All four No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16, using notably different ways to get there.

On Saturday, Auburn started slow (again) before blowing past Creighton in the second half, while Houston started fast before fending off a dangerous Gonzaga squad.

Then, Sunday brought perhaps the best game of the tournament to this point, as No. 1 Florida ended UConn’s three-peat hopes in a hard-fought, well-played contest. Duke was the last No. 1 to advance out of the second round, crushing Baylor with a dominant performance.

This is the round where legends are made, and The Athletic has you covered with postgame takeaways, in-depth analysis and expert insight.

No. 3 Kentucky 84, No. 6 Illinois 75

MILWAUKEE — An offensive explosion early in the second half propelled Kentucky to an 84-75 victory over Illinois. The Wildcats made 10 of their first 11 field goal attempts to start the second stanza en route to building a lead that swelled to as many as 16 points.

Illinois refused to go away, cutting the deficit back down to six with 1:36 remaining, but Kentucky coolly put the game away with timely free throws and stout defense to clinch its first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2019.

No. 1 Duke 89, No. 9 Baylor 66

RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke’s dominance continued on Sunday, as the Blue Devils blasted the Baylor Bears to advance to the Sweet 16. Jon Scheyer’s team has now won its first two NCAA Tournament games by a combined 67 points.

Crucially for Duke, Cooper Flagg once again looked fully recovered from the ankle injury he suffered in the ACC tournament. The likely No. 1 NBA Draft pick posted 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes.

No. 1 Florida 77, No. 8 UConn 75

RALEIGH, N.C. — The winner of 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament games and the last two national championships was never going to bow out easily.

So Walter Clayton Jr. forced the issue.

After 37 minutes of neck-and-neck basketball on Sunday inside Lenovo Center, in which No. 8 UConn gave No. 1 Florida all it could handle, Clayton — Florida’s All-American guard and leading scorer — finally delivered the decisive run the Gators needed to pull out a 77-75 win and advance to the Sweet 16.

Clayton made two free throws with 1:45 to play, and then a dagger 3-pointer with 1:07 left, which made up the bulk of UF’s game-winning 8-0 run. Then, Alijah Martin’s offensive rebound and subsequent dunk with 40 ticks left gave Todd Golden’s team just enough late breathing room to survive one final UConn push.

The First Team All American gives No. 1 Florida its first lead of the second half vs. No. 8 UConn.

The timing couldn’t have been better for Clayton, who didn’t make a shot for the game’s first 15 minutes before finally turning into the best version of himself after halftime; he scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes, as Florida came from behind to end UConn’s bid for a third straight national championship.

It was clear early on that UConn wasn’t going to go away easily, just like Hurley suggested Friday night after his team beat Oklahoma in a slog of an 8-9 game. Case in point? Despite the Huskies only shooting 32.4 percent overall and 22.2 percent from 3 in the first half, a Hassan Diarra 3-pointer only seconds before the halftime buzzer — so deep it might as well have been from Storrs — kept things knotted at the break.

Then, instead of the top-seeded Gators coming out of halftime with their hair on fire, it was Hurley’s Huskies who did so, rattling off a 7-1 run that gave them a lead they maintained for most of the second half. The teams kept trading points for the bulk of the second frame: UConn was never able to fully separate, and Florida was never able to fully catch back up.

Top things to watch for in upcoming action

No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 4 Arizona (9:40 p.m. ET on TBS)

In an old-school Pac-12 showdown, the defense-minded Ducks will look to slow down the 12th-best offense in the country.

Oregon should avoid a shootout, as it is 11-0 when allowing 65 points or fewer and 16-1 when teams score fewer than 73.

The Ducks are led by third-team All-Big Ten point guard Jackson Shelstad, who averages 13.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

Oregon isn’t great at any one thing offensively but has four starters who average over 10 points per game.

Arizona runs an aggressive, attack-minded offense led by Caleb Love — a volatile but fearless scorer who might go cold for stretches yet somehow always rises to the moment when the game’s on the line. The Wildcats like to push the pace and light up the scoreboard, having been held under 73 points just seven times all season.

The steadier and more disciplined team will win this game and head to the Sweet 16.