McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament. Brandon Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time. It was McNeese’s first NCAA Tournament win. The Cowboys will play Purdue on Saturday.
Creighton 89
Louisville 75
Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville 89-75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Coach Greg McDermott’s Bluejays won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season.
Wisconsin 85
Montana 66
Wisconsin grinded its way back into the March Madness win column, getting double-digit scoring from five players on the way to an 85-66 victory over Montana. This was the first victory in the NCAA Tournament for the third-seeded Badgers since 2022. Last year, they were a first-round upset victim to James Madison.
Purdue 75
High Point 63
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 21 points and eight rebounds, and fourth-seeded Purdue held off High Point for a 75-63 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Big Ten player of the year Braden Smith added 20 points and six assists as 23-11 Purdue avoided a first-round exit after reaching the championship game last season.
Gonzaga 89
Georgia 68
Khalif Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18 and eighth-seeded Gonzaga routed Georgia 89-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting as 26-8 Gonzaga advanced to an intriguing second-round matchup with top-seeded Houston.
BYU 80
VCU 71
Egor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an 80-71 victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one. The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of what he called the unguardable duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Auburn 83
Alabama State 63
Miles Kelly made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, All-American Johni Broome added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Auburn beat 16th-seeded Alabama State 83-63 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers lasted one game in 2024, losing to Yale days after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament. This time, Auburn came in having lost three of four inside the power-packed SEC with a resume still strong enough to earn the top overall seed among the four No. 1 teams. Auburn will play No. 9 seed Creighton in the second round of the South Region on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta.
Houston 78
SIU Edwardsville 40
Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest its starters early in a 78-40 rout of No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. JaVier Francis added 13 points and eight boards for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with No. 8 seed Gonzaga in the Midwest Region. Houston has won 26 of its last 27 games overall. Ray’Sean Taylor scored 10 points to lead SIUE, the champions of the Ohio Valley, who went just 2 of 24 from beyond the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance.
Tennessee 77
Wofford 62
Chaz Lanier scored 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting and No. 2 seed Tennessee never trailed in a 77-62 victory over Wofford that sent the Volunteers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.
Arkansas 79
Kansas 72
Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points to help 10th-seeded Arkansas to a 79-72 opening-round NCAA Tournament victory over No. 7 seed Kansas on Thursday night in the latest meeting between two of college basketball’s winningest coaches. Johnell Davis added 18 points, including some crucial late free throws, to help John Calipari to his first tournament victory as Razorbacks coach. Freshman standout Boogie Fland played for the first time since having right thumb surgery in January and scored six points in 24 minutes. Zeke Mayo had 18 points for Kansas (21-13), which has made 35 straight NCAA Tournaments and hadn’t lost in the first round since 2006.
Texas A&M 80
Yale 71
Texas A&M snuffed out hope of another Ivy League upset, sending Yale back to class with an 80-71 victory behind 25 points and 10 rebounds from big man Pharrel Payne in the NCAA Tournament. The fourth-seeded Aggies had been placed on a lot of “upset watch” lists, thanks mainly to going against a Yale team some thought might be better than the one that pulled off a first-round shocker last year against Auburn. But an upper-division team from the best conference in the country, the Southeastern, proved too much for the Yalies. A&M’s next game is Saturday against Michigan or UC San Diego.
Drake 67
Missouri 57
Bennett Stirtz scored 21 points and No. 11 seed Drake held on after blowing most of a 15-point lead to sixth-seeded Missouri 67-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tavion Banks added 15 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs, a team that relies heavily on Division II transfers under first-year coach Ben McCollum.
UCLA 72
Utah State 47
Skyy Clark and Eric Dailey Jr. each scored 14 points and No. 7 seed UCLA routed 10th-seeded Utah State 72-47 to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five seasons. Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 reserve center, added 10 points for coach Mick Cronin’s Bruins. UCLA will face second-seeded Tennessee on Saturday in the Midwest Region as it seks a fourth Sweet 16 appearance in the past five editions of March Madness. Mason Falslev had 17 points and Deyton Albury scored 12 for Utah State, which reached its third consecutive NCAA Tournament.
St. John’s 83
Omaha 53
Rick Pitino returned to Providence and picked up a March Madness victory with yet another school, coaching St. John’s past Omaha 83-53 and into a second-round matchup with longtime nemesis John Calipari. RJ Luis Jr. had 22 points and eight rebounds for the second-seeded Red Storm.
Michigan 68
UC San Diego 65
Vladislav Goldin and Michigan proved a bit too much for UC San Diego when the Russian center scored 14 points and the fifth-seeded Wolverines overcame Tyler McGhie’s 25 points to escape with a 68-65 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. McGhie’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer with 7-footer Danny Wolf in his face hit the back iron. Michigan advanced to face fourth-seeded Texas A&M in the South Region. McGhie’s bucket with 2:29 left gave the 12th-seeded Tritons their only lead at 65-63. Goldin hit two free throws with 19.3 seconds left to give Michigan a three-point lead.
Texas Tech 82
UNC Wilmington 72
Kerwin Walton scored a career-high 27 points and No. 3 seed Texas Tech attempted an NCAA Tournament-record 46 3-pointers in an 82-72 victory over No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington on Thursday night. The Red Raiders raced to a 16-point lead, lost most of it by going cold in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the first half and then made enough plays down the stretch to recover after the Seahawks went ahead with about 14 minutes remaining. Texas Tech (26-8) finished 13 for 46 behind the arc, breaking the tournament record of 43 attempts by Saint Joseph’s in a 1997 second-round game against Boston College.
