Duke dominated their opening game with Cooper Flagg’s ankle worries being diminished with his team’s great performance despite him only getting 14 points.
Oregon and Arizona cruised past their first-round opponents, while Saint Mary’s won a hard-fought battle against Vanderbilt, securing a 59-56 victory.
Alabama had a closer-than-expected contest against Robert Morris, ultimately winning 90-81 despite Mark Sears’ struggles from beyond the arc.
Wisconsin and BYU both handled their first-round matchups efficiently, setting up a competitive second-round clash.
Mississippi State and Baylor had an intense game with Baylor scraping by to win 75-72.
In the first round of March Madness, the southern region had a lot of great games. The first game of the day was between Creighton and Louisville, and Creighton showcased their ability to be a top offense in the tournament. They ended up winning 89-75.
Another one of these games included a 7 seed to 10 seed upset between New Mexico and Marquette. New Mexico ended up winning 75-66 in an electric game. Auburn, the one seed in the southern region, beat Alabama St. 83-63.
Four seed Texas A&M stood strong in a game where many thought 13 seed Yale would beat them. They won 80-71.
Three seeded Iowa State easily beat Lipscomb, winning 82-55. Ole Miss vs UNC was a great game, featuring an incredible comeback story. Ole Miss was up by over 20 for most of the game and UNC came back to tie, however they ended up losing 71-64.
Two seeded Michigan State beat 15 seeded Bryant 87-62.
Then, the best game of the round was between Michigan and UC San Diego. This game was a thriller. UC San Diego took their first lead of the game with a little under 3 minutes left, and Michigan responded by taking back the lead just a few seconds later with a deep 3. Stifling defense back and forth happened up until 20 seconds left when Michigan was sent to the free throw line. This put the score to 65-68 with the shot clock off. UC San Diego had a chance to tie the game with a 3 and it missed.
The March Madness first round began on Thursday and continued through Friday, and this story is here to cover everything that happened in the West region of the bracket.
The #7 seeded Kansas Jayhawks started off by taking a loss to the #10 seeded Arkansas Razorbacks. With the loss, it was Kansas’ first time losing in the first round since 2006. Arkansas big man Jonas Aidoo accumulated 22 points and forward Trevon Brazile had 12 rebounds. Jayhawks guard Zeke Mayo had 18 points in the loss.
Later, the #6 seeded Missouri Tigers matchup up against #11 seeded Drake Bulldogs. Missouri was hot all season, but not Thursday night as the Bulldogs upset the Tigers 67-57. Leading the Bulldogs was Division 2 transfer Bennett Stirtz with 21 points, as was making it rain with threes. Out of Missouri’s 57 points, Caleb Grill led the way with a lackluster 14 points. The Tigers had some awful miscues that were out of character.
The #2 seeded St. John’s Red Storm under coach 2nd year coach Rick Pitino, made it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and picked up the 30 point win over #15 seeded Omaha Mavericks. Big East Conference Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. had 22 points in the blowout win.
The #3 seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders were heavy favorites going into their matchup against the #14 seeded UNC Wilmington Seahawks. Kerwin Walton netted 27 points for the Red Raiders, while JT Toppin had 11 rebounds and Elijah Hawkins had 10 assists. The Seahawks only lost by 10 and gave the Red Raiders a bit of a scare.
The #5 seeded Memphis Tigers matched up against a highly praised #12 seed in the Colorado State Rams. The Rams won by 8 and Kyan Evans went off for 23 points. Big man Dain Dainja had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Memphis. The Rams held Memphis star PJ Haggerty in check as his shot percentage was lower than usual. Colorado State was one of two #12 seeds to advance to round 2.
#1 Florida against #16 Norfolk State wasn’t much of a contest with a final score of 95-69. Florida has been a scoring team all season as the SEC champions cruised through round one. Walter Clayton Jr. put up 23 for the Florida Gators and Alijah Martin added 17.
Many had the #4 seeded Maryland Terrapins on upset watch against #13 Grand Canyon, while others saw Maryland as a potential Final 4 team. Grand Canyon star Tyon Grant-Foster had 23 of the team’s 49 points, as Maryland didn’t struggle whatsoever, winning 81-49. Freshman phenom Derik Queen grabbed a monster 15 rebounds for the Terps.
Defending back to back National Champions, the UConn Huskies underperformed in the regular season, but still got an #8 seed and were matched up against #9 seed Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma struggled to get shots to go down, but Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears continued to open eyes with his 20 points. UConn got the win and got point contributions from Solo Ball, Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr.
These outcomes set up these second round matchups: #1 Florida vs #8 UConn, #12 Colorado State vs #4 Maryland, #11 Drake vs #3 Texas Tech, and #10 Arkansas vs #2 St. John’s.
Round 1 for the midwest region started on Thursday and provided tons of entertainment and shockers to fans. It started off with #1 Houston blowing out #16 SIU Edwardsville 78-40 to crush Siu Edwardsville’s anticipated March Madness debut.
#8 Gonzaga easily beat #9 Georgia 89-68 behind Gonzaga star Khalif Battle contributing an impressive game-high 24 points.
#12 McNeese then upset #5 Clemson’s March Madness hopes in a must-see game. The score resulted in McNeese beating Clemson 69-67. You may have seen McNeese’s manager lately as he has been seen on TikTok recording McNeese’s walk-out songs. He became a popular internet personality all within a week, earning himself the nickname Amir “Aura” Khan because of the positive vibes he gives off to fans and his team.
Then #4 Purdue defeated #13 High Point 75-63, despite a competitive fight from High Point. This game showed viewers that High Point University definitely has a bright future if they can compete like this.
#6 Illinois then beat #11 Xavier 86-73 behind a masterclass of a performance from projected top-10 NBA draft pick Kasparas Jakucionis putting up a near triple-double. Jakucionis had 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 10 assists, displaying to scouts that he is an NBA-ready proven prodigy.
The #3 Kentucky Wildcats easily defeat the #14 Troy Trojans 76-57 to advance to the next round. Wildcat versatile guard-forward Otega Oweh displayed his skillful game, having 20 points, 8 rebounds, along with 6 assists to get the job done.
The #7 UCLA Bruins then defeated the #10 Utah State Aggies in a less exciting 72-47 game. Projected first-round pick Aday Mara displayed his elite defensive presence by having a game-total 5 blocks. This was part of what led to Utah State struggling massively when it came to scoring.
The first round of the Midwest March Madness region ended with the #2 Tennessee Volunteers beating #15 Wofford Terriers 77-62. Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier had an impressive game, scoring 29 points to assist the Volunteers with making it past the first round.
