FURMAN STUNS VIRGINIA, WILL MEET AZTECS NEXT
Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16thseeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday — this time, falling 68-67 to 13thseeded Furman in Orlando, Fla.
Clark’s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia’s 2019 national title-winning team, its last tourney victory. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
“Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,” Clark said. “He was open. Couldn’t see. It was a good trap.”
“He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final
Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “He’s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there’s so many what-ifs and who knows.”
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round, where they will play fifthseeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday.
“It’s an unbelievable moment,” Furman coach Bob Richey said.
“You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment’s notice, it changes at the end,” said Bennett, whose team finishes 25-8. “That’s tough.”
No. 15 Princeton 59, No. 2 Arizona 55:
La Jolla Country Day product Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping Arizona.
The Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton’s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when current coach Mitch Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven’t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
No. 1 Alabama 96, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75:
Alabama buried Texas A&MCorpus Christi under an early 3-point onslaught, launching the NCAA Tournament’s top seed to a firstround romp even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless.
The Crimson Tide (30-5) buried 10 first-half 3s in a predictably easy win over the 16th-seeded Islanders (2411) at Legacy Arena, less than an hour from campus in Birmingham, Ala.
Miller, the All-American who has been beset by questions about his presence at the scene of a fatal shooting, sat out the final 14 minutes and missed all five field goal attempts.
No. 7 Missouri 76, No. 10 Utah State 65:
Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State in Sacramento.
Brown hit three 3-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 62-53 lead.
The Tigers (25-9) held on from there, stopping a sixgame tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in 2010.
The Aggies (26-9) have dropped their last 10 tournament games since beating Ohio State in the first round in 2001.
No. 8 Maryland 67, No. 9 West Virginia: Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson, topping West Virginia (19-15) in Birmingham, Ala.
Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing the Terrapins (22-12) to advance in March Madness.