The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No. 13 Furman rallies to upset No. 4 Virginia in first round
JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA Tournament loss, 68-67 on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play either San Diego State or Charleston on Saturday.
Kihei Clark, who starred as a freshman on Virginia’s 2019 national title-winning team, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hein intercepted at midcourt with 7 seconds to go, setting up Pegues’ go-ahead basket.
Reece Beekman’s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments — most notably its loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC in 2018.
No. 8 Maryland 67, No. 9 West Virginia 65 (at Birmingham, Ala.):
Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson, topping West Virginia 67-65 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
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.
Maryland, led by Julian Reese with 17 points and nine rebounds, meets the winner of top-seeded Alabama and No. 16 Texas A&m-corpus Christi on Saturday. Those teams met in the second game of the day at Legacy Arena.
No. 7 Missouri 76, No. 10 Utah State 65 (at Sacramento, Calif.):
Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State 76-65 on Thursday.
Brown hit three 3-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a twopoint deficit into a 62-53 lead.
The seventh-seeded Tigers (25-9) held on from there, stopping a sixgame tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in the first round in 2010.
Missouri advanced to play the winner of the Arizona-princeton game in the second round of the South Region.
The 10th-seeded Aggies (26-9) have dropped their last 10 tournament games.
No. 1 Kansas 96, No. 16 Howard 68 (at Des Moines, Iowa):
Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas, which allowed absent and recovering coach Bill Self to rest during an easy victory over Howard on Thursday in a West Region first round game.
Self is still recovering from a recent heart procedure.
Gradey Dick had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the freshman’s first NCAA Tournament game. The Jayhawks (28-7) will play the winner of the Arkansas-illinois game in the second round.