Big upsets are arguably one of the most exciting parts of March Madness, despite the pain it might bring your already-busted bracket. The first day of the men’s NCAA tournament opened with an upset — albeit a slight one — as No. 9 Creighton dominated No. 8 Louisville. No. 12 McNeese followed a little later with the bigger stunner, taking down No. 5 Clemson. And McNeese wasn’t the only 12 seed to win in the first round.
The top four seeds in each of the four regions made it through the first round unscathed, limiting some of the bracket-busting craziness of recent years. That changed Saturday when John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks stunned Rick Pitino’s second-seeded St. John’s Red Storm in a showdown of Hall of Fame coaches.
No. 6 BYU 91, No. 3 Wisconsin 89: After taking an 11-point lead into the break at halftime, the Cougars held on late to knock off the Badgers and reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in more than a decade. Wisconsin brought the game back within two points and had a look to send it into overtime in the final seconds, but the Cougars got the stop to seal the win.
Richie Saunders dropped 25 points and seven rebounds while shooting 9-of-16 from the field, and the team shot nearly 50% from the field as a whole. The Cougars lost Dawson Baker late in the fourth quarter after he drilled a Wisconsin player in the groin, too. That drew an automatic flagrant 2 foul and led to his ejection. John Tonje led Wisconsin with 37 points.
BYU will now take on either No. 2 Alabama or No. 7 Saint Mary’s in the Sweet 16.
No. 5 Michigan 91, No. 4 Texas A&M 79: Roddy Gayle Jr. scored a season-high 23 points as the Wolverines rallied past the Aggies in the second half to reach the Sweet 16 in the South Region.
Gayle added 12 rebounds and three blocks as the Big Ten tournament champions continued their late-season surge.
Wade Taylor IV missed 11 of 15 shots, including all but one of his eight 3-point attempts, and the Aggies faded in the final seven minutes. Texas A&M led 70-66 with less than eight minutes left after Taylor’s lone 3-pointer only to watch Michigan score 15 of the next 17 points to wrestle away control of the game.
No. 10 Arkansas 75, No. 2 St. John’s 66: The Red Storm’s magical season came to a crashing halt at the feet of Calipari and the Razorbacks, sending the West Region’s No. 2 seed home.
St. John’s struggled against Arkansas’ physicality for much of the game, repeatedly missing layups and other close looks. Pitino benched St. John’s star RJ Luis Jr. down the stretch after he missed 14 of 17 shots and finished with only nine points.
The Red Storm shot a woeful 28 percent from the field (21 of 75) and missed 20 of their 22 3-point attempts. Zuby Ejiofor totaled 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead Arkansas.
Calipari advances to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
No. 10 New Mexico 75, No. 7 Marquette 66: For the first time in more than a decade, the Lobos are into the second round of the NCAA tournament.
No. 10 New Mexico surged ahead late and stunned Kam Jones and No. 7 Marquette with a 75-66 win in their first-round matchup at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. It’s the team’s first win in the NCAA tournament in 13 years, and now has them on the cusp of reaching their first Sweet 16.
While the Lobos led nearly the entire way in the battle, it wasn’t until a late run in the second half that finally sent them firmly ahead. They went on a long 10-0 run that lasted more than three minutes, powered by a pair of huge buckets from guard Donovan Dent. The Golden Eagles offense seemed to just run out of gas at that point, too. They managed just eight points in the final six minutes of the game while the Lobos powered ahead to the nine-point win without much issue down the stretch.
No. 12 Colorado State 78, No. 5 Memphis 70: Is Colorado State’s 78-70 win over Memphis officially an upset? It depends.
The No. 12 Rams overcame a five-point halftime deficit to take down the No. 5 Tigers on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But if you looked at the betting line before the game, the outcome was hardly a surprise. Colorado State closed as a 1.5-point favorite after opening as a 2.5-point favorite.
CSU was favored because Memphis entered the game without point guard and third-leading scorer Tyrese Hunter because of a foot injury. His backup, Dante Harris, also missed the game.
Colorado State trailed 36-31 at halftime but a barrage of 3-pointers in the second half helped them pull away. The Rams pulled within one less than five minutes into the second half and took the lead with 13:48 to go. They never trailed from there.
No. 9 Baylor 75, No. 8 Mississippi State 72: The Bears fought off a late rally from the Bulldogs to advance to the second round.
Baylor led by eight points with 5:10 remaining only to watch Mississippi State make the game tense in the closing minutes. The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game with less than 10 seconds left but Claudell Harris Jr. missed a 3-pointer.
Baylor overcame a game-high 26 points from Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard. Robert Wright III led the Bears with 19 points.
No. 11 Drake 67, No. 6 Missouri 57: Drake delivered the West region its second upset of the evening by taking down Missouri for its first NCAA tournament victory since 1971.
Bennett Stirtz, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, led the Bulldogs with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
Drake owned the country’s top scoring defense and successfully slowed the pace against the Tigers, who entered the tournament averaging 84 points a game.
Like McNeese coach Will Wade, who is leaving to take the North Carolina State job after the season, Drake’s Ben McCollum also could be coaching his final games with the Bulldogs. He’s a candidate for a number of openings.
No. 10 Arkansas 79, No. 7 Kansas 72: Once ranked No. 1 in the country early in the season, Kansas continued its slide by getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.
The Razorbacks were the second double-digit seed of the day to advance to the second round. It was also the first time John Calipari — in his first season at Arkansas — coached a double-digit seed in the tournament. With St. John’s taking care of Omaha, Calipari and the Razorbacks will face Rick Pitino in a second-round meeting of two of the sport’s greatest coaches.
The Jayhawks led late in a game that was close throughout but were ultimately doomed by turnovers. A 7-0 run by Arkansas put the game away. Jonas Aidoo led Arkansas with 22 points.
Kansas senior KJ Adams Jr. left the game in the final minutes with what is feared to be an Achilles tendon injury, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said.
No. 12 McNeese 69, No. 5 Clemson 67: We have our first Cinderella candidate of the NCAA tournament.
McNeese State dominated Clemson for a 69-67 win in the first round of tournament play on Thursday. With the win, McNeese State becomes the first double-digit seed to advance to the second round.
Clemson attempted to mount a late second-half rally, but its first-half deficit proved too much to overcome. McNeese State reeled off an early 19-2 run to take a 23-8 lead that remained at double digits until late in the second half. By halftime, McNeese State held a 31-13 advantage as the Tigers narrowly missed setting a tournament record for first-half futility. Things didn’t get much better after the break for Clemson, which failed to put significant pressure on the Cowboys.
The win also means we’ll see more of student manager Amir Khan, who’s become a fan favorite for walking the team out of the locker room with a boom box and singing along to rap songs.
No. 9 Creighton 89, No. 8 Louisville 75: No. 9 Creighton ran away from No. 8 Louisville in the first half on the way to win their first-round game in the South region.
The Blue Jays led 49-34 at the break and had a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half. Louisville got the lead cut to 12 with less than five minutes to go, but any hope of a last-ditch comeback were extinguished when Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey got a technical foul with 4:41 to go.
No. 9 Mississippi State 59, Cal 46: Madina Okot had 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead Mississippi State past Cal.
Mississippi State limited Cal to five points in the first quarter to take control. Eniya Russell also scored 14 points for Mississippi State.
Ugonne Onyiah led Cal with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
No. 10 South Dakota State 74, No. 7 Oklahoma State 68: The Jackrabbits are moving onto the second round. South Dakota State, after a brutal second quarter where it put up just nine points and fell back in Storrs, Connecticut, on Saturday afternoon, erupted after halftime.
The Jackrabbits put up 28 points in the third period alone and out-scored Oklahoma State by nine points to jump out in front. From there, they held on down the stretch in the final period to sneak out the six-point win and earn a spot in the second round of the tournament — which marks the program’s second time reaching that round in the last three seasons.
Brooklyn Meyer led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds,a nd Paige Meyer put up 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Jackrabbits — who have now recorded two 30-win seasons since reaching the Division-I level.
They’ll now take on UConn in the second round. The Huskies won their opening-round game by nearly 70 points earlier on Saturday.
No. 10 Oregon 77, No. 7 Vanderbilt 73 (OT): The Commodores forced overtime with a late second-half push, after the Ducks led by as many as 19 points earlier in the half.
Oregon held a slim two-point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation. But after a few missed free throws, Vanderbilt guard Leilani Kapinus — who was playing off the Commodores’ bench — hit a perfectly-timed game-tying layup.
Things remained tight in the extra period, but the tide turned in the final minute, when star Commodores freshman Mikayla Blakes and Kapinus fouled out. Khamil Pierre, who was the team’s second-leading scorer with 17 points, fouled out near the end of the fourth quarter, leaving three key Vanderbilt players on the bench.
With the score at 75-73, Oregon guard Peyton Scott had a chance for four free throws after being fouled twice in a row; while Scott missed the first two throws, she nailed the next two to make it a two-score game with five seconds left. Although the Commodores had one more possession left, they fell just short of the win.
No. 9 Indiana 76, No. 8 Utah 68: The Hoosiers and Utes played an incredibly tight first half, matching each other score-for-score through the first two quarters. But Indiana was able to start to pull away during the third quarter, and while Utah kept it close, the Hoosiers pulled off the win.
It was a team effort for Indiana, who shot 58 percent from the field, with guard Yarden Garzon leading the team with 17 points. Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens led all scorers with 14.
