Baylor and Houston advanced to the Final Four Monday as the Bears beat Arkansas 81-72 and Houston topped Oregon State 67-61.

The Tulsa Beacon goes to press on Tuesday afternoon and the final two participants were decided in games Tuesday night. USC played Gonzaga and UCLA played Michigan.

Arkansas had a pattern of comeback wins after falling behind but the 18-point deficit against No.1 seed Baylor was too big of a hill to climb.

“When we got down, we could’ve hung our heads,” said Arkansas coach Eric Musselman after the game. “We played really hard. But we lacked some scoring at times, and defensively they hit some tough shots on us.” 

The closest they came in the second half was four points.

As of Tuesday morning, there was a Final Four team from the Big 12 (Baylor) and the American Athletic Conference (Houston). Meanwhile, the Pac-12 could have two teams in the Final Four, USC and UCLA, while Michigan from the Big Ten could make it and Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference could be in the Final Four.

Elite 8 Monday

Bay’lor 81, Arkansas 72;  Houston 67, Oregon State 61

March 30

USC vs. Gonzaga;. UCLA vs. Michigan

Sweet 16

Arkansas 72, ORU 70

Baylor 62, Villanova 51

Houston 62, Syracuse 46

Oregon State 65, Loyola Chicago 58

Gonzaga 83, Creighton 65

Michigan 76, Florida State 58

UCLA 88, Alabama 78

USC 82, Oregon 68