Irvine intervention
No. 13 seed Anteaters top K-State for first NCAA Tournament win in school history
SAN JOSE, Calif. — When it comes to college basketball in California, UC Irvine is low on the totem pole.
Now the program that sometimes feels like a little brother to Pac- 12 powers like UCLA and Southern California is the only school from the state still standing in the NCAA Tournament after pulling off a stunner.
The 13 th-seeded Anteaters got back- toback 3-pointers from Evan Leonard to spark the deciding run in a 70- 64 upset Friday over No. 4 seed Kansas State for the first tournament win in school history.
“Well, little brother has been in the weight room, getting better, getting ready for a chance like this,” coach Russell Turner said. “So I'm really happy for these players to be able to work so hard for something everybody can see and then accomplish it. But I'm also really excited for the fans of our
program who also seem to have endured feeling like little brothers.
“You know, we need to stick our chests out a little bit right now.” VIRGINIA 71, GARDNER-WEBB
56: UC Irvine (31-5) had lost its only previous tournament game, 57-55 to Louisville in 2015. No. 1 seed Virginia this time avoided the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. The Cavaliers rallied from 14 points down Friday to beat No. 16 seed GardnerWebb 71-56 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Virginia was the top overall seed last year but lost 74-54 to 16th seeded UMBC. It was the first — and still the only — time in 35 years one of the top four teams in the tournament has fallen in their opening game. TENNESSEE 77, COLGATE
70: Admiral Schofield had 19 points and No. 2 seed Tennessee held off a secondhalf rally by No. 15 seed Colgate to get a 77-70 win in the NCAA Tournament opening round Friday afternoon. Jordan Bone added 16 and Jordan Bowden 14 for Tennessee (30-5), which advances to play Iowa
— winner of a first-round game over Cincinnati — on Sunday. The Raiders (24-11) erased Tennessee's 42-30 halftime lead with an 11-2 run, tied the score midway through the second half, and kept the game close after that. IOWA 79, CINCINNATI 72: Luka Garza scored 20 points, Jordan Bohannon made a three-point play during Iowa's closing surge as the 10thseeded Hawkeyes rallied past No. 7 seed Cincinnati in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes (23-11) got their first NCAA Tournament win in four years despite what amounted to a home crowd for the Bearcats, who couldn't overcome a subpar game by Jarron Cumberland. OREGON 72, WISCONSIN
54: Payton Pritchard scored 19 points, Kenny Wooten protected the rim with four blocks and 12th-seeded Oregon extended its surprising March run by beating No. 5 seed Wisconsin Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks (2412) won four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament last week just to make the NCAAs then followed it with an impressive victory.