OKLAHOMA CITY — Out of the locker room and into the Paycom Center hallway, the Nebraska contingent went, traces of delirium on their faces and drips of water rolling off their mussed follicles. It had been almost 20 minutes since the game of their lives, the game of this NCAA Tournament, the game that will always be remembered by Nebraska and Vanderbilt fans — in very different ways — was won on the tiniest of bounces.

Yet as they walked toward a postgame news conference late Saturday night to discuss it all, they passed a tunnel leading into the arena and were greeted with screams. Nebraska fans with seats around the tunnel spotted them, because thousands of Nebraska fans were still in their seats, reveling, the music still thumping in the arena, as if some kind of encore would be happening.

As if Nebraska 74, Vanderbilt 72 — won and lost several times by both teams until Braden Frager’s layup went for Nebraska and Tyler Tanner’s halfcourt shot went in and out for Vanderbilt — weren’t enough.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

NEBRASKA IS IN FRONT 😱 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/bHX87XMzCu

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— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2026

“Heyyyy!” Nebraska’s Rienk Mast yelled to the fans, giving them a point as the Cornhuskers kept marching, and dripping, and laughing.

Mast gave teammate Pryce Sandfort a slap on the back as Sandfort said to Frager, of the winning basket made possible when Sandfort zipped a pass to him: “I was so close to pulling that 3. Oh my God. And you were wide open.”

And Mast sat and listened as coach Fred Hoiberg told the assembled media: “You guys have no idea how invasive that (left knee) procedure that Rienk went through. … More than anything, I’m just happy for him because you see the joy. It was hard.”

It took everything for South Region No. 4 seed Nebraska (28-6) to survive the greatness of Tanner and No. 5 seed Vanderbilt (27-9), earning the first Sweet 16 in program history and a Thursday date in Houston with No. 1 seed Florida or No. 9 seed Iowa. It took the 15,000 or so fans in red in the arena, making it feel much more like a Big Ten home game in February than a March Madness setting.

It took hot shooting early, clutch shooting late, eight missed Vanderbilt free throws, four scorers in double figures and the ability to summon composure through the fatigue and panic as Vanderbilt turned a 10-point deficit into a five-point advantage with 5:34 to play.

It took Mast taking over in timeout huddles to make sure the Cornhuskers didn’t lose that composure.

“That’s what he does,” Nebraska’s Cale Jacobsen said of Mast, who also had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The 6-foot-10, 250-pound senior from Groningen, Netherlands, is only on this team because he had to miss all of last season recovering from knee surgery. As the Lincoln Journal-Star recently reported, it was far beyond a typical knee surgery — it was a cartilage transplant from a cadaver to alleviate a condition called osteochondritis dissecans.

And there was ample risk that his knee would reject the tissue, and a long time period of Mast rehabilitating but not knowing for sure. Just as so many things had to come together for the Cornhuskers to follow up the program’s first NCAA Tournament win with another, Mast’s successful recovery was a central part of a team coming together that could make that kind of history.

This NCAA Tournament, like the last one, has been light on Cinderella stories and heavy on big brands and big favorites rolling. Saturday night at Paycom Arena was the Big Ten vs. the SEC, the top two money hoarders in an industry guided by their hoarding.

But it was also two groups of players and coaches as endearing as your average mid-major No. 13 seed. It was little Tanner, the lightly regarded 2024 recruit, dropping 27 and nearly one of the greatest shots in NCAA Tournament history. It was little Sam Hoiberg, on his birthday (and the birthday of twin and Nebraska manager Charlie), extending his career with so many gutty plays. It was big Mast in the middle of it all, a guy who probably shouldn’t be playing, facilitating and narrating for his team.

“He’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around,” Sam Hoiberg said. “My dad said it to you guys, the most disciplined player, and it’s all true. I live with Rienk, I see it every single day, how disciplined he is. But he’s such a good dude, too.”

That dude zipped a pass to Berke Buyuktuncel with 2:08 left for his fourth assist to give Nebraska back a 68-67 lead. Then AK Okereke drilled a corner 3-pointer for Vanderbilt. Then Mast tried to take the lead right back with his fourth 3-pointer but it missed — into the hands of Hoiberg, who tied the game with the rare diminutive point-guard putback.

Then Tanner sliced through the Nebraska defense as he did all night, a layup for a 72-70 lead with 58 seconds left. Then Hoiberg tried to answer with a drive, missing — into the hands of Mast, whose putback tied it with 37 ticks left. One more Nebraska stop, Sandfort rebounding a Chandler Bing miss, set up the final sequence.

Sandfort to a cutting Frager. Tanner from behind halfcourt, then to the court on his back, both hands to his face.

“Hit every part of the rim,” Fred Hoiberg said.

“I think it took me a half a second to register it didn’t go in, and then I just screamed in elation,” Sam Hoiberg said.

“I just about died,” Sandfort said.

“Like, I just went completely blank,” Mast said.

This close…. 🤏#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/lEtY7T1WX1

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2026

As for Tanner, when asked if he thought it was going in, he could only nod his head. The devastation on the Vanderbilt side was exactly as you’d expect. And for Vanderbilt fans, this one might occupy a higher spot on a list that includes Matthew Fisher-Davis mistakenly fouling Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh with his team up and 17 seconds left … and the Murray State buzzer-beater in 2010 … and Roy Hibbert’s obvious but uncalled travel in 2007 … and that 1993 loss to Temple …

“This is going to take a long time for myself and this team to get over,” said Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington, who has worked wonders in two seasons.

“They were so close to being in our shoes,” Jacobsen said of the Commodores. “My heart goes out to those guys.”

But his guys are moving on, and might be as Cinderella-like as any group left in this thing. A few feet away from Jacobsen, Mast was holding court with reporters. He moved some chairs out of the way to create space. He started to grab one for himself, stopped and said: “Nah, I don’t need it.”

“This is unbelievable,” Mast said. “Like, ‘Oh my God, we really did this. … Last year was pretty tough. But like throughout that whole year, this is what you work toward. I’m so grateful to stand where I’m at right now.”

Parts of California and Arizona were under extreme heat warnings again Saturday while sweltering summerlike weather even stretched as far north as Nebraska just a day into spring.

Temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) were forecast in the Southwest, closing a remarkable week of record-breaking heat. Experts say April, May and June are likely to be hotter than normal almost everywhere in the U.S.

Win Marsh said the heat was a reason to return home early to Utah after she and her husband, Stephen, hiked 170 miles (273 kilometers) over two weeks in Arizona, starting at the Mexico border. Their goal was to complete more than 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) on the Arizona Trail.

“We know our limits,” Marsh, 63, said Saturday. “We can’t hike when our bodies can’t cool down. There’s no shade out there, and water sources are drying up. … We promised our kids we wouldn’t do sketchy stuff. We’re not out there for a search-and-rescue event.”

The National Weather Service predicted 100 degrees (37.7 C) in Tucson, Arizona. The Yuma Desert, a desert community in southwestern Arizona, was headed toward 105 degrees (40.5 C), a day after reaching 112 (43.3 C) — a record for the highest March temperature in the United States.

Two places in Southern California also hit that temperature Friday. Experts say triple-digit days typically arrive by May, not March.

In the Midwest, temperatures exceeding 90 (32.2 C) were predicted across Nebraska, followed by a big drop to the 50s and 60s Sunday. A red flag warning was posted, which means a higher risk for wildfires. Parts of Texas were also at 90 or higher Saturday.

“This heat is likely to break many long-standing records from over a century ago across the area,” the National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska, said.

All evacuation orders were lifted in areas affected by Nebraska’s Cottonwood and Morrill fires, which have burned more than 1,200 square miles (3,118 square kilometers) for days but are largely contained, the state Emergency Management Agency said. The areas are dominated by range and grassland.

March’s heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to a report Friday by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who study the causes of extreme weather events.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington expects a hostile environment when the Commodores play Nebraska on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Byington is well aware of how Nebraska’s fans flooded Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center for a first-round game. A sea of red witnessed history on Thursday as Pryce Sandfort led the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers (27-6) to a 76-47 victory over Troy for their first-ever tournament win.

Byington said his fifth-seeded Commodores (27-8) will need to stay connected and lean on their experience to deal with the atmosphere. The arena is just a six-hour drive from Nebraska’s campus in Lincoln, and Cornhusker fans took advantage by creating a caravan down Interstate 35.

“I think it’s neutral by name only,” Byington said. “This is going to be a road game. I heard reports. They said it was even better than the home games in Nebraska — the noise, the environment.”

Nebraska entered March Madness as the only team from a power conference without an NCAA Tournament win. Now, the loyal fanbase wants more. Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg believes the crowd could be more intense on Saturday.

“I think it’s going to be maybe even louder, because people are going to be off work and come down for the weekend,” he said. “Yeah, we fully expect to have another amazing crowd, but you can’t rely on that to win a game. You have to still execute and focus on the game plan.”

Vanderbilt, which rallied to defeat McNeese in the first round on Thursday, has faced tough environments this season, and things have not gone well. The Commodores played Southeastern Conference road games against NCAA Tournament teams Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee and came out of those contests with a 1-4 record.

Big Red shenanigans

Hoiberg addressed a Nebraska fan jumping into the Bricktown Canal in downtown Oklahoma City on Thursday night.

“I saw one guy jumped in the canal last night,” he said. “Yeah, they (Nebraska fans) took over. It’s almost like they didn’t want the day to end, you know? That was fun to see all that stuff, although I’m guessing he got in a little bit of trouble for doing that.”

‘Better and better’

VCU has kept winning since mid-February, including a run through the Atlantic 10 Tournament to get a bid to March Madness and set up its massive comeback from 19 down to beat sixth-seeded North Carolina in overtime. And coach Phil Martelli Jr. had a clear message about what could be ahead for his 11th-seeded Rams (28-7) entering Saturday’s second-round game against Illinois.

“What I told those guys is every time you win in March, the wins feel better and better and better as you go along,” Martelli said. “Last night felt pretty good. Winning the championship felt good. Last night felt a little bit better.

“I told them, if you want to feel a pretty sweet feeling, you go get No. 2 tomorrow.”

That said, the pressing challenge is stopping an offense ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency by averaging 131.7 points per 100 possessions.

“One thing I know about these guys is they’ve responded to every challenge and they’ll be ready to go,” Martelli said.

The third-seeded Fighting Illini (25-8) faced the least drama of any winner in Thursday’s four first-round games in Greenville, South Carolina. Illinois advanced with a 105-70 win against Penn after shooting 50% and making 15 of 36 3s (.417), while the Illini dominated the glass (48-25) with their size.

“We have so many versatile players on the team that we kind of spaced the floor, and we were able to pick the defense apart with our skill,” guard Andrej Stojakovic said.

This is Illinois’ sixth consecutive NCAA bid. The Illini have failed to reach the second weekend in four of the previous five years, the outlier being a run to the Elite Eight two years ago before falling to UConn on the Huskies’ romp to a second straight national title.

Another Cinderella run?

VCU looks to add to its long history of tournament upsets.

Illinois is a 10 1/2-point against VCU, favorite according to BetMGM. But VCU has a long history of pulling shockers during March Madness.

In 2011, the 11th-seeded Rams got all the way to the Final Four, defeating No. 3 seed Purdue and No. 1 seed Kansas along the way. In 2007, No. 11 seed VCU knocked off No. 6 Duke in the first round. In 2012, No. 12 VCU defeated No. 5 Wichita State in the first round.

Almost home

Houston is one win from going back home for the Sweet 16.

The Cougars (29-6) will face Texas A&M (22-11) in the second round Saturday in Oklahoma City. If they win, they would then need two wins at the Toyota Center in Houston — just a few miles from campus — to return to the Final Four.

The Cougars have fought the urge to look ahead from the moment the brackets were announced. They looked focused when they rolled past Idaho 78-47 in the first round on Thursday.

They’ll face a tough Aggies team that defeated Saint Mary’s 63-50 on Thursday.

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AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard contributed from Greenville, South Carolina.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness