Thursday’s men’s first round
No. 11 seed Oregon 87, No. 6 seed South Carolina 73:
In Pittsburgh, Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points to haunt South Carolina – his former school – while leading Oregon in the first round of the Midwest region.
Couisnard, who spent three years at South Carolina (26-8) before transferring in part because of a coaching change following the 2022 season, made five 3-pointers and went 14 of 22 from the field to pace the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-11).
No. 7 seed Dayton 63, No. 10 seed Nevada 60:
In Salt Lake City, DaRon Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton staged a huge March Madness rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit in the West region.
Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, finished with 18 points, including a three-point play with 2:01 remaining that gave Dayton its first lead since the first half.
The Flyers (25-7) trailed 56-39 with 7:36 remaining but responded with a 17-0 run that included two 3-pointers by Koby Brea, who finished with 15 points.
Enoch Cheeks’ layup with 34 seconds left gave Dayton the lead for good, and he made two free throws for the final margin. He scored 12 points as the Flyers picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in nine years.
No. 11 seed Duquesne 71, No. 6 seed BYU 67: In Omaha, Nebraska, Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and Duquesne kept retiring coach Keith Dambrot working.
Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the Atlantic 10 tourney champs celebrated their return to the dance after 47 years with their first win there since 1969. The Dukes (25-11) will play No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 14 seed Morehead State for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
The Cougars (23-11) trailed by as many as 14 in the second half before drawing even when Foussyni Traore, who had struggled all game, slammed down the second of back-to-back baskets to knot the game at 60-all with 1:45 to go.
Clark was fouled at the other end and made two free throws, and when Traore missed a floater for BYU, the Duquesne guard got to the
foul line again. He made the first of two foul shots but was able to help tie up a loose ball after missing the second, and on the ensuing play, Clark was able to break down the defense for an easy layup and a 65-60 lead with 26.9 seconds left.
Jaxson Robinson had 25 points for the Cougars, who have lost five straight in the NCAA Tournament, the last four of them to doubledigit seeds.
No. 2 seed Arizona 86, No. 15 seed Long Beach State 65:
In Salt Lake City, Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch Thursday to pull away for an 85-65 victory to snuff out Dan Monson’s coaching tenure
at Long Beach State.
Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (26-8), who made 13 3pointers, the program record for March Madness.
This marked the end of a 17-year stretch at Long Beach State for the 62-year-old Monson. Aboubacar Traore and A.J. George led the Beach (21-15) with 14 points each.
No. 1 seed North Carolina 90, No. 16 seed Wagner 62: In Charlotte, North Carolina, Armando Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and North Carolina never trailed.
Jae’Lyn Withers had a season-high 16 points and matched his best rebounding work with 10 boards for the West region’s headliner. That helped the Tar Heels (28-7) finish the game shooting 55% while dominating up front against a short-handed upstart aiming to pull off only the third opening-round takedown of a 1-seed in March Madness history.
RJ Davis, named this week as a first-team All-American by The Associated Press, had 17 of his 22 points after halftime for the Tar Heels.
Melvin Council Jr. and Julian Brown each scored 18 points for the Seahawks (17-16), who won their first-ever NCAA game by holding off Howard in the First Four on Tuesday night.
No. 3 seed Creighton 77, No. 14 seed Akron 60: In Pittsburgh, Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 for Creighton (24-9), who got all they could handle in the first half from the 14th-seeded Zips (24-11), the MidAmerican Conference tourney champions who came in as a 10 1/2-point underdog.
However, Creighton flexed its Big East muscles after halftime and pulled away to advance to the second round and a matchup against the South Carolina-Oregon winner on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Baylor Scheierman added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Creighton, which made 10 of 17 3pointers.
No. 3 seed Illinois 85, No. 14 seed Morehead State 69: In Omaha, Nebraska, Marcus Domask posted the NCAA tournament’s first triple-double since 2019 and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points for Illinois.
Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double. It was the first triple-double in the NCAA tourney since Ja Morant accomplished the feat.
Riley Minix led the Eagles with 27 points, giving him at least 20 in 13 of his last 14 games. Jordan Lathon added 23 points.
No. 5 seed Gonzaga 83, No. 12 seed McNeese State 63: In Salt Lake City, Graham Ike scored 16 points and Anton Watson added 13 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists to power fifth-seeded Gonzaga over No. 12 seed McNeese State 83-63 in the Midwest Region on Thursday night.
Ben Gregg had 12 points, Nolan Hickman scored 11 and Dusty Stromer finished with 10 for the hot-shooting Bulldogs, who spoiled McNeese State’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 22 years.