STUNNING START
Oral Roberts, a 15th seed, celebrates after beating No. 2 seed Ohio State in the first round Friday, the first big bracket-buster of this year’s NCAA Tournament. For highlights of Friday’s games, including Oregon State’s win over Tennessee, and scores, see
Oral Roberts welcomed the madness back to March.
The 15th-seeded Golden Eagles pulled off the first major upset of the first NCAA Tournament in two years, holding off secondseeded Big Ten power Ohio State 75-72 in overtime in a South Region game Friday in West Lafayette, Ind.
Oral Roberts got solid performances from its two star players, guard Max Abmas and forward Kevin Obanor, to become the ninth 15 seed to win a first-round game and the first since Middle Tennessee shocked Michigan State in 2016.
Obanor scored seven of Oral Roberts’ 11 points in overtime and finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Abmas, the nation’s leading scorer, had 29 points.
Ohio State could have tied it in the closing seconds of overtime, but Duane Washington Jr.’s open 3-pointer from straight away bounced off the side of the rim, and Oral Roberts (17-10) celebrated its first tournament win since 1974.
E.J. Liddell had 23 points to lead the Buckeyes (21-10). Washington scored 18. NORTH TEXAS 78, PURDUE 69, OT>> Javion Hamlet scored 24 points and Thomas Bell had 16 to lift the 13thseeded Mean Green over the No. 4 seed Boilermakers.
Starting with Bell’s 3, North Texas (18-9) scored the first 11 points of overtime.
Purdue (17-10) erased a nine-point deficit and tied it at 61 on Trevion Williams’ putback with 21 seconds left in regulation.
BAYLOR 79, HARTFORD 55 >> MaCio Teague scored 22 points and the top-seeded Bears (23-2) shook off a slow start to rout the No. 16-seeded Hawks in Indinapolis.
Hartford (15-9) looked like it belonged for a solid stretch to start the game, taking a one-point lead at the 8-minute timeout. And that was that. Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua had two slams of his own sandwiched around a 3 from Adam Flagler to give Baylor a six-point lead. Baylor ran away from there, building the advantage to 29 over a routine second half.
ARKANSAS 85, COLGATE 68 >> Justin Smith had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and the third-seeded Razorbacks (23-6) shut down the 14thseeded Raiders (14-2).
Colgate went on an early 16-2 run to go up by 14, but Arkansas restored some
bracket order with a 19-0 run and then pulled away. TEXAS TECH 65, UTAH STATE 53 >> Mac McClung scored 16 points as the sixth-seeded Red Raiders (18-10) beat the 11th-seeded Aggies (20-9).
Neemias Queta had 11 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, and tied Utah State’s single-game school record with seven blocks. FLORIDA 75, VIRGINIA TECH 70,OT>> Colin Castleton had 19 points and 14 rebounds, Tre Mann hit a step-back 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in overtime and the seventh-seeded Gators (159)
held off the No. 10 seeded Hokies (15-7).
Virginia Tech’s Nahiem Alleyne had 30 points, including a tying 3 with 1.4 seconds left in regulation. WISCONSIN 85, NORTH CAROLINA 62 >> North Carolina coach Roy Williams lost his first opening-round NCAA Tournament game in 30 tries as the ninthseeded Badgers blew out his eighth-seeded Tar Heels.
Brad Davison scored 29 points for Wisconsin, which hit 13 of 27 3-pointers. The Badgers (18-12) had lost four of five entering the
tournament.
Armando Bacot scored 15 points for UNC (18-11).
Midwest Region
Oregon State played up the underdog role all season and is now the latest No. 12 seed to win a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
Roman Silva scored 16 points and the Beavers beat fifth-seeded Tennessee 7056 in Indianapolis.
Oregon State (18-12), the Pac-12 Tournament champion, is the 51st 12th-seed to take down a fifth-seed since the NCAA Tournament bracket expanded in 1985.
The Beavers hit seven 3s in the second half to win their first NCAA Tournament game since reaching the 1982 Elite Eight.
The Volunteers (18-9) played without senior forward John Fulkerson, who was out with a facial fracture and concussion. ILLINOIS 78, DREXEL 49 >> Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points and the Fighting Illini (23-6) cruised past the 16th-seeded Dragons (12-8) in their first NCAA Tournament game as a No. 1 seed in 16 years.
HOUSTON 87, CLEVELAND STATE 56 >> Quentin Grimes scored 18 points and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tied John Wooden on the career victories list as the Cougars beat the 15thseeded Vikings (19-9)
Sampson earned his 664th win, No. 38 all time, in his first game at Assembly Hall since resigning as Indiana’s coach in February 2008.
No. 2 seed Houston (25-3) has won eight straight. It’s unclear if starting guard DeJon Jarreau will be available after he missed all but 41 seconds with what appeared to be a right hip injury.
OKLAHOMA STATE 69, LIBERTY 60 >> Avery Anderson III scored 21 points to lead the No. 4 seed Cowboys (218) over the Flames (23-6) for their first NCAA Tournament win since 2009.
LOYOLA-CHICAGO 71, GEORGIA TECH 60 >> Lucas Williamson scored 21 pointsand the eighth-seeded Ramblers (25-4) beat the No. 9 seed Yellow Jackets (17-9).
Georgia Tech played without ACC player of the year Moses Wright after the big man tested positive for COVID-19.