No. 13 seed Buffalo uses quickness to stun Arizona
BOISE, Idaho — Wes Clark scored 25 points, Jeremy Harris added 23 and No. 13 seed Buffalo pulled off the biggest upset of the NCAA Tournament’s opening round, rolling over No. 4 seed Arizona 89-68 in the South Region on Thursday night.
The smaller Bulls (27-8) used their quickness to zip around the Wildcats (27-8), scoring at the rim and on kickout three-pointers.
Defensively, Buffalo neutralized Arizona’s size inside by collapsing on the paint, forcing the Wildcats to shoot from the perimeter. Arizona went 2 for 18 from beyond the arc, while the Bulls hit 15 of 30.
CJ Massinburg had 19 points and Buffalo earned its first NCAA Tournament win.
The Bulls move on to face Kentucky on Saturday.
Dusan Ristic had 16 points, and Deandre Ayton finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead Arizona.
The Wildcats were the No. 4 seed in the South, but Buffalo was not an easy opening game for the Wildcats.
The Bulls are fast, play up-tempo and shoot the three — areas the Wildcats have struggled against.
Arizona had trouble keeping up with the quicker Bulls early and had trouble getting the ball inside to Ayton. Harris and Clark used their quickness to combine for 27 first-half points, and the Wildcats went 1 for 8 from three-point range to trail Buffalo 40-38.
Buffalo used a similar blueprint to build a 65-55 lead midway through the second half. Massinburg banked in a three-pointer to stretch the lead to 13.
Admiral Schofield had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Tennessee (26-8) advanced to the second round with a win over Wright State (25-10) in Dallas. Lamonte Turner had 19 points and a career-high nine assists for Tennessee. Loudon Love led Wright State with 12 points and nine rebounds. Everett Winchester had 11 points for the Raiders, who shot only 31 percent (19 of 60) in their lowest-scoring game of the season. Kentucky (25-10) topped Davidson (21-12) in Boise, Idaho, despite failing to make a three-pointer, snapping a nation-best streak of 1,047 games with a three that began in 1988. The fifth-seeded Wildcats went 0 for 6 from behind the line and didn’t even try one over the final 8:46. UNLV now holds the longest streak at 1,040 games. Kevin Knox scored 25 points to lead the Wildcats, who pulled away after 12th-seeded Davidson tied things at 54 with 8:01 remaining. Davidson made 11 three-pointers, led by six from Jon Axel Gudmundsson, who finished with 21 points.