Maryland tops Uconn
Ayala scores 23 to lead No. 10 seed past No. 7 Huskies in first round
Mark Turgeon has seen Maryland stifle its share of opponents this season but nothing like what his team did on a big stage.
Eric Ayala scored 23 points and the 10th-seeded Terrapins clamped down on defense to snag a 63-54 victory over No. 7 Uconn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
Maryland held Uconn to 32 percent shooting to overcome the Huskies’ strong physical game. Maryland was outrebounded 40-29 — including a whopping 22-4 deficit offensively — but its defense carried the Terps to a second-round matchup against No. 2 Alabama.
Asked if this was their best defensive effort this season, Turgeon simply noted the damage they prevented.
“We’ve had a lot of really good defensive efforts,” he said. “I think where we were fortunate tonight was on those 18 offensive rebounds in the first half, they hardly had any secondchance points.”
On their end of the floor, the
Terps made good on their chances.
Maryland (17-13) shot 51 percent for the game and converted 9 of 18 from behind the arc. The Terps built a 14-point cushion that Uconn cut to 53-48 with 2:53 remaining. Ayala and Darryl Morsell each made a pair of free throws to push the lead back to nine.
Hakim Hart answered another small spurt by Uconn (15-8) with a jumper to make it a three-possession game, and a dunk against the press with 30 seconds left ignited a celebration on Maryland’s bench.
Ayala was 8-for-14 shooting, including 3-for-5 from deep, and was among three Terps with five rebounds. Aaron Wiggins had 14 points and Donta Scott 12 for Maryland.
Uconn freshman and Albany Academy graduate Andre Jackson had one assist and three rebounds in eight minutes.
Colorado 96, Georgetown 73:
Chances are, you can fit Colorado’s entire NCAA Tournament history on the back of an old Patrick Ewing jersey.
And now Ewing is part of that history, too. The Buffaloes used an early 3point barrage to parlay their highest seeding ever at March Madness into a first-round win over one of the biggest names in the game — a thumping of Georgetown, the program Ewing starred for in the 1980s and now coaches. Led by freshman Jabari Walker’s 5-for-5 shooting clinic from 3-point range, the fifth-seeded Buffs (23-8) made 16 3-pointers and shot 64 percent from long range.
Florida State 64, UNC Greensboro 54: Rayquan Gray scored 17 points and No. 4 seed Florida State began what it hopes will be another deep NCAA Tournament run under coach Leonard Hamilton, holding off 13th-seeded UNC Greensboro. The Seminoles, who reached the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 in the previous two tournaments, allowed the Spartans to hang around deep into the second half thanks to an uneven offensive performance.
LSU 76, St. Bonaventure 61: Freshman Cameron Thomas scored 27 points in another impressive performance and his LSU teammates provided the rebounding muscle, leading the eighth-seeded Tigers past ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. LSU (19-9) can reach its second straight Sweet 16 if it beats Michigan, the top seed in the Midwest Region, on Monday.
Michigan 82, Texas Southern 66: Juwan Howard got the win in his first NCAA Tournament game since taking over at Michigan, guiding Mike Smith and the top-seeded Wolverines to a victory over Texas Southern. Smith scored 18 points and Hunter Dickinson added 16 as Michigan rolled into the second round without Isaiah Livers, who is out with a foot injury.
UCLA 73, BYU 62: Johnny Juzang had 27 points and No. 11 seed UCLA, which beat Michigan State in the First Four, topped No. 6 seed BYU in the first round of the tournament.