Just five days ago, the SEC was touting itself for getting eight teams into the NCAA Tournament, tied for the most with the Big 12.
Nothing to gloat about now. The opening day of the first round was disastrous for the conference, with three teams upset before half of the first-round games were completed.
It started with No. 9 seed Michigan State dominating No. 8 seed Mississippi State and No. 11 seed Oregon thrashing No. 6 South Carolina for a double-digit win. But it reached a new low when No. 3 seed Kentucky, the best 3-point shooting team in the country, got beat by its own game with No. 14 seed Oakland pulling off the biggest upset of the day.
Guess those automatic qualifiers SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wants to get rid of are worth keeping.
Now just 12 games into the first round, the SEC has five teams left. There is still a chance for a team from the conference to make a Final Four run, including Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama. But the losses mean more.
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The SEC didn’t have the best day, but there were plenty of other squads who did and can look forward to playing into the weekend. Here are the winners and losers from the first day of the NCAA men’s tournament first round.
WINNERS
Oakland
The No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies used a memorable 3-point shooting performance by Jack Gohlke to stun No. 3 seed Kentucky, 80-76, in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
Oakland got off to a bad start after it missed its first seven shots of the day. But it shook it off with an outstanding 3-point performance, hitting 15 of 31 shots from beyond the arc − including 10 by Gohlke − to defeat the best 3-point shooting squad in the country.
Gohlke became the fifth player in NCAA Tournament history to make 10 3-pointers in a single game, falling one short of Jeff Fryer’s record 11 in 1990.
No. 11 seeds
This is the tournament to be a No. 11 seed.
The 11-seeds went 3-0 Thursday. The party got started when the Duquesne Dukes pulled off the first upset of March Madness against BYU, an impressive performance in which they barely trailed. Then Oregon dominated South Carolina behind a 40-point game from South Carolina transfer Jermaine Couisnard. Then, to cap off the night, NC State continued its momentum from the ACC tournament with a strong second half to take down Texas Tech.
No. 11 seeds have been fairly successful against No. 6 seeds in recent years, with at least one upset occurring since 2004. But this is the second time since 2022 that three of them were able to advance to the second round.
No pressure, New Mexico — the Lobos have a chance Friday to make it a perfect 4-0 record for No. 11 seeds for the first time since 1989.
Michigan State
Many questioned if Michigan State was a tournament team, but in typical Tom Izzo fashion, his team put all doubt to rest with a convincing 69-51 win over Mississippi State in the first game of the first round.
The Bulldogs had no answer in Michigan State’s wire-to-wire win. Mississippi State had one of the best 3-point shooting defenses, but Michigan State exposed the defense early with four of its first seven 3-point attempts going in to take a 20-8 lead. Mississippi State wasn’t able to get within four points after that. In the second half, the Spartans shut down freshman sensation Josh Hubbard, who had just two points in the final 20 minutes.
The win marked the sixth consecutive time and 14th instance in the past 17 tournaments Izzo’s team has won in the first round, and Thursday was a reminder that Izzo has consistently been able to erase any doubt surrounding his team.
Top seeds Creighton, Arizona and Illinois fend off upsets
For a moment in the first half, Creighton, Arizona and Illinois looked like they’d be on major upset alert. The No. 3 seed Bluejays were going back-and-forth with No. 14 seed Akron, No. 15 seed Long Beach State had a major run to take a lead in the first half on the No. 2 seed Wildcats and No. 14 Morehead State got off to a fast start against No. 3 Illinois.
But whatever was said in the Creighton, Arizona and Illinois locker rooms at halftime seemed to erase any doubt, as the three teams comfortably won with strong second-half performances resulting in double-digit victories.
After leading just by five at halftime, Creighton made nine of its first 13 shots in the second half while it prevented Akron from keeping up its 3-point shooting. At one point, the Zips missed 13-straight 3-point attempts in what turned into a 77-60 win for Creighton. In Salt Lake City, Arizona continued a late first-half run out of halftime that ended up being a 21-2 run to put the game out of reach early in the second half. One of the best scoring teams in the country, the Wildcats coasted for the last 16 minutes of the game to beat Long Beach State 85-65. Illinois got a strong second-half performance from big man Dain Dainja to convincingly win 85-69.
There was a chance, but these top seed teams flexed their muscles and erased any chance of falling victim to major underdogs.
Dayton
At Dayton, the Flyers live by the three, die by the three, and they’ll live another round after pulling off a second-half comeback to beat Nevada 63-60.
With less than eight minutes left, Dayton was down by 17 points and the Wolfpack looked to be moving on. But the Flyers, who are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country, began to knock down shots, including three consecutive 3-pointers to ignite a 20-2 run for a one-point lead with two minutes left. Nate Santos hit another go-ahead shot with 15 seconds left and two free throws seconds later, and Nevada was unable to get another basket.
There were doubts about Dayton being a tournament team after its dud in the Atlantic 10 tournament, but the Flyers showed toughness in their win. Guard DaRon Holmes II, who had a game-high 18 points, summed it up perfectly.
“That’s called resiliency,” he said.
Gonzaga
It’s another NCAA Tournament appearance for Gonzaga, but what’s even more impressive is that it’s another spot with a win.
Gonzaga was a popular pick to be upset in the first round against No. 12 seed McNeese State, but the Bulldogs didn’t let the 30-win Cowboys have a chance to do much, thumping Will Wade’s team 86-65. Gonzaga didn’t let what was a solid offense get going, holding McNeese State to 33.3% shooting and 5-for-22 from 3-point land, while the Bulldogs had a 51.7% shooting percentage.
With the win, Gonzaga has now won a game in 15 straight NCAA Tournaments, another impressive streak for Mark Few. It’s also the Bulldogs’ 25th straight appearance in March Madness. These aren’t the star-powered Bulldogs we are used to seeing, but they’re the same successful ones.
LOSERS
No. 6 seeds
While No. 11 seeds are celebrating Thursday, No. 6 seeds are packing their bags.
It was a disappointing day for BYU, South Carolina and Texas Tech, especially for the Gamecocks and Red Raiders who were both convincingly beaten. It’s starting to become a bad spot to be selected in the NCAA Tournament, as after Thursday, No. 6 seeds are 17-22 against the double-digit seed since 2014. Now, Clemson is the only hope the No. 6 seeds have left.
Nevada
When Nevada was up 56-39 against Dayton with less than eight minutes left, it appeared the Wolfpack would be advancing to a date with Arizona in the second round.
Instead, Nevada would score only four more points the rest of the way in an epic collapse, falling to the Flyers.
The final stretch of basketball was painful for the Wolf Pack. They made two of their final nine shots and had four turnovers, including one by Nick Davidson when Nevada was down by one with 17 seconds left. Wolf Pack coach Steve Alford was unable to adjust to Dayton starting to hit shots from 3-point land, and the plays he drew up at the end of the game were ineffective. Nevada had a great season in a tough Mountain West, but it’s another one-and-done exit in the tournament under Alford, who is still searching for his first March Madness win at the school.
BYU
An impressive first season in the Big 12 went to waste with BYU’s first-round exit.
The sloppy start to the game with eight straight missed shots was a troubling sign for the Cougars, as they constantly let the Dukes go on scoring runs. BYU eventually showed how it had been solid all season, led by Jaxson Robinson coming off the bench and making big buckets, as it was a tied game in the final two minutes. But BYU failed to stop Duquesne from getting to the free-throw line, and its clutch shooting went away. The Cougars were able to make it interesting in the final seconds, but there was no chance of sending it to overtime or even winning.
BYU was a surprise this season, expected to struggle in the loaded Big 12. Instead, the Cougars had a top six finish, ranked 12th in the NET ranking with six Quad 1 wins and had a realistic shot of making a tournament run. Instead, BYU lost its fourth tournament game in a row and a second consecutive as a No. 6 seed, continuing a frustrating trend for the Cougars.
Samford
It was expected Samford would lose to Kansas, but it’s how it lost that makes it especially painful for the upset-minded Bulldogs.
Kansas controlled the game for a majority of the first 25 minutes and held a 22-point lead in the second half. But the high-tempo Samford team came alive and stormed back to cut the deficit to one point with 20 seconds left. Then a controversial foul call gave the Jayhawks free throws that helped them hold on to the lead.
There’s no way to know if Samford would have hit a game-winning bucket to take down Kansas, but making the wrong call in that moment is a bad look for the referees regardless. The Bulldogs could be celebrating their first win in NCAA Tournament history. Instead, all they can do is wonder “what if?” That’s the worst feeling in sports.
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