2025 College Basketball Crown highlights: Eric Dixon carries Villanova past USC

The first-ever College Basketball Crown continued on Thursday with the final two quarterfinal games. 

First up, in an all-Big 12 matchup between UCF and Cincinnati, the Knights and Bearcats traded leads throughout, until Darius Johnson erupted in the final minutes and led UCF to victory.

After that was another fun showdown. Eric Dixon, who became Villanova's all-time leading scorer on Tuesday, came through once again for the Wildcats in a close battle with USC.

[Related:  From Eric Dixon's record night to Kevin Willard's arrival, all eyes on Villanova ]

UCF and Villanova move on to play each other in the next round. On Wednesday night, the other half of the bracket was set when Boise State and Nebraska advanced to the semifinals.

The winning team of each quarterfinal matchup takes home $50K, with a chance to earn more in the next round. The semifinals will be Saturday, followed by the championship game on Sunday, all of which will air on FOX. 

Here are the highlights from Thursday!

Eric Dixon and Rashaun Agee carried their teams into the quarterfinals, but both were cold in the first half Thursday night. Agee was 0-for-3 from 3 and had nine points. Dixon was 2-of-8 shooting, including 0-for-4 from behind the arc, for four points.

USC held a 31-27 lead at halftime and built that up to a 12-point advantage less than five minutes into the second half. Then Dixon woke up. He was responsible for 14 of Villanova's points during a 16-2 run in the middle of the half, giving the Wildcats a 45-43 lead. 

Agee stepped up, too. He had 13 points in the second half and a couple of ferocious dunks.

Down the stretch, the teams went back and forth the rest of the way until the score was tied 59-59 with less than a minute left.