Ducks soar behind former Gamecock

PITTSBURGH — Jermaine Couisnard swears it wasn’t personal and he wasn’t seeking revenge against South Carolina.

He got some anyway. Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points — the most for an Oregon player in NCAA Tournament history — and he haunted his former team while leading the Ducks to an 87-73 victory in the first round of the Midwest Region on Thursday.

Couisnard, who spent three years at South Carolina before transferring in part because of a coaching change following the 2022 season, made five three-pointers, dropped all seven free throws and went 14 of 22 from the floor to pace the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-11).

“He was really feeling it,” said Oregon Coach Dana Altman. “He had a couple threes that were tough, and that really got him going. He got in the paint and finished some tough shots. He just had it going. Those are games every player dreams of, getting it going and getting it going in the NCAA Tournament is a really good feeling.”

With his grandmother and parents watching from the front row, Couisnard put on quite a show while also exchanging a few words with some former teammates.

“It was fun, man,” the smooth guard said. “Those guys kind of made me. I grew a lot. I learned a lot when I was there. So I appreciate those guys more than anything.”

Oregon, which has been reduced to eight scholarship players due to injuries, advanced to the second round to face No. 3 seed Creighton, a 77-60 winner over No. 14 seed Akron in the first of four games at PPG Paints Arena.

The Creighton-Oregon matchup will have a family feel, as it will reunite Altman and Creighton, where he spent 16 years and built the Nebraska school into one of the nation’s best mid-major programs.

“There’s not much separation,” Altman said. “I still love the school. It’ll mean a lot. But it means a lot to those guys. It’s for my team. It’s bittersweet because only one of us is going to move on. But we’ll battle our tails off.”

Altman has done OK for himself while coaching out West as well. The Ducks improved to 8-0 in first-round NCAA Tournament games under him.

Oregon center N’Faly Dante added 23 points, some of them coming on backboard-shaking dunks for the 6-11 big man who had knee surgery earlier this season.

The sixth-seeded Gamecocks (26-8) had too many offensive droughts to keep up with the Ducks, who beat top-seeded Arizona last week on the way to a surprising Pac12 tourney title.

Meechie Johnson scored 24 and Cooper 15 for the Gamecocks.

CREIGHTON 77, AKRON 60

PITTSBURGH — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as Creighton, which came within seconds of making the Final Four a year ago, opened the NCAA Tournament with a win over Akron.

The third-seeded Bluejays (24-9) got all they could handle in the first half from the 14th-seeded Zips (24-11), the Mid-American Conference tourney champions who came in as a 10 1/2-point underdog.

Baylor Scheierman added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Creighton, which made 10 of 17 three-pointers.

Akron’s Enrique Freeman, the MAC Player of the Year and nation’s leading rebounder, finished with 21 points and 14 boards.

TEXAS 56,

COLORADO STATE 44

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and No. 7 seed Texas held Colorado State to 11 points in the first half en route to a victory.

The Longhorns (21-12) will meet the winner of second-seeded Tennessee and No. 15 St. Peter’s on Saturday.

Isaiah Stevens and Joel Scott paced the Rams (25-11) with 10 points each. The Rams shot 29% from the floor.

Colorado State, which held Virginia to 14 first-half points in their First Four game on Tuesday, jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the wheels came off.

GONZAGA 86,

MCNEESE STATE 65

SALT LAKE CITY — Graham Ike scored 16 points and Anton Watson added 13 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists to power fifth-seeded Gonzaga over No. 12 seed McNeese State.

Ike made all six of his field goals and all four free throws.

Ben Gregg had 12 points, Nolan Hickman scored 11 and Dusty Stromer finished with 10 for the hot-shooting Bulldogs.

Gonzaga (26-7) shot 52% from the floor and 48% from three-point range.

Christian Shumate and Shahada Wells had 19 for the Cowboys (30-4).

TENNESSEE 83,

SAINT PETER’S 49

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dalton Knecht scored 23 points and Tennessee shot 64% in the first half to build a huge lead before beating Saint Peter’s..

Jonas Aidoo added 13 of his 15 points by halftime for the Midwest Region’s No. 2 seed, which erased any chance of another improbable March Madness run for the 15th-seeded Peacocks. Tennessee (25-8) ran out to a double-digit lead in the first eight minutes.

KANSAS 93, SAMFORD 89

SALT LAKE CITY — Kansas got a kind whistle at the end and Nicolas Timberlake made both his free throws to help the Jayhawks hold off Samford.

The 13th-seeded Bulldogs were trapping after trimming a 22-point deficit to one when Timberlake took a long pass as he was streaking toward the basket. He went to dunk and Samford’s A.J. Slaton-McCray came from behind and blocked the shot, appearing to touch nothing but ball.

The whistle blew and Timberlake made both free throws with 14.7 seconds left to help the fourth-seeded Jayhawks push the lead to three.

Hunter Dickinson led the dinged-up Jayhawks with 19 points, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks.