Lots of the video games on the primary day of the Spherical of 32 continued the pattern we noticed from the Spherical of 64, with the favorites largely reigning supreme. Nonetheless, we did get our first major upset of the tournament on Saturday.
No. 10 seed Arkansas took down No. 2 seed St. John’s in a battle of two Corridor of Fame coaches, with John Calipari getting the newest giggle over rival Rick Pitino. That recreation wasn’t outlined by its stars, nevertheless. In actual fact, each groups had commanding defensive performances that prompted the opposing stars to battle to shoot from the sphere as St. John’s All-American RJ Luis was benched for the ultimate minutes of the sport.
[MORE: 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket here]
The opposite eight video games on Saturday, although, featured sturdy particular person efforts. A few All-People made their presence felt, whereas a bench participant was pivotal to a different victory after transferring from that college’s prime rival over the offseason.
Let’s check out the largest heroes from Saturday’s video games.
The junior continued his spectacular season on Saturday, scoring 22 factors on 7-of-12 capturing from the sphere whereas securing 15 rebounds in Purdue’s 76-62 win over McNeese. Fourteen of these factors got here within the second half, serving to the Boilermakers draw back and never have to fret about any Cinderella magic. As for Kaufman-Renn’s 15 rebounds, that is a brand new profession excessive.
When it was time to make a comeback, a former Buckeye stepped up for the Wolverines. Gayle, an Ohio State switch, went off after Texas A&M took a 60-50 lead with 13:17 remaining. He scored 16 factors from that time on, hitting a number of 3-pointers and sinking a number of different clutch photographs. His made free throw with 6:08 remaining gave Michigan a 71-70 lead, one which it would not relinquish as Gayle completed with a season-high 26 factors.
Contemporary off being named a second-team All-American, Toppin confirmed why he was worthy of the spot on Saturday. His 19 first-half factors let Texas Tech leap out to an early lead over an upstart Drake squad. He solely added six factors within the second half, however he shot 11-of-13 from the sphere to go together with 12 rebounds and two mighty blocks.
Williams, in the meantime, took the scoring load within the second half. He put up 14 factors within the closing 20 minutes, giving him a season-high 28 factors to assist Texas Tech win with relative ease, 77-64.
The Tigers may need the co-favorite for Nationwide Participant of the Yr, but it surely was a freshman off the bench who made positive the No. 1 general seed would not get upset within the Spherical of 32. Pettiford scored 16 factors within the second half, selecting up the slack as Johni Broome struggled from the sphere (4-of-13) whereas Chad Baker-Mazara missed a lot of the second half resulting from damage.
Pettiford made a number of jumpers all through the second half that helped Auburn lengthen its lead, ending the day with 23 factors as Auburn took down Creighton, 82-70.
Junior ahead Richie Saunders scored a team-high 25 factors for BYU in its win over Wisconsin, however Magazine made the largest play of the sport for the Cougars. As BYU’s 11-point lead with underneath three minutes left dwindled to 2 with a minute remaining, Wisconsin star Josh Tonje put Magazine in isolation with the sport on the road.
Tonje, who scored 11 of his 37 factors within the earlier three minutes, wasn’t capable of beat Magazine off the dribble, although. Finally, Tonje threw up an off-balanced shot over the lanky Magazine, which was off the mark and secured a 91-89 win for BYU.
The senior third-team All-American was the lifeblood of the Cougars’ offense on Saturday. As Cryer’s teammates had been a bit uneven on that finish of the courtroom, he scored 16 factors within the first half and added 14 extra within the second half in Houston’s 81-76 win over Gonzaga. Eight of these factors got here throughout a two-minute stretch within the second half when Gonzaga appeared to lastly discover a rhythm offensively, permitting Houston to maintain its lead in double digits. That wound up being pivotal as Gonzaga made it a one-point recreation with simply over 20 seconds remaining.
The senior was cash from deep for Tennessee in its 67-58 win over UCLA on Saturday, scoring 20 factors as he went 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
A pair of these 3-pointers got here early within the second half, ballooning Tennessee’s result in double digits after a decent opening 20 minutes. Within the course of, Lanier set the Volunteers‘ file for many 3-pointers made in a single season with 120, passing Chris Lofton’s earlier mark of 118 in 2007-08. Lofton was in attendance to look at Lanier break the file — and to look at the Vols advance to their third straight Candy 16.
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