The San Diego Aztecs knocked out the No. 1 overall seed in March Madness, Alabama, with a 71-64 victory on Friday.
Shortly after, Houston was defeated 89-75 by Miami, ensuring that no No. 1-ranked team in its division reached the Elite 8 for the first time since 1979, when the current rankings were introduced.
San Diego had never beaten a top seed before and qualified for the first time in its history in the top eight.
The Crimson Tide have still failed to reach this stage of the tournament since 2004.
Its star player Brandon Miller, who according to his coach was not 100% since the start of the tournament due to groin discomfort, had a slow start and finished the game with only 9 points. He got his first basket only halfway through the first half.
San Diego took a 28-23 halftime lead on a 12-4 push to finish, while the defense managed to limit the opposing big guns.
The Crimson Tide came back strong in the second half, but another excellent 12-0 run from the Aztecs saw them reclaim the lead with 9 minutes to go after a block that was followed by a three-point shot from ‘Adam Seiko.
San Diego got its biggest lead of the night at 58-52 on another long field goal, this time from Micah Parrish with 4:30 to go.
Alabama came close to 66-64 on a Mark Sears rebound, but Matthew Bradley restored a four-point lead with his two free throws. After another free throw from the Aztecs, Nathan Mensah made a huge block with about ten seconds to go to preserve the victory.
Houston, last No. 1 eliminated from the race
Miami qualified for the Elite 8 for the second straight time with an 89-75 win over Houston.
Miami will try to advance to the Final Four for the first time in its history by facing in the final of the Midwest region Texas (No. 2), who beat Xavier (No. 3) 83-71.
Five Hurricanes players had at least 10 points, with Nijel Pack leading the charge with 23. He set a program record for the most long shots in a single game at this tournament, thanks to an efficiency of 7 in 10.
Isaiah Wong added 20 points while Norchad Omier had 12 points and 13 rebounds after returning from an injury in the ACC Championship Semifinals.
The Canes are only the fifth team to score 70 points against Houston this season.
The dream comes to an end for Princeton
Creighton ended Princeton’s Cinderella run by winning 86-74.
Princeton, 15th seed in the South Section, had reached the Sweet 16 with surprise wins over Arizona (No. 2) and Missouri (No. 7).
This time, they came up against No. 6 Creighton, who was carried by balanced offensive production: Ryan Kalbrenner, Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander scored 22, 21 and 19 points respectively.
Ryan Langborg and Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton in scoring with 26 and 24 points.
Creighton will face San Diego State in theElite Eight.
