No. 2 Memphis vs. No. 3 Missouri - 9:37pm EST - University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, AZ)

No. 2 seeded Memphis Tigers beat No. 15 CSU Northridge in the opening round of the West Bracket, but the victory didn't come as easy as many thought with the Tigers winning 81-70. The eleven-point lead is a bit misleading, because Memphis couldn't shake free until the final minutes of the game against a frisky Matadors team. The Tigers had a much easier time downing No. 10 Maryland 89-70 to advance to the Sweet 16.

No. 3 Missouri opened the tournament with a 78-59 win over No. 13 Cornell. The Tiger’s 83-79 second-round win over No. 6 Marquette was a nail-bitter decided by free throws and a bone head inbound play. 

Missouri, which shot 48.4 percent in the second round to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002, improved to 20-21 SU all-time in the NCAA Tournament. With the Tigers' two Big Dance victories, they broke a school record for wins in one season with currently 30, set during the 1988-89 campaign.

Memphis hasn’t lost a Conference USA game in the past three seasons, but the Tigers actually had a legitimate league rival before former UAB coach Mike Anderson left for Missouri. UAB reached the NCAA tournament in each of Anderson’s last three years there and handed Memphis its last conference loss, way back on March 2, 2006. This will mark the first time these rivals have squared off since Missouri hired Anderson away from UAB.