March Madness: tiny Furman stun Virginia in first appearance since 1980
JP Pegues made a three-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 firstround NCAA tournament loss, 68-67 on Thursday.
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 fifth-seeded San Diego State, who defeated 12th-seeded Charleston.
“All year we’ve been saying that this team just knows how to win . ... It’s an unbelievable moment,” Furman coach Bob Richey said.
“This game is — interesting might be the word I’d use,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment’s notice, it changes at the end. That’s tough.”
Furman earned their first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference
title, capping a season-long quest to redeem themselves after losing the league’s automatic berth to the Mocs on a 35-foot buzzer-beater in last year’s Southern final.
“I couldn’t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It’s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don’t know timing of things . ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,” Richey said. “It’s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.”
In the aftermath of that loss, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
“I told Mike that we weren’t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,” Slawson said. “It didn’t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.”
Kihei Clark, who starred as a freshman on Virginia’s 2019 national titlewinning team, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hien intercepted at midcourt with seven seconds to go, setting up Pegues’ go-ahead basket, his only three of the game.
Reece Beekman’s deep three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in their past four NCAA tournaments – most notably their loss as a No 1 seed to 16thseeded UMBC in 2018. Virginia haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since their 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title.
Kadin Shedrick led the Cavaliers with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Beekman scored 14 and Isaac McKneely added 12.
Hien made two free throws with 12.3 seconds left and the Paladins trapped Clark in the backcourt. The fifth-year senior guard threw the ball deep and into the hands of Hien, who fed the ball to a wide-open Pegues.
Marcus Foster scored 14 points and Pegues and Bothwell both finished with 11 for Furman.
Virginia matched their biggest lead when McKneely’s three-pointer made it 50-38 with 11:54 remaining. But the
Paladins slowed down the Cavaliers’ offense and Slawson made a three and converted a three-point play on consecutive possessions to give Furman its first lead, 57-54 with 5:02 left.
51 No 5 Duke 71, No 12 Oral Roberts
Jeremy Roach matched a careerhigh 23 points, and No 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 on Thursday in the school’s first NCAA tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as Blue Devils coach.
Dariq Whitehead added 13 points for the Blue Devils (27-8), winners of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Roach has now scored 23 points in back-to-back games after setting his career high the ACC championship game
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 fourth-seeded Tennessee.
No 1 Houston 63, No 16 Northern Kentucky 52
With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of “NKU!” and “Overrated!” filled Legacy Arena as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
But Houston pulled away behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, the team’s top scorer and its first member of the Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
After going down last weekend with a groin injury in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early threepointer. But Sasser didn’t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn’t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
The Cougars didn’t need him on this night. The Norse’s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) – including a horrendous 5 of 34 from three-point range – to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
No 7 Northwestern 75, No 10 Boise State
Boo Buie scored 22 points to lead Northwestern to a win in the school’s second appearance ever in the NCAA tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn’t be one-and-done.
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play either UCLA or UNC Asheville in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries. Max Rice scored 17 points to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
No 7 Missouri 76, No 10 Utah State 65
Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win their first NCAA tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State 76-65 on Thursday.
Brown hit three three-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point 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.
The 10th-seeded Aggies (26-9) have dropped their last 10 tournament games since beating Ohio State in the first round in 2001. The loss was also the 11th straight for a Mountain West team in the NCAAs.