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Welcome to the blissful confluence that’s the first Friday of March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day.
This promising day of cool and enjoyable options 16 males’s NCAA Event video games within the Spherical of 64 slate. Will there be any extra huge upsets? On Thursday, No. 15 Princeton shocked No. 2 Arizona and the 13-seeded Paladins of Furman upset No. 4 Virginia.
No. 14 Kennesaw State began the day with a near-upset of No. 3 Xavier, however the Musketeers rallied within the last minutes. The motion will not cease till round midnight on the East Coast with No. 11 Arizona State and No. 6 TCU tipping off at 10:05 p.m. ET (truTV).
As well as, the ladies’s first spherical acquired underway. No. 1 seed Virginia Tech takes on Chattanooga at 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU). Caitlin Clark and 2nd-seeded Iowa face SE Louisiana at 4 p.m. (ESPNU). The ultimate video games on the schedule begin at 10 p.m. ET with Gonzaga dealing with Ole Miss (ESPNU) and Princeton matching up in opposition to N.C. State (ESPN2).
Suppose you may have what it takes to beat your folks? Check your school basketball abilities (or luck) right here with USA TODAY’s Survivor Pool. Bookmark our brackets web page, too!
Observe the insanity: Latest Men’s NCAA Tournament College Basketball Scores and Schedules
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Males’s last: Saint Mary’s 63, VCU 51
The No. 5 Gaels pulled away after star VCU guard Adrian Baldwin Jr. injured his ankle within the second half.
Mitchell Saxen and Alex Ducas paced Saint Mary’s with 17 factors apiece. Regardless of the damage, Baldwin Jr. led the 12-seeded Rams with 13 factors.
Saint Mary’s prevailed regardless of struggling to attach from 3-point vary. The Gaels have been simply 3 of 17 (17.6%) from past the arc. Conversely, VCU went 35.7% on 3-point makes an attempt within the loss. The Gaels gained the rebound battle 37-29.
Ladies’s last: Georgia 66, Florida State 54
Diamond Battles had 21 factors to steer the Bulldogs to an upset victory over Florida State within the first spherical of the NCAA Event. Georgia, the No. 10 seed within the Seattle 4 Area, took management with a dominant second quarter and saved the strain on the Seminoles, who compounded their issues with poor taking pictures and dear turnovers.
Florida State, who performed the sport with out main scorer Ta’Niya Latson who sat out with an undisclosed damage, was led by Erin Howard’s 19 factors and 9 rebounds, with Taylor O’Brien chipping in 15, however every participant shot 6-16 from the sphere.
The Seminoles shot 27 % for the sport and have been outrebounded by 10. Georgia strikes on and can play the winner of host and No. 2 seed Iowa and No. 15 SE Louisiana.
Baylor 74, UC Santa Barbara 56
Adam Flagler scored 18 factors for Baylor and LJ Cryer added 15 because the Bears blitzed UC Santa Barbara within the second half to return away with a 74-56 victory.
Caleb Lohner had 13 factors off the bench for Baylor, and the Gauchos have been held to only 18 factors within the second half after main 36-35 at halftime. Baylor hit 55 % of its pictures and compelled 14 turnovers.
UC Santa Barbara was led by Miles Norris, who scored 15 factors.
Xavier 72, Kennesaw State 67
Colby Jones’ free throw with 18.3 left gave Xavier the lead and Jack Nunge had a last-second block to safe the win because the Musketeers erased a 13-point second-half deficit and held off the upset bid by 14-seed Kennesaw State, which was making its first look within the NCAA Event.
Jerome Hunter scored 24 factors and Nunge had 10 factors and 11 rebounds for Xavier, which went 2-12 from 3-point vary. Xavier stormed again with a 15–0 run to take the lead with 4:47 left as Kennesaw State went greater than seven minutes with out making a subject aim, lacking 11 pictures in a row.
Brandon Stroud’s two free throws tied the rating at 63 and Demond Robinson’s jumper gave the Owls a 65-64 lead with 2:04 left, however Kennesaw State scored solely six factors over the ultimate 10 minutes of the sport.
The Musketeers transfer on to tackle the winner of Iowa State and Pittsburgh.
Ladies’s last: Arizona 75, West Virginia 62
Regardless of coming into the event on a three-game dropping streak, the Wildcats got here out refreshed on sizzling from the sphere. Arizona constructed an 11-point lead within the first quarter and staved off a third-quarter rally earlier than pulling away once more.
Senior ahead Cate Reese led Arizona with 25 factors, six rebounds and two blocks, whereas senior ahead Esmery Martinez — who performed three seasons at West Virginia earlier than transferring to Arizona — chipped in a double-double of 13 factors and 12 rebounds, with two blocks.
Ladies’s last: USF 67, Marquette 65, OT
We acquired free basketball for the primary time on this yr’s March Madness when Marquette and South Florida went to time beyond regulation within the opening sport of the ladies’s event.
The Bulls rallied from 11 down late within the third quarter, taking the lead on Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu’s three-point play with 1:21 left in regulation. A 3-pointer by Elena Tsineke gave South Florida a four-point lead, however Marquette’s Jordan King and Mackenzie Hare every made a pair of free throws to tie the sport at 59 and pressure OT.
Chloe Marotta, who led Marquette with 25 factors Friday, fouled out with 2:56 left in time beyond regulation. The groups traded 1-point leads till seven seconds left, when Fankam Mendjiadeu made a free throw to place South Florida up 67-65.
Marquette’s 3-point try was off track. The Golden Eagles grabbed the rebound however couldn’t get a shot off earlier than the buzzer sounded.
— Nancy Armour
Males’s last: Michigan State 72, USC 62
Joey Hauser scored 17 factors as Michigan State held off the cold-shooting Trojans 72-62 to advance within the East Area. The Spartans will subsequent tackle the winner of Marquette and Vermont within the second spherical.
The rating was tied at 34 after the primary 20 minutes, however Michigan State began to take management with a 13-2 run capped off by a Jaden Akins three-pointer with 4:24 left. Akins and Tyson Walker scored 12 every and A.J. Hoggard had 11 factors for the Spartans.
USC shot 40% for the sport and was led by Joshua Morgan, who scored 10 of his 14 factors within the first half, with Kobe Johnson including 13. Boogie Ellis, the group’s main scorer, completed 3-12 for six factors, including six rebounds and 5 assists earlier than fouling out within the last minute.
No. 14 Kennesaw State on the lookout for upset bid, leads Xavier at half
Terrell Burden leads a balanced scoring effort for Kennesaw State with 10 factors because the Owls search for the upset and leads Xavier, the No. 3 seed, 43-36 within the Midwest Area’s first spherical. Chris Youngblood and Spencer Rodgers paced Kennesaw with eight factors every.
Jerome Hunter leads Xavier with 13 factors, because the Musketeers hit 1 from 7 from three-point vary and didn’t have an offensive rebound within the first half.
Michigan State and USC tied at half
Joey Hauser scored eight factors, and Jaden Akins and Tyson Walker every had six factors as Michigan State and USC are tied at 34 within the first-round matchup within the East Area. The Spartans led for the entire first half, apart from 1:31 when the Trojans used a 13-2 run to take a lead late within the first 20 minutes after trailing by 9.
Joshua Morgan, who averages solely 6.7 factors a sport, scored 10 factors to steer the Trojans. The group’s main scorer, Boogie Ellis went 1-6 for 2 factors however has 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Ladies’s first spherical will get underway
The ladies’s subject of 64 was polished off Thursday evening with No. 11 St. John’s and No. 16 Tennessee Tech becoming a member of No. 11 Mississippi State and No. 16 Sacred Coronary heart as First 4 winners.
Friday’s first spherical kicks off with a Greenville 1 Area matchup between No. 8 South Florida and No. 9 Marquette. The Bulls are led by Elena Tsineke, who averaged 18 factors per sport and shot 37.3% from 3-point, and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, who averaged 16.7 factors and 12.3 rebounds. The Golden Eagles rely extra on sound protection to grind out wins. Guard Jordan King leads Marquette with 15.9 factors, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 steals.
Greatest first-round picks in ladies’s bracket
Here are five intriguing picks for first-round consideration in the women’s tournament, taking into account matchups and bracket positioning.
- No. 3 Duke over No. 14 Iona
- No. 6 Colorado over No. 11 Middle Tennessee
- No. 3 Ohio State over No. 14 James Madison
- No. 8 USC over No. 9 South Dakota State
- No. 5 Oklahoma over No. 12 Portland
— Richard Morin
Winners and losers from Thursday’s action
But other top seeds looked dominant — which is what they’re supposed to look like, especially in their first-round games. All of it is coming together to provide an intriguing second round. But first, we’ve got one more whole day of first-round games, which may provide even more chaos.
— Lindsay Schnell
Ranking Friday’s men’s games
Curiously, the second day of March Madness features all four of the No. 3 seeds in action, and by extension all of the often compelling No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchups. That’s the area of the bracket where first- and second-round chaos often occurs.
Here’s the list of Friday’s games ranked by how watchable we think they’ll be. But again, keep that remote handy in case unexpected situations develop.
- No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 11 Providence
- No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic
- No. 5 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth
- No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Arizona State
- No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Southern California
— Eddie Timanus
Houston ruins title hopes by playing Marcus Sasser before he was ready
That backfired in spectacular fashion.
Just five days after Marcus Sasser strained his groin in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals, he was back in the Cougars’ starting lineup Thursday night. For a first-round game against a No. 16 team.
In a surprise to pretty much no one, Sasser didn’t even make it to halftime. Now top-seeded Houston might not make it to the second weekend, let alone to the Final Four in its hometown.
— Nancy Armour
Alabama’s biggest opponent may be exhaustion from unending chaos
The athletics director issued a statement at halftime. The most scrutinized 20-year-old in basketball couldn’t make a shot before eventually going to the bench to rest a sore groin. The walk-on nobody had heard of before Wednesday night threatened to sue the New York Times. And the coach is losing his mind on every dribble for two straight hours of a game he didn’t come close to losing.
In other words, it was just another day in Alabama basketball.
— Dan Wolken
What’s a Paladin?
It’s been a long wait for Paladins men’s basketball fans. It was more than 40 years since Furman was last in the tournament, and over 45 years since its last March Madness win.
— Jordan Mendoza
How to watch NCAA Tournament first-round games
Whether it’s at home, at a bar or at work, millions of Americans will be tuning in to watch teams make or break their bracket.
CBS and Turner Sports have the broadcasting rights to the men’s NCAA Tournament and broadcast games on four channels. Three of them – CBS, TNT and TBS – you may know from broadcasting dozens of other sporting events each year, but the remaining channel, truTV, is one that always eludes basketball fans each year.
Here’s where to find TruTV, depending on your cable provider or streaming service, and what games will be on the network:
What channel is truTV?
- AT&T U-Verse: 164/1164
- FIOS: 183/683
- Cox: Varies by location
- DISH: 242
- DirecTV: 246
- Spectrum: Varies by location
- Xfinity: Varies by location
For streaming, truTV is also available on: YouTube TV, iOS App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV.
Which March Madness games will be on truTV?
Four games will be broadcast Friday on truTV during the first rounds of March Madness. Here are the games that will be on truTV, as well as tip-off times (in ET):
► No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State (Friday, 12:40 p.m.)
► No. 6 Iowa State vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh (Friday, 3:10 p.m.)
► No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 14 Grand Canyon (Friday, 7:35 p.m.)
► No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Nevada/No. 11 Arizona State (Friday, 10:05 p.m.)
