nice feature for those of us who don’t want to miss a moment.

In the night cap, Gonzaga and Connecticut were tied at 25 with about 5 minutes in the first half. And then in a blink of an eye, it was over. The Huskies would finish the half on a 14-7 run to take a 7 point half-time lead. The Huskies then scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second half to extend the lead to 17, and never looked back. Jordan Hawkins led UConn with 20 points (including 6-10 from three point range). Andre Jackson Jr did a little of everything with 8 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. And the Huskies are heading to Houston for the Final Four.

But the bigger news of the night happened in the first game at Madison Square Garden. Florida Atlantic started off with a 42-38 lead at halftime. But Kansas State would start off the second half on a run. It looked like the Wildcats were well in control as Markquis Nowell hit a three pointer from deep and then had one of his trademark passes in the lane to Nae’Qwan Tomlin for a layup to get a 57-50 lead. With 8 1/2 minutes left, Kansas State had answered every FAU comeback – as Nowell hit another three pointer for a 63-57 lead.

And then, Kansas State lost their answers. FAU’s big man Vladislav Golden hit a layup in the lane, and Johnell Davis found Brandon Weatherspoon in the corner for a three pointer to cut the lead to 1. And then, Golden had a big dunk with about 6 minutes to give the Owls the lead. FAU would continue their run, including a three-pointer from Alijah Martin with about 3 minutes left. Martin would later hit two free throws to finish off their 15-1 run to take a 72-64 lead.

The Wildcats continued to fight back. Massoud hits two free throws and Nowell hit another deep three pointer to cut the lead to 3. With a little over 1 minute, Johnell Davis drove to the basket and made a nice lead to extend the lead back to 5. With 24 second left after some free throws for both teams, Cam Carter made a three pointer to cut the lead to 1 point.

But the Owl’s Michael Forrest would hit 4 huge free throws, and the FAU defense would play great defense on Ismael Massoud to prevent him from getting off a shot or sending the ball back to Nowell, and the Conference USA champion won the East Regional 79-76.

Congratulations to the Owls and Huskies!!! Creighton and San Diego State have started off – so in what will hopefully be a great afternoon of basketball, we will know the two teams that will join them in Houston.