Oregon’s Couisnard drops 40 in upset of South Carolina
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 3-pointers, dropped all seven free throws and went 14 of 22 from the field to pace the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-11).
“He was really feeling it,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman. “He had a couple 3s 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.”
NO. 11 DUQUESNE 71, NO. 6 BYU >> As his players celebrated around him after springing the first big upset of the NCAA Tournament, Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot joked that they had refused to let their retiring coach reach “the promised land” with their down-to-the-wire win over BYU.
The promised land is a better description for the second round of the NCAA tourney anyway.
Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and the No. 11 seed Dukes held on after blowing a 14-point lead in a 71- 67 victory over the sixth-seeded Cougars on Thursday.
Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the Atlantic 10 tourney champs, who won four games in four days there just to qualify for their first dance in 47 years, and now have their first win on the NCAA stage since 1969. The Dukes (2511) will play third-seeded Illinois for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
“I’m trying to retire,” the 65-year- old Dambrot said, “but if we keep winning games, they’re going to make me an old man.”
The sweat-it- out ending Thursday would age any coach in a hurry.
The Cougars (23- 11) trailed 46-32 in the second half before drawing even when Fousseyni Traore, who had struggled all game, slammed down the second of back-to-back baskets to knot the affair at 60all with 1:45 to go.
Clark was fouled at the other end and made two free throws for Duquesne, and when Traore missed a floater, he got to the line again. Clark only made the first of two foul shots this time but helped tie up a loose ball after the second, and on the next play, the slick guard broke down the defense for a layup and a 65-60 lead with 26.9 seconds left.
NO. 9 MICHIGAN STATE 69, NO. 8 MISSISSIPPI STATE 51 >> Michigan State coach Tom Izzo won his 20th firstround game in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
This one, he said, might have been the most impressive, even to former Spartans greats like Draymond Green.
Tyson Walker scored 19 points and the ninth-seeded Spartans improved to 20- 6 in March Madness openers under Izzo with a 69-51 win over eighth-seeded Mississippi State on Thursday. It was Izzo’s 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance — an NCAA Division I record for a coach at one school.
“I thought this was one of the better first game performances of a team that was, and deservedly so, seeded a little lower,” Izzo said. “We brought everything from the get-go. We moved the ball well. We shot the ball well. We rebounded the ball.”
Izzo’s win was his 56th overall in the tournament, trailing only three coaches for victories at one school. He noted that while the game was sloppy at times, former players Green, Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson would have enjoyed the “tough, rugged nature” of the Spartans’ win.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 90, NO. 16 WAGNER 62 >> Elliot Cadeau saw Jae’lyn Withers running the court and sent a lob his way in transition. Withers vaulted skyward to grab the ball with two hands and stuff it through for North Carolina.
And he played with the kind of zip — in his hometown and in his first NCAA Tournament game — that the West Region’s No. 1 seed will need to help Armando Bacot inside and keep the Tar Heels advancing.
Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds and Withers turned in a solid all-around performance, sending UNC to a 90-62 victory over 16thseeded Wagner in Thursday’s first round.
Withers, a 6-foot-9 transfer from Louisville, had a season-high 16 points and matched his best rebounding work with 10 boards for the region’s headliner. That helped the Tar Heels (28-7) finish the game shooting 55% from the field against a short-handed upstart aiming to pull off only the third opening-round takedown of a 1-seed in March Madness history.
“I think he did set the tone,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said, adding: “J-wit, his energy and effort on both ends of the floor really ignited us and got us the lead going into halftime. He came off the bench and his production was real.”
UNC played with the backing of a blue- clad crowd about 2 1/2 hours from its Chapel Hill campus. And the Tar Heels will have that again for the next step: a marquee matchup with Michigan State and Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo on Saturday.
NO. 3 CREIGHTON 77, NO. 14 AKRON 60 >> Creighton leaned on experience from past trips through March to make sure this one didn’t start with a stumble.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as the Bluejays, who came within seconds of making the Final Four a year ago, opened the NCAA Tournament with a 77- 60 win over Akron in the Midwest Region on Thursday.
No. 3 seeded Creighton (24-9) got all it could handle in the first half from No. 14 seed Akron (24-11), the Mid-american Conference tourney champion which came in as a 10 1/2-point underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
However, the Bluejays flexed their Big East muscles after halftime and pulled away to advance to the second round and a matchup with No. 11 seed Oregon on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. The Ducks advanced with an 87-73 victory over South Carolina.
This was the start Creighton was hoping for. A year ago, the Bluejays’ season ended with a heartbreaking 57-56 loss to San Diego State — Creighton committed a foul in the closing seconds — in the South Region final. Much of that squad came back for coach Greg Mcdermott to try and make another deep run, and the Bluejays have taken the first step.
NO. 3 ILLINOIS 85, NO. 14 MOREHEAD STATE 69 >> Marcus Domask posted the NCAA Tournament’s first triple-double since 2019 and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points, helping No. 3 seed Illinois pull away from No. 14 Morehead State for an 85- 69 first-round win on Thursday.
Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple- double. It was the first triple- double in the NCAA tourney since Ja Morant accomplished the feat and the 10th ever.
“It’s definitely a cool accomplishment to have my name up there with some of the greats, and so few have done it so far,” Domask said. “At this point in my career I’m past the personal accolades. At this point in March, it’s all about winning. That’s all I’m trying to do.”
Dain Dainja scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Illini shook off the pesky Eagles. Dainja went 9 for 9 from the field and matched his career high with eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
NO. 2 ARIZONA 85, NO. 15 LONG BEACH STATE 65 >> Turns out, there’s no such thing as job security when you’re coaching against Arizona.
Dan Monson learned that lesson Thursday in an 85- 65 loss to the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament that slammed shut his 17year tenure at Long Beach State.
Second-seeded Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch to turn a tight game into a laugher. At the end, Monson walked slowly off the court for the final time and blew three kisses to his school’s small, tear-stained cheering section in the corner of the arena.
“It’s a range of emotions,” said the 62-year- old coach, who learned last week that this would be his final season with the Beach. “Mostly proud. Proud of my tenure. I’m proud of doing it the right way. Proud of the student-athletes that came in as young men, left as men.”
Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (26-8), who made 13 3-pointers, the program record for March Madness.
NO. 7 DAYTON 63, NO. 10 NEVADA 60 >> Daron Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton staged a huge March Madness rally, closing with a 24- 4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat 10th-seeded Nevada 63- 60 in the West Region on Thursday.
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.
The Flyers (25-7) trailed 56- 39 with 7:36 remaining but responded with a 17- 0 run that included two 3-pointers by Koby Brea, who finished with 15 points.
Enoch Cheeks’ layup with 34 seconds left gave Dayton the lead for good, and he made two free throws for the final margin. He scored 12 points as the Flyers picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in nine years.
Dayton, which made its final seven baskets, will face No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round Saturday.