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Full NCAA bracket info, first round highlights

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2 weeks ago

March 22, 2024

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Males’s March Insanity tipped off Thursday with 16 first-round video games. We received loads of upsets on Day 1.

The spotlight was No. 14 Oakland knocking off No. 3 Kentucky, a loss that raises loads of questions on John Calipari’s future. However Massive Blue Nation is not the one fan base left licking its wounds. A trio of 11-seeds — Duquesne, Oregon and NC State — knocked off their No. 6 counterparts.

Evidently, there aren’t very many good brackets left.

Males’s NCAA match video games are airing and streaming throughout CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV.

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FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA basketball bracket, scores, schedules, groups and extra.

March Insanity first spherical highlights

Oakland upsets Kentucky

Duquesne upsets BYU

Dayton rallies past Nevada

NCAA Tournament scores

Here’s the full scoreboard from Thursday’s first-round games.

Men’s March Madness NCAA Tournament schedule

Here’s the full schedule for Friday’s first-round games.

Men’s March Madness scores today

Here’s a look back at the results of Thursday’s games:

(9) Michigan State 69, (8) Mississippi State 51

(11) Duquesne 71, (6) BYU 67

(3) Creighton 77, (14) Akron 60

(2) Arizona 85, (15) Long Beach State 65

(1) North Carolina 90, (16) Wagner 62

(3) Illinois 85, (14) Morehead State 69

(11) Oregon 87, (6) South Carolina 73

(7) Dayton 63, (10) Nevada 60

(7) Texas 56, (10) Colorado State 44

(14) Oakland 80, (3) Kentucky 76

(5) Gonzaga 86, (12) McNeese 65

(2) Iowa State 82, (15) South Dakota State 65

(2) Tennessee 83, (15) Saint Peter’s 49

(11) NC State (80), (6) Texas Tech 67

(7) Washington State 66, (10) Drake 61

(4) Kansas 93, (13) Samford 89

Kansas holds on after benefitting from controversial foul call

Kansas may have caught a break.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 22 points in the second half, but Samford surged back and cut the deficit to one point with 20 seconds left. Kansas tried to move the ball around and got it up to guard Nicolas Timberlake.

He went for a dunk and Samford’s A.J. Staton-McCray contested it. It was called a foul, much to the objection of the Bulldogs.

When the CBS broadcast showed a replay, Staton-McCray appeared to block the ball without touching Timberlake. Broadcasters Brad Nessler and Brendan Haywood both agreed it was a bad call, but the call couldn’t be reviewed.

So, instead of it being a block with Samford potentially getting the ball back down by one, Timberlake got two free throws. He made both to make it a 92-89 game. Samford couldn’t tie the game on the next possession, and the Jayhawks won 93-89. — Jordan Mendoza

Red-hot NC State dominates paint to beat Texas Tech

The No. 11-seed North Carolina State Wolfpack got into the NCAA Tournament by winning five games in five days last week, conquering the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to “steal” an NCAA bid with an automatic berth. Five days later, they proved to be one of the hottest teams in the first round with an 80-67 win against No. 6-seed Texas Tech in Pittsburgh.

But they didn’t “steal” anything this time, except for the basketball eight times against Tech. They earned it by dominating the paint, 42-20, and closing out the game with a 28-18 scoring clip .

A trio of Wolfpack big men combined for 54 points – Ben Middlebrooks, a transfer from Clemson, poured in a career-high 21 points. Forward DJ Burns, a transfer from Winthrop, had 16; while Missouri transfer Mohamed Diarra added 17.

Just last week, they all had limped into their league tournament with four straight losses to end the regular season with a 17-14 record. They would not have gotten into the tournament without getting so hot. And now they’re on the verge of the Sweet 16, set for a second-round game Saturday against No. 14-seed Oakland University of Michigan. — Brent Schrotenboer

Samford stages comeback. Can it upset Kansas?

The Bulldogs are back in it.

After falling behind by 22 points, Samford’s offense has woken up and now trails Kansas 81-78 with less than five minutes left.

There were several runs made by Samford, but it was the 3-point shooting that got the Bulldogs back in the game. In the second half, Samford has made 7-of-14 3-point attempts.

Washington State comes back to beat Drake

It trailed for a majority of the second half, but Washington State used a late run and Drake made costly turnovers, which helped the Cougars get their first NCAA Tournament win since 2008 with a 66-61 victory.

Drake led by eight points with under seven minutes left, but Washington State used a 9-1 run to tie the game at 55. It was knotted up at 58, but a 3-point shot from Isaiah Watts gave the Cougars the lead for good. Back-to-back turnovers for Drake doomed it in the final 30 seconds.

Free throws will haunt Drake after the loss. Despite being a top 40 free-throw shooting team, it couldn’t convert Thursday with a 6-for-14 mark from the charity stripe. — Jordan Mendoza

Kansas pulling away from Samford

The Jayhawks aren’t feeling the upset, extending their lead against Samford to 63-41 early in the second half.

Kansas used a 12-1 run to strengthen its lead against the Bulldogs, capped off by an emphatic dunk by K.J. Adams Jr., who scored half of the points during the run. He leads all scorers with 16 points on the night. — Jordan Mendoza

Tennessee wins big, advances to face Texas in Rick Barnes reunion game

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes wasn’t good enough to keep his job at Texas in 2015, but now he’ll get a chance to put the Longhorns down in the second round after leading the No. 2-seed Volunteers to an 83-49 win over No. 15-seed Saint Peter’s in a first-round game in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Volunteers throttled the Peacocks defensively, building a 46-20 lead at halftime and holding Saint Peter’s to 16-of-55 shooting (29.1%), including just 4-for-24 from 3-point range.

Star guard Dalton Knecht, a transfer from Northern Colorado, led the way with 23 points and eight rebounds.

The Volunteers bounced back from losses in their previous two games to destroy Saint Peter’s, a small college in New Jersey known for making a run all the way to the Elite Eight in 2022.

Now the Volunteers take on Texas, which fired Barnes in 2015 after 17 seasons. Tennessee hired him that same year. — Brent Schrotenboer

Kansas vs. Samford halftime: Underdogs handing around

Kansas may be hurt, but it’s giving Samford a tough game in the first round with the Jayhawks leading 48-38 at halftime.

A hot start to the game got Kansas going with six of its first seven shot attempts going in to get a sizable lead. The Jayhawks did lead by as much as 16, but the Bulldogs aren’t out of the game yet, as they kept up in the final minutes to still have a shot of pulling off an upset.

One of the best offenses in college basketball, Samford has struggled against Kansas’ defense, with the Bulldogs shooting 13-for-37 (35.1%) in the first half and getting dominated on the glass. What’s kept the Bulldogs in it are Kansas’ turnovers, with 12 turning into 11 Samford points. — Jordan Mendoza

At some point in the next few days, John Calipari and Kentucky officials need to get in a room, lock the door and agree not to come out until they’ve reached a number that will end this agony.

It’s over.

It needs to be over.

It’s time for college basketball’s premier program and the sport’s most underachieving coach to go their separate ways and do something different.

If Calipari returns to Kentucky next year after another March disasterclass — this time against Oakland Thursday in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — he will be the most miserable multi-millionaire in a state that no longer wants him there and no longer envisions a revival in whatever magical abilities he once had. — Dan Wolken

It seems pretty likely that Oakland University men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe get a bonus payment for his No. 14-seeded team’s colossal, 80-76 upset of No. 3 seed Kentucky on Thursday night in an NCAA men’s basketball tournament first-round game.

However, according to the university’s general counsel’s office, only two people know the amount: Kampe and Oakland athletics director Steve Waterfield.

Kampe’s contract with the school, obtained by USA TODAY Sports through an open-records request, includes a highly unusual arrangement under which any performance-bonus payments are at the AD’s discretion and based on unspecified goals that are to be determined annually and are subject to change at any time. — Steve Berkowitz

NC State vs. Texas Tech halftime: Surprise ACC tourney winner aims for another upset

Could a third 6-11 upset be in the cards Thursday?

No. 11 NC State, fresh off a surprise run to the ACC tournament final, leads No. 6 Texas Tech 37-33 at halftime.

The Wolfpack opened up its largest lead at 37-30, but the Red Raiders got a little bit of momentum back with Darrion Williams’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

NC State’s Ben Middlebrooks leads all scorers with 14 points off the bench. — Jace Evans

Washington State vs. Drake halftime: Cougars hold close lead

It was a first half of runs in Washington State vs. Drake, with the Cougars holding a 33-29 lead at the half.

Washington State got out to an early lead, but Drake followed it with a 12-0 run to lead 21-15. After that, the Cougars went on a 13-2 run to lead 28-23 and both sides traded baskets for the remainder of the half.

The stats are nearly identical, with both teams making 13 shots and Drake knocking down three 3-pointers while Washington State has four made 3-pointers. The only real difference has been at the foul line, with Washington State making 3-of-6 from the charity stripe while Drake missing two free throw attempts. — Jordan Mendoza