Third-seeded Kentucky knocked out by Oakland

Jack Gohlke made 10 3-pointers and 14th-seeded Oakland delivered the first true shock of this year's March Madness, beating South Region third-seeded Kentucky 80-76 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

The Grizzlies (24-11) sent the Wildcats (23-10) to another early March exit behind Gohlke, a graduate transfer who finished with 32 points. Trey Townsend had 17 points for the Horizon League champions. DQ Cole added 12, including a 3 from the corner with 28 seconds left that gave Oakland a four-point lead.

Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 27 points, but the Wildcats spent most of the night trying — and failing — to chase down Gohlke.

The 6-foot-3 guard who came to the Grizzlies this season after playing for Division II Hillsdale College made 10 of 20 3-point attempts, seven in the first half.

Oakland never trailed over the final 14:32 to give the program its first victory in the round of 64.

The Wildcats came in as 131/2 point favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, but with a poor recent track record in March under John Calipari. Kentucky hasn't advanced past the tournament's opening weekend since 2019, a long stretch for Calipari and the second-winningest program in NCAA history.

N.C. STATE 80, TEXAS TECH 67 >> Ben Middlebrooks scored 21 points and the 11th-seeded Wolfpack (23-14) surged past the sixth-seeded Red Raiders (23-11).

N.C. State, which won five games in five days in the ACC Tournament, won its first March Madness game in nine years.

Midwest Region

OREGON 87, SOUTH CAROLINA 73 >> Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points to haunt the sixth-seeded Gamecocks — his former team — while leading the No.11 seed Ducks to victory.

Couisnard, who spent three years at South Carolina before transferring following the 2022 season, made five 3-pointers and went 14 of 22 from the field to pace Oregon (24-11).

The Ducks improved to 8-0 in first-round NCAA Tournament games under coach Dana Altman.

Oregon center N'Faly Dante added 23 points.

South Carolina (26-8) had too many offensive droughts to keep up with the Ducks, who defeated top-seeded Arizona last week on the way to a surprising Pac-12 Tournament title.

TENNESSEE 83, SAINT PETER'S 49 >> Dalton Knecht scored 23 points and the second-seeded Volunteers (25-8) shot 64% in the first half to build a huge lead before beating the 15th-seeded Peacocks (19-14).

CREIGHTON 77, AKRON 60 >> Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as the Bluejays opened with a win over the Zips.

Third-seeded Creighton (249) got all it could handle in the first half from 14th-seeded Akron (24-11).

TEXAS 56, COLORADO ST.44 >> Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and the No. 7-seeded Longhorns held the Rams to 11 points in the first half en route to the win.

Colorado State (25-12), 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.

The Rams missed 18 of their next 19 shots and scored just three points over the final 151/2 minutes of the first half. Texas (21-12) closed the half on a 25-3 run to take a 27-11 lead into the locker room.

GONZAGA 86, MCNEESE ST. 65 >> Graham Ike scored 16 points and Anton Watson added 13 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists to power the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (26-7) over the No. 12 seed Cowboys (30-4).

Ike made all six of his field goals and all four free throws while grabbing 10 rebounds.

West Region

NORTH CAROLINA 90, WAGNER 62 >> Armando Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and the No. 1 seed Tar Heels (28-7) rolled past the 16th-seeded Seahawks (17-16). MICHIGAN ST. 69, MISSISSIPPI ST. 51 >> Tyson Walker scored 19 points and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo picked up his 20th win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as his ninth-seeded Spartans beat the eighth-seeded Bulldogs

(21-14),

Michigan State (20-14) improved to 20-6 in March Madness openers under Izzo, who is making his 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. DAYTON 63, NEVADA 60 >> DaRon Holmes II and the seventhseeded Flyers staged a huge rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat the 10thseeded Wolf Pack (26-8).

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.

Dayton (25-7) trailed 5639 with 7:36 remaining but responded with a 17-0 run.

East Region

DUQUESNE 71, BYU 67 >> Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and the No. 11 seed Dukes (25-11) kept retiring coach Keith Dambrot working for a little bit longer with a victory against he sixth-seeded Cougars (23-11).

Jakub Necas added 12 points as the Atlantic 10 tourney champs celebrated their return to the dance after 47 years with their first win there since 1969.

WASHINGTON ST. 66, DRAKE 61 >> Isaac Jones had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Isaiah Watts' 3-pointer gave the seventh-seeded Cougars the lead with 1:51 left and they beat the No. 10 seed Bulldogs (28-7).

Washington State (25-9) shot just 29.6% while trailing most of the second half, but Drake's season-worst 6-of-14 performance at the free-throw line allowed the Cougars to win in their first tournament appearance since 2008.

IOWA ST. 82, SOUTH DAKOTA ST. 65 >> Milan Momcilovic poured in 19 points, Tamin Lipsey had 17 with seven assists, and the No. 2-seeded Cyclones (28-7) beat the 15th-seeded Jackrabbits (22-13)

ILLINOIS 85, MOREHEAD ST. 69 >> Marcus Domask posted the NCAA Tournament's first tripledouble sinceJa Morant in 2019 and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points, helping the No. 3 seed Fighting Illini pull away from the 14th-seeded Eagles (26-9).

Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double.