NCAA TOURNAMENT CAPSULES/ MEN
Princeton 59, Arizona 55
Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona on Thursday.
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton's first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when current coach Mitch Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven't won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo's basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by a second-chance 3-pointer from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run — just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against defending champion UCLA in 1996 when Henderson was also on the team.
Furman 68, Virginia 67
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.
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 fifth-seeded San Diego State or 12th-seeded Charleston on Saturday.
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league's automatic berth to the Mocs on a 35-foot buzzer-beater in last year's Southern final.
In the aftermath of that loss, Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman's first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Maryland 67, West Virginia 65
Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson to beat West Virginia.
Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing the eighth-seeded Terrapins (22-12) to advance.
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.
Neither team could pull away over the final 20 minutes, and a late traveling call on Jahmir Young gave West Virginia (19-15) a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer. But the ninth-seeded Mountaineers could not find anyone open beyond the arc, forcing Tre Mitchell to bank it in under the basket.
Young was fouled but made only one of two free throws. West Virginia got the ball in the hands of the guy it wanted, only to have Johnson come up short.
Missouri 76, Utah State 65
Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State.
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 six-game 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.
San Diego State 63, Charleston 57
Matt Bradley scored 17 points, including two free throws in the final minute, and No. 5 seed San Diego State held on to beat 12th-seeded Charleston. The Aztecs (28-6) won their first game in the Big Dance since 2015 — ending a four-game losing streak — and snapped an 11-game skid for the Mountain West Conference.
The Cougars (31-4) lost for the first time in six weeks and have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1997.
Alabama 96, Texas A&M-CC 75
Alabama buried Texas A&M-Corpus Christi under an early 3-point onslaught, and the NCAA Tournament's top seed won easily even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless.
The Crimson Tide (30-5) set aside their off-court distractions and buried 10 first-half 3s in a predictably easy win over the 16th-seeded Islanders (24-11) at Legacy Arena, less than an hour from campus. Miller, the All-American who has been beset by questions about his presence at the scene of a fatal shooting, sat out the final 14 minutes and missed all five field goal attempts.
Alabama advanced to play eighth-seeded Maryland. The Tide coasted after leading 54-34 by the half.
Kansas 96, Howard 68
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. 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. K.J. Adams Jr. scored 13 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. added 11 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who will play Arkansas in the second round on Saturday.
Arkansas 73, Ilinois 63
Ricky Council IV scored 18 points and Arkansas survived some anxious moments in the second half against an Illinois team that wouldn't go away. Devo Davis had 16 points for the eighth-seeded Razorbacks, who used relentless defense and rebounding to build big leads but couldn't get comfortable until the final minute. Arkansas (21-13) faces top-seeded Kansas on Saturday. Terrence Shannon Jr., held scoreless the first 16 minutes, finished with 20 points to lead the Illini (20-13). It was the first time in five tournament appearances since 2011 that Illinois didn't make it out of the first round.
Duke 74, Oral Roberts 51
Jeremy Roach scored a career-high 23 points, and No. 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts in the school's first NCAA tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as Blue Devils coach.
Dariq Whitehead added 13 points to lead the Blue Devils (27-8), winners of the ACC Tournament. Scheyer helped Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski win two of five national titles as a former Duke player and assistant. He's now trying to orchestrate some March Madness magic of his own.
In his first NCAA Tournament game as Krzyzewski's replacement, Scheyer led Duke to a 10th consecutive win and a second-round matchup in the East Region against either fourth-seeded Tennessee or No. 13 seed Louisiana-Lafayette.
Auburn 83, Auburn 75
Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and No. 9 seed Auburn beat Iowa. The Tigers (21-12) made 11 of 12 free throws over the final four minutes to lock up a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Houston or Northern Kentucky.
Broome even made his ninth 3-pointer of the season to push the margin into double digits for the first time with 16 minutes left.