NCAA Tournament live updates: Houston’s Marcus Sasser returns for March Madness
men’s NCAA Tournament began Thursday with some dramatic upsets, with No. 13 seed Furman scoring the day’s first upset when the Paladins shocked No. 4 Virginia. Then, No. 15 Princeton busted brackets everywhere by upending No. 2 Arizona after trailing most of the game – and marking the third straight year a No. 15 seed advanced to the second round.
We are halfway through the first day of the first round, with games like No. 1 Houston vs. No. 16 Northern Kentucky and No. 2 UCLA against No. 15 North Carolina-Asheville highlighting a night slate that won’t stop until around midnight Eastern.
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Final: No. 7 Northwestern 75, No. 10 Boise State 67
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Boise State was able to close the Wildcats’ lead to four before Northwestern pulled away for a 75-67 win.
Boo Buie scored a game-high 22 points, five rebounds and five assists. Chase Audige also exploded for the Wildcats, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the second half to finish the Broncos off.
Boise State’s Marcus Shaver Jr. returned in the second half with a taped ankle and a noticeable limp after leaving the first half early with a twisted right ankle. Max Rice led the Broncos with 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, with Chibuzo Agbo adding 12 points and Shaver recording 10. But the Broncos weren’t able to generate enough offense to get past Northwestern, who led the entirety of the game.
Marcus Sasser returns to Houston lineup
Houston got a win before the Cougars even tipped off in the 2023 NCAA Tournament: Marcus Sasser is back.
Sasser is the Cougars’ leading scorer at 17.1 points, and also chips in 3.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. The AAC player of the year, he got hurt late in the first half of Houston’s conference tournament semifinal, slipping on the floor and hurting his groin. He did not play in the AAC tournament championship, which Houston lost 75-65 to Memphis. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said earlier this week that Sasser would be a game-time decision Thursday.
In a potent offense — all five Cougar starters average 9 points or more — Sasser is the key. A 6-foot-2, 195-pound combo guard, he is UH’s first first-team All-American since Hakeem Olajuwon and a likely second round pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
– Lindsay Schnell
Final: No. 5 Duke 74, No. 12 Oral Roberts 51
Jon Scheyer’s first NCAA Tournament win as head coach at Duke was a breeze.
The No. 5 Blue Devils jumped out to a 15-0 lead and never looked back as they cruised past Oral Roberts and into the second round. Jeremy Roach led the way with a game-high 23 points.
Duke dominated the boards, finishing with a 47-32 advantage. Highly-touted freshman Dereck Lively II paced the field with 12 rebounds. Oral Roberts shot poorly, just 30.2% from the floor and an even-poorer 25% from 3.
It feels odd to consider Duke a dark horse, but with a No. 5 seed and without Mike Krzyzewski on the sideline the Blue Devils certainly weren’t the favorites to win this tournament. But they are playing just about as well as any team in the country, now winners of 10 straight games, including a run to the ACC tournament title.
Final: No. 9 Auburn 83, No. 8 Iowa 75
Charles Barkley is surely happy. His alma mater, Auburn, is moving on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament following an 83-75 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Johni Broome (19 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks) and Allen Flanigan (10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists) finished with double-doubles, while four other Tigers reached double-digit points.
Payton Sandfort led the Hawkeyes with 21 points off the bench, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.
Half: No. 2 Texas 41, No. 15 Colgate 32
The Longhorns led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but the Raiders cut it to a single-digit lead going into halftime. Texas jumped to an early lead by way of the 3-point line, shooting 53.3% from beyond the arc. Sir’Jabari Rice has 15 points, two assists and four rebounds off the bench for Texas.
But the Raiders closed the half on a 14-6 run to stay within striking distance. Ryan Moffatt leads Colgate with six points, one steal and one assist.
Half: No. 7 Northwestern 38, No. 10 Boise State, 32
The Wildcats entered halftime with a six-point lead over the Broncos, having led the entire game and by as many as 10 points. Guard Boo Buie is the only Wildcat in double figures with 11 points, three assists and three rebounds. Chase Audige added seven points and Ty Berry recorded six. Northwestern only committed four turnovers and fouls in the half.
Broncos guard Marcus Shaver Jr. went down after twisting his right ankle with 2:33 left in the first half. He was helped back to the locker room and couldn’t apply pressure to his ankle. It’s not clear if he will return. Chibuzo Agbo leads the Broncos with 10 points, one assist and three rebounds.
Half: Duke 40, Oral Roberts 23
The Blue Devils got out to a dominant start in their first-round matchup, jumping out to a commanding early lead.
Duke had two players finish the half with double-digit points. Jeremy Roach posted 13 and Dariq Whitehead added 10 off the bench. Dereck Lively II was a force on the glass, pulling down nine rebounds.
Oral Roberts, meanwhile, struggled to find momentum. Max Abmas led the team with eight points in the first 20 minutes.
Overall, the Blue Devils shot an impressive 50% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles shot just 26.5% from the field and shot 20% from beyond the arc. Duke won the rebound battle 25-15.
Half: Auburn 31, Iowa 26
The ninth-seeded Tigers spread the scoring around, finishing the first half with four players tallying at least five points. Nine players scored for Auburn overall.
Both Johni Broome (eight points, six rebounds) and Allen Flanigan (six points, seven rebounds) are on double-double watch for the Tigers. Iowa’s Filip Rebraca led all scorers with 10 points at the break.
Both teams struggled from 3-point range. Auburn connected on just 1 of 9 shots from beyond the arc while Iowa missed all nine of its attempts.
President Biden’s bracket completely busted halfway through first day of NCAA Tournament
President Joe Biden shared his brackets for the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments on Twitter ahead of Thursday’s tip-off of the men’s action and, well … his bracket is just as busted as the rest of us.
The commander in chief picked Arizona to win the whole thing. Halfway through the day’s action, the No. 2 seed Wildcats had been eliminated, shocked by No. 15 Princeton in the first round.
To make matters worse, the president had Arizona squaring off with No. 4 Virginia in the Elite Eight. The Cavaliers were also upset Thursday, falling to No. 13 Furman in jaw-dropping fashion. Not great to already have an entire region essentially eliminated on Day 1, but we imagine Biden has bigger things to worry about.
Final: No. 8 Arkansas 73, No. 9 Illinois 63
Despite Illinois’ torrid comeback attempt, No. 8 Arkansas held on for a first-round victory over the ninth-seeded Fighting Illini.
Ricky Council IV was a force for the Razorbacks, tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate Davonte Davis added 16 points.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. led all scorers with 20 while teammates Coleman Hawkins and RJ Melendez added 10 points apiece.
The Fighting Illini were hampered by turnovers, giving away 17 possessions compared to Arkansas’ 11 turnovers in the game. Both teams shot less than 40% from the field, but the Razorbacks won the rebound battle 42-34 and advanced to the round of 32.
Final: No. 15 Princeton 59, No. 2 Arizona 55
Biggest upset of the tournament? The No. 15-seeded Tigers erased a double-digit deficit in the second half to knock off the second-seeded Wildcats.
Arizona was out-rebounded 39-37 and fell victim to six blocked shots in the loss. Princeton’s Tosan Evbuomwan paced the team with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Wildcats received a 22-point effort from Azuolas Tubelis and got a double-double from Oumar Ballo (13 points, 12 rebounds) but could not close out the first-round matchup.
Princeton, which shot just 16% from 3-point range (4-for-25), did just enough to pull off an unforgettable upset. The Tigers finished the game on a 9-0 run.
Small South Carolina school provides first upset of the day
Furman kicked off the madness by knocking off No. 4 Virginia thanks to a clutch 3-point shot from JP Pegues in the final seconds.
It marked the first tournament win since 1974 for the private school with an enrollment of 2,500.
Learn about the school that was thrust into the NCAA Tournament spotlight, like, what is a Paladin?
returned to practice this week after being discharged from the University of Kansas Health System, where he had two stents inserted to treat blocked arteries in his heart.
Kansas takes on Howard at 2 p.m. ET.
Here are five candidates to consider strongly to pull off a first-round upset.
— Eddie Timanus
we should all spend the next three weeks embracing the idea that our picks are useless and our brackets will likely need to be thrown in the trash.
On paper, this has the potential to be one of the craziest tournaments we’ve ever seen.
Why? Maybe because this has not been a dominant year for the big, traditional brands. Instead, we’ve seen Houston cruise through the American Athletic Conference while barely getting a worthy test from anyone besides Memphis. We’ve seen football schools Alabama and Texas AM dominate the SEC while Kentucky comes into the tournament looking like an underachiever.
We’ve seen Miami, a team built on veterans and transfers, rise to the top of the ACC while Duke went way under the radar most of the year and North Carolina missed the tournament entirely. And the Big Ten almost felt like a random results generator at times with nine teams finishing within two games of each other in the standings behind Purdue, which ran off with the conference title.
— Dan Wolken
Final USA TODAY Sports coaches poll
Houston enters the NCAA Tournament with the No. 1 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, despite its loss in the American Athletic Conference championship game just prior to the unveiling of the brackets on Sunday.
The Cougars, who were playing without leading scorer Marcus Sasser in the loss to Memphis, retained 21 of 32 No. 1 votes to stave off second-ranked Alabama. The Crimson Tide received eight firsts after winning the SEC title in impressive fashion on Sunday.
— Eddie Timanus
The South Region is loaded. It begins at the top with the overall highest seed, but if Alabama is to make its first Final Four in program history, it will have to navigate a bracket filled with lots of accomplished programs, including four programs with national championship banners hanging in their home arenas.
Two of the three most recent NCAA champs are here, Baylor and Virginia. Arizona, a powerhouse of the ‘90’s, is back in the title hunt. Then there’s Maryland, which cut down the nets early this century and is hoping to make noise as one of the Big Ten’s numerous representatives in the field.
— Eddie Timanus
He was discharged Sunday from the hospital, where he checked in last week with chest tightness and balance problems. According to doctors, Self had two stents placed in order to treat blocked arteries in his heart.
The No. 2 seed, UCLA, enters the tournament with injury issues. If UCLA hadn’t lost defensive whiz Jaylen Clark to injury in the regular-season finale, there’s a good chance the Bruins would have had a No. 1 seed and a path to the Final Four.
— Josh Peter
The East Region doesn’t lack for star power: Purdue is joined by No. 2 Marquette, No. 3 Kansas State and No. 4 Tennessee, followed by No. 5 Duke and No. 6 Kentucky.
— Paul Myerberg
The best first-round matchup in the Midwest?
The Texas AM-Penn State game pairs teams that had great runs last weekend and have tremendous guard play; but both played Sunday and have to come back and play Thursday. (It also matches the sartorial splendiferousness of Aggies coach Buzz Williams and his suit vests against the quarter-zip-casual Micah Shrewsberry.)
— Steve Berkowitz