Signing Off
Here’s today’s final scores:
- No7 MICH 92-91 No10 OKST
- No3 BAY 91-73 No14 NMSU
- No8 ARK 77-71 No9 HALL
- No3 ORE 93-77 No14 IONA
- No2 LOU 78-63 No15 JVST
- No11 USC 66-65 No6 SMU
- No16 TXSO 64-103 No1 UNC
- No11 URI 84-72 No6 CREI
- No16 UCD 62-100 No1 KU
- No15 TROY 65-87 No2 DUKE
- No10 WICH 64-58 No7 DAY
- No11 KSU 61-75 No6 CIN
- No9 MSU 78-58 No8 MIA
- No10 MARQ 73-93 No7 SC
- No14 KENT 80-97 No3 UCLA
- No15 NKU 70-79 No2 UK
And that will do it from us here at the Guardian, thanks for following the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament with us. Ciao!
FINAL: No2 UK defeats No15 Northern Kentucky
The Kentucky Wildcats beat a frisky Northern Kentucky Norse team 79-70. Kentucky will face Wichita State in the second round. And thus ends one of the more predictable first rounds in NCAA tournament history.
FINAL: No3 UCLA defeats No14 Kent State
The UCLA Bruins defeat Kent State 97-80 and they will go on to face Cincinnati in the second round. One game left!
FINAL: No7 South Carolina defeats No10 Marquette
South Carolina beat Marquette 93-73. Sindarius Thornwell had 29 points and 11 rebounds in what was the Gamecocks’ first tournament win in 44 years. They will go on to face Duke, meaning they have instantly become America’s team.
South Carolina on a roll
Time’s running out for Marquette. South Carolina is up 82-69 and there’s 4:40 left in the game. At this point Kent State, down by just 10 to UCLA, have a better shot at an upset.
Three games remain!
And our final three games are all in their second halves. We’re almost there, everybody. South Carolina holds a precarious 70-65 lead over Marquette with 8:32 remaining. Kent State is keeping things surprisingly close against UCLA, who are only up 57-50 with 14:54 remaining. Kentucky is rather comfortably ahead of Northern Kentucky, they’re up 46-33 with 13:52 left.
FINAL: No9 Michigan State defeats No8 Miami
Michigan State completes its romp over Miami, beating them 78-58. Technically you can call this an upset, but let’s be honest: “9-seeds over 8-seeds” don’t really count. The Spartans will go on to face Kansas in the second round.
South Carolina takes the lead
Marquette/South Carolina comes back from halftime and the Gamecocks go on a run, taking a 6 point lead over the Golden Eagles. It’s South Carolina 55, Marquette 49 with 14:51 left in the game.
Halftime scores
Northern Kentucky/Kentucky was actually close for one hot second, believe it or not, with the Norse being down by just two points to the Wildcats midway through the first half. That’s not quite the case now here at the break, with Kentucky holding a 38-24 lead over Northern Kentucky.
UCLA/Kent State is a bit more competitive, the Bruins hold just a 47-39 halftime lead over the Kent State Golden Age Flashes.
Michigan State/Miami resumes
The Spartans continue to outpace the Hurricanes, as MSU has a 49-32 lead over Miami with 14:56 left in the game. That 13-3 Miami lead feels like it was years ago.
And Marquette is just barely ahead of South Carolina, it’s 40-39 heading into halftime.
Marquette takes a 4 point lead
I’m going to go ahead and pinpoint Marquette/South Carolina as the most intriguing of our remaining games. Marquette is currently up 34-30 over higher seeded South Carolina with 3:44 left in the first half.
Kent State/UCLA tips off
And on TRU TV, the No14 Kent State Golden Flash (I’m just going to call them the Golden Age Flashes, until DC’s lawyers stop me) face the No13 UCLA Bruins. The Bruins score first, they’re up 3-0.
Meanwhile, Michigan State has stormed back and taken a 38-27 lead over Miami at the half
Northern Kentucky/Kentucky tips off
And the final CBS game has begun with the No15 Northern Kentucky Norse (hey I don’t make up the nicknames) and the No2 Kentucky Wildcats tied at 7-7 with 17:40 left in the 1st half.
Marquette/South Carolina tips off
And our final TBS game has started with the No10 Marquette Golden Eagles taking an 8-3 lead over the No7 South Carolina Gamecocks with 16:23 left in the first half.
The final slate
We’re almost through the first round, with just four more games remaining on the docket. Right now on TNT, we have No8 Miami up on No9 Michigan State 19-10 with 10:41 remaining in the first half. The other three games will be kicking off within the next half-hour, here are the approximate start times (in EST):
- 9:54pm TBS: No10 Marquette Golden Eagles vs No7 South Carolina Gamecocks
- 10:07pm CBS: No15 Northern Kentucky Norse vs No2 Kentucky Wildcats
- 10:12pm Tru TV: No14 Kent State Golden Flash vs No13 UCLA Bruins
Updated
FINAL: No6 Cincinnati defeats No11 Kansas State
This one wasn’t a blowout, but it never really was very competitive. The Cincinnati Bearcats handle the Kansas State Wildcats, beating them 75-61.
Final: No10 Wichita State defeats No7 Dayton
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Wichita State pulls off the upset. The Shockers hold off the Flyers, winning 64-58 thanks to some phenomenal late game defense.
So long Scoochie, we will never forget you.
And, oh hey, the final TNT game has kicked off, with the No8 Miami Hurricanes taking an early 12-3 lead over the No9 Michigan State Spartans.
Final: No2 Duke defeats No15 Troy
It’s with a heavy heart that I must announce that the Blue Devils are at it again. Troy falls to Duke, 87-65.
Shockers take the lead
Wichita State takes a 6 point lead thanks to a Zach Brown three pointer. Can Dayton counter-punch? What will Scoochie do? Pretty exciting game here with 5:31 left.
Final: No1 Kansas defeats No16 UC Davis
And it’s all over between Kansas and UC Davis. Okay, let’s be real, it was over a long, long time ago. Kansas win by a final score of 100-62. Better luck next time, 16-seeds.
Cincinnati lead Kansas State at the half
Cincinnati have a 39-28 lead over Kansas State at the half. Meanwhile, Wichita State has a 41-38 lead over Dayton with 11:56 left in the game. This one’s probably going down to the final possession, folks.
Wichita State/Dayton is all tied up
Alright Wichita State/Dayton comes back from the half, thankfully. It’s definitely been the most entertaining game so far during this liveblogging shift. (It’s not Kansas/UC Davis which is no longer a basketball game but something closer to a massacre,with the Jayhawks currently holding a 77-43 lead).
Wichita State and Dayton, meanwhile are tied up 31-31 two minutes into the first half.
Kansas State takes a 10 point lead over Cincinnati
With Kansas ahead 70-41 early in the second half, and our other two games currently in halftime, we head back to the neglected Tru TV where Cincinnati has a 28-18 lead over Kansas State with 5:20 remaining in the first half.
Dayton lead Wichita State at the half
Heading into halftime, Dayton have a 29-27 lead over Wichita State. Dayton point guard Scoochie Smith is making a name for himself here, and what a name it is, with his game-leading 15 points. (That total does not factor in style points.)
HOW DOES SCOOCHIE DO THIS pic.twitter.com/j4zc4Sp4w3
— Flyer Faithful (@Flyer_Faithful) March 17, 2017
Oh hey and the Duke score at least looks vaguely respectable now, their lead over Troy is merely 47-38 with a minute remaining in the first.
Kansas State/Cincinnati tips off!
And our fourth prime time game begins, hidden away on Tru TV (or, as I call it, the NBA.TV of the college basketball postseason). The No6 Cincinnati Bearcats have a 11-5 lead over the Kansas State Wildcats with 15:15 left in the first half.
Kansas takes predictably sizable lead into halftime
Aaaaaaaand now Kansas has a 50-28 lead over UC Davis heading into halftime and I’m just going to go and say it now: we are not going to see a 16-seed beat a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament this year.
Kansas and Duke take first half leads
And the second the focus goes on Kansas/UC Davis, the Jayhawks go on an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game. They’re now up 36-22 with 3:41 left in the first.
And Troy… Troy is not putting up much of a challenge against Duke, who have taken an early 16-4 lead. Maybe next time don’t name yourselves after the most famous losers in the history of warfare.
Meanwhile, Dayton has a 15-14 lead over Wichita State with 11:29 left in the first half. That might be the game to focus on here.
Updated
No15 Troy vs No2 Duke tips off
Great news, it’s time for one of America’s most cherished traditions: rooting against Duke. They’ve tipped off against the annoyingly redundantly nicknamed Troy Trojans.
Meanwhile, Kansas have only four point lead over UC Davis with 7:05 left in the first half.
Wichita State/Dayton tips off
Kansas currently has a 21-15 lead over UC Davis with 10:10 left in the first half. I hope US Davis boosters don’t feel insulted if we focus more on Wichita State/Dayton, which has just tipped-off.
Meanwhile you have to at least admire the audacity of the U.S. Olympics of attempting to provide counter-programming here:
Tonight is the night! Tune in to watch Curling!
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) March 17, 2017
🇺🇸 VS Scotland
📺: NBCSN
⏰: 9 P.M. EST pic.twitter.com/m2gG4dv4GS
Welcome to the late shift
I hope everybody appreciated that relative lull, because we’re heading into the late shift of games, as we have four games starting within the hour. Alright, the No16 UC Davis Aggies have begun their windmill-tilt against the No1 Kansas Jayhawks on TNT. Then we have the next three games starting one after each other (times in EST):
- 7:10 CBS: No10 Wichita State Shockers vs No7 Dayton Flyers
- 7:20 TBS No15 Troy Trojans vs No2 Duke Blue Devils
- 7:27: TruTV: No11 Kansas State Wildcats vs No6 Cincinnati Bearcats
FINAL: No11 URI 84-72 No6 CREI
And Rams-Bluejays ends with an unending avalanche of free throws and substitutions before reaching its inevitable conclusion. No11 University of Rhode Island completes their upset of No6 Creighton. They will face No3 Oregon in the second round.
Updated
Rhode Island hangs onto the lead
And we have just one game currently going on as Rhode Island is up 66-55 over Creighton with 4:34 remaining. They’re *this* close to pulling off the upset.
Final: No16 TXSO 64-103 No1 UNC
If you’re waiting for a No16 to beat a No1… well, you’re going to have to keep waiting. North Carolina just finished blowing out Texas Southern 103-64. They will go on to face No8 Arkansas in the second round.
There’s one more chance for the impossible to happen coming around 6:50pm EST, when No16 UC Davis Aggies face the No1 Kansas Jayhawks. I really, really wouldn’t bet on it though.
Changing of the guard
Hey, this is Hunter and I’ll be covering the second half of tonight’s March Madness coverage.
Hey has this tournament felt a little… by-the-numbers so far? You’re not alone. There were only two “upsets” yesterday, and in both cases the lower-seeded teams were actually favored heading in. Because of this, a ridiculous number of people still had perfect brackets after the end of Day 1 (not me, I had Princeton winning the very first game of the tournament. That *almost* worked out. Almost).
Today we had USC’s comeback win over SMU, however, and hopefully we’ll get a few more surprises before the end of this first round.
In fact, there could be an upset going on right now. No11 Rhode Island is up 47-41 over No6 Creighton with 11:38 left in the 2nd half.
UNC just went ahead 81-45 against Texas Southern. And there’s still 8:37 left.
Half-time in Sacramento between Rhode Island and Creighton, and Rhode Island leads 33-26. The Rams are making their first finals appearance since 1999.
Take in the last action from the USC-SMU game:
The last four minutes of the USC/SMU game were bonkers. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/3GelSnlxa4
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2017
Updated
That’s the 13th time USC has come back from a double-digit deficit this season. What an an effort. The celebrations at the end were wild. USC plays Baylor on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.
Updated
USC’s victory keeps the First Four streak alive: since the format debuted in 2011, one team playing in the First Four has advanced to at least the round of 32 every year.
Updated
Final: No6 SMU 65, No11 USC 66
USC wins it! Shake Milton’s late effort won’t go, amd the No6 seeds in the East are gone.
USC wins! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/YXIoQCvudq
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2017
Updated
This Mustangs-Trojans game is going to the wire. SMU leads 65-63 with 1:02 remaining. Which way’s it going to swing?
Final: No2 Louisville 78, No15 Jacksonville State 63
No late rally from the Gamecocks, and the No2 seeded Cardinals move serenely through, thanks to 18 points from Mangok Mathiang and 16 apiece from Deng Adel and Quentin Snider. Aussies getting it done for Louisville.
Louisville’s lead is now 14 with 1:22 remaining. They’re on course for a second-round match-up with Michigan in a thoroughly fun scrap earlier.
Four games in progress as we speak: Louisville leads Jacksonville State 65-52 with about 5min left, SMU-USC is too tight to call, North Carolina is way out ahead already against Texas Southern, and Rhode Island leads Creighton 13-8 early on.
Updated
Final: No3 Oregon 93, No14 Iona 77
Tyler Dorsey scored 24 points to lead four players in double figures as the third-seeded Ducks defeated 14th-seeded Iona in the Midwest region. Oregon, which saw a 27-point lead trimmed to 13 in the second half before holding on, shot 63.6% with only three turnovers in the first half.
Top-seeded North Carolina’s tournament is under way against No 16 Texas Southern. This alley-oop by Marvin Jones gave the SWAC champs a 7-6 lead ...
Texas Southern with the oop! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/23wPByInzj
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2017
... but the Tar Heels promptly responded with an 18-3 run and are in control with 12:35 remaining in the first half.
Here’s the explanation from that Flagrant 1 call at the end of the Seton Hall v Arkansas game.
NCAA National Coordinator of Men's Basketball Officiating J.D. Collins explains the flagrant foul call at the end of the Arkansas game. pic.twitter.com/2nJvy6XGmu
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2017
Final: No8 Arkansas 77, No9 Seton Hall 71
Arkansas led 72-71 with the ball with 18 seconds left when Seton Hall fouled intentionally ... but the referee mystifyingly ruled it a flagrant foul. That gave the Razorbacks a pair of foul shots (which they hit) and possession. The Pirates were forced to foul again, allowing Arkansas to extend their lead to 75-71. That more or less decided it. A controversial call, but true to the letter of the law.
Hated Flagrant 1 call on Seton Hall until TNT showed the definition of Flagrant 1, which is pretty much exactly what happened on that play.
— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) March 17, 2017
Updated
The 8-9 matchup between Arkansas and Seton Hall is knotted at 68-all with 3:01 left. The Pirates made seven of eight shots to make up an eight-point deficit. This one is going down to the wire.
Final: No3 Baylor 91, No14 New Mexico State 73
So much for that upset. The third-seeded Bears turned a halftime deficit into a rout of the Aggies behind a game-high 21 points from Al Freeman off the bench.
Final: No7 Michigan 92, No10 Oklahoma State 91
Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr had 26 points and 11 assists as the Wolverines outgunned Oklahoma State in a thoroughly fun 7-10 scrap. The Wolverines made 11-of-15 shots from beyond the arc in the second half to keep pace with the Cowboys – and Walton and DJ Wilson made four crucial free throws in the final seconds to seal it. They’ll play the winner of today’s second game between No2 Louisville and No15 Jacksonville State.
Worth mentioning: Wilson’s free throws made it 92-88 with four seconds left. That was just enough time for Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans to rush down and drain a three-pointer at the buzzer that had no affect on the result. Thing is, the point spread was Oklahoma State plus-2.5, meaning literally millions of dollars shifted on the “meaningless” three. Don’t gamble, kids.
Updated
Sixteen lead changes and 12 ties in this Oklahoma State-Michigan game, a wildly entertaining scrap. The 10th-seeded Wolverines lead 82-77 with 2:53 left, but it’s anyone’s game with how these teams have filled it up today.
No8 Arkansas and No9 Seton Hall are under way in the first NCAA tournament game to be played in South Carolina in 15 years. As the AP notes:
Arkansas and Seton Hall tipped off Friday’s slate of four games in Greenville, which last hosted the tournament in 2002. The reasons – both for the long absence and the return – are rooted in state-level politics in the Carolinas.
The NCAA had banned South Carolina from as a predetermined-site host due to the presence of a Confederate flag on state capitol grounds, though that was lifted after the flag’s removal in 2015. And the NCAA stripped opening-weekend games from Greensboro, North Carolina, last fall and moved them here after that state passed a law limiting protections for LGBT people.
South No1 seed North Carolina and East No2 seed Duke are also playing in Greenville, games that should’ve been held roughly an hour from their campuses in their home state.
Arkansas lead 23-19 with 9:30 left in the first half.
March Madness is thought of a quintessentially American event. Which makes sense. But there’s a distinctly international flavor to this year’s tournament. As the Associated Press notes, more than half the 68 teams in the field had at least one player from another country on their rosters at the start of the season.
Nowhere is that globalization more visible than New Mexico State’s upset bid against Baylor, where players from 10 different countries are represented:
Their NCAA tournament game on Friday will feature 10 players who were born outside of the United States. New Mexico State has seven of them, and its coach, Paul Weir, is from Toronto. France, Ivory Coast, Kenya, India, Australia, Belgium, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Canada all will be represented by birth or heritage when the two teams take the court.
“It’s great,” said New Mexico State’s Johnathon Wilkins, who was born in France and grew up in Belgium. “I like the diversity on the team. It’s really interesting when you have a lot of people from a lot of different countries coming together and playing together. It’s really unique.”
No10 Michigan lead 41-40 over No7 Oklahoma State at the half. It was a highly entertaining first half between two evenly matched major-conference teams.
Many believed this one would come down to the point guard matchup. The Wolverines’ Derrick Walton Jr has a team-high seven points (on 1-for-6 from the floor), six assists and two rebounds, while the Cowboys’ Jawun Evans has eight points (on 3-for-12), five assists, three rebounds ... and four turnovers.
Meanwhile in the East region, Baylor have rallied from an early hole to take the lead against upset-minded New Mexico State.
Early days, but No14 New Mexico State is out to a 11-3 lead over No3 Baylor. These upsets are rare in the big picture: they’ve only happened 21 times in the 32 years since the tournament expanded. But a No14 has beaten a No3 five times in the last four years: Stephen F Austin over West Virginia last year, Georgia State over Baylor and UAB over Iowa State in 2015, Mercer over Duke in 2014 and Harvard over New Mexico in 2013.
A bit of a quiet start to the day’s first game: a 7-10 tilt between Oklahoma State and Michigan. The Cowboys and Wolverines are tied at 11-all with 11:55 left in the first half. But we have had a Bryant Reeves sighting!
Bryant Reeves sighting!!! pic.twitter.com/w0mSh0r7UO
— Nate Tykwinski (@natetykwinski) March 17, 2017
You may remember Reeves as the All-American center famously nicknamed Big Country who spirited Oklahoma State to the 1995 Final Four. Well, guess what. Now his son Trey plays for the Cowboys. And you’re old.
Today's schedule
Hello and welcome to day two of the NCAA tournament! Yesterday’s opening day was a bit of a bust as far as upsets were concerned with only two of the 16 higher-seeded teams coming out on top. You don’t really that will hold for another day, do you?
Here’s a look at today’s dance card:
- 12:15, CBS: No7 Michigan v No10 Oklahoma State
- 12:40, truTV: No3 Baylor v No14 New Mexico State
- 1:30, TNT: No8 Arkansas v No9 Seton Hall
- 2:00, TBS: No3 Oregon v No14 Iona
- Approx. 2:45, CBS: No2 Louisville v No15 Jacksonville State
- Approx. 3:10, truTV: No6 SMU v No11 USC
- Approx. 4:00, TNT: No1 North Carolina v No16 Texas Southern
- Approx. 4:30, TBS: No6 Creighton v No11 Rhode Island
- 6:50, TNT, No1 Kansas v No16 UC Davis
- 7:10, CBS: No7 Dayton v No10 Wichita State
- 7:20, TBS: No2 Duke v No15 Troy
- 7:27, truTV: No6 Cincinnati v No11 Kansas State
- Approx. 9:20, TNT: No8 Miami v No9 Michigan State
- Approx. 9:40, CBS: No2 Kentucky v No15 Northern Kentucky
- Approx. 9:50, TBS: No7 South Carolina v No10 Marquette
- Approx. 9:57, truTV: No3 UCLA v No14 Kent State
Bryan will be here shortly.
