ST. LOUIS (AP) — Otega Oweh rescued Kentucky with a buzzer-beater from just inside half court to force overtime, then hit the tiebreaking free throws in the extra period as the seventh-seeded Wildcats beat No. 10 seed Santa Clara 89-84 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In an electrifying finish to regulation that defines the words “March Madness,” Santa Clara’s Allen Graves drained a 3 from the right wing with 2.4 seconds left to put the Broncos ahead 73-70. Oweh received the inbound pass, pushed the ball up the court and pulled up to the left of the midcourt logo to launch his desperation heave. The ball was midair when the buzzer sounded, and it banked in for the tie.
Oweh scored a career-high 35 points and had eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats (22-13), who will face either No. 2 seed Iowa State or 15th-seeded Tennessee State in the second round in the Midwest Region.
NO. 2 IOWA ST. 108, NO. 15 TENNESSEE ST. 74
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Iowa State star Joshua Jefferson left in the first half of the Cyclones’ romp past Tennessee State with a left ankle injury Friday, leaving the All-American’s status for the remainder of the NCAA Tournament in doubt.
Jefferson landed awkwardly after a layup just 2 1/2 minutes into the first-round matchup in the Midwest Region. The 6-foot-9 senior had to be helped by trainers to the X-ray room, emerged about 10 minutes later using crutches, and watched the second half from the end of the Iowa State bench with his ankle in a bulky gray boot.
Nate Heise had eight of his season-high 23 points during a 23-0 run for the Cyclones (28-7), which began shortly after Jefferson was hurt and sent them breezing past the Tigers (23-10) and into a second-round matchup with seventh-seeded Kentucky on Sunday.
The Wildcats beat No. 10 seed Santa Clara 89-84 in an overtime thriller to begin the session at the Enterprise Center.
The Cyclones already were dealing with a groin injury that limited point guard Tamin Lipsey in the Big 12 Tournament. Now, their depth will be tested even more without Jefferson, who was second on the team in scoring and their leading rebounder.
NO. 3 VIRGINIA 82, NO. 14 WRIGHT ST. 73
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jacari White hit six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, and Virginia avoided yet another early NCAA Tournament exit, beating a resolute Wright State in the first round.
The Cavaliers (30-5) will face sixth-seeded Tennessee or No. 11 seed Miami (Ohio) in the second round in the Midwest Region on Sunday.
Virginia won its first NCAA Tournament game since it won the 2019 national title.
The Cavaliers lost in the first round or the First Four in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and title-winning coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired before last season. Ryan Odom took over this season and quickly turned the program around.
Odom knows all about Virginia upsets in the tournament. He coached UMBC in 2018 when it was the first No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 — yes, Virginia.
Michael Imariagbe scored 19 points and kept hope alive for that rare 14 seed win — there have been none in the tournament since 2024 — with a late 3 that pulled the Raiders within 78-73. White responded with a bucket that finally put to rest any thought of an early ride back home for the Cavaliers.
NO. 4 ALABAMA 90, NO. 13 HOFSTRA 70
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Labaron Philon Jr. scored 29 points and Alabama rallied from an early double-digit deficit to beat Hofstra in a first-round game in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.
The Crimson Tide (24-9) advanced to a second-round matchup against fifth-seeded Texas Tech (23-10), a 20-point winner over 12th-seeded Akron in the earlier first-round game at Benchmark International Arena.
Alabama ended the opening half on a 19-7 run to wipe out a 10-point deficit, then built its own lead to 13 before Hofstra (24-11) mounted one last push for a possible upset.
Freshman Preston Edmead had 24 points for the Pride, and his basket pulled the Pride within 67-62 with just over seven minutes remaining. Victory Onuetu’s dunk trimmed Alabama’s lead to 69-64 and ignited much of a crowd of 17,769 that threw its support behind the underdogs.
Philon was simply too much down the stretch, though, delivering a layup and a long 3-pointer during a surge that enabled Alabama to rebuild the lead to double digits. Taylor Bol Bowen put an exclamation point on the Crimson Tide response with two dunks and a 3-pointer as the lead ballooned to 20.
NO. 5 TEXAS TECH 91, NO. 12 AKRON 71
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jaylen Petty scored 24 points, Christian Anderson added 18 and Texas Tech beat Akron in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Raiders (23-10) will face fourth-seeded Alabama in the second round in the Midwest Region on Sunday.
Playing without All-America guard JT Toppin, who tore the ACL in his right knee last month, Texas Tech got double-figure scoring from five players.
Josiah Moseley had 16 points, Donovan Atwell scored 15 and LeJuan Watts added 14.
Amani Lyles led Akron with 26 points and Shammah Scott had 20.
Akron (29-6) became first team to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament three straight years. But the Zips again failed to reach the second round in their eighth March Madness appearance.
Petty and Atwell opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers to give Texas Tech an 11-point lead.
Akron got within 64-60 midway through second after Eric Mahaffey scored on a layup and made a free throw to complete a 3-point play. But the Zips couldn’t get any closer.
NO. 6 TENNESSEE 78, NO.11 MIAMI (OHIO) 56
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ja’Kobi Gillespie hit six 3-pointers and scored 29 points as Tennessee ended a fabulous season for Miami (Ohio) with a win.
The Vols (23-11) shook off a rough end to the season — losing four of six games — and advanced to play third-seeded Virginia on Sunday in the Midwest Region.
Gillespie hit five 3s in the first half to help the Vols push ahead by 20 and squash any chance the 11th-seeded RedHawks (31-2) could carry over the confidence gained from their First Four win and pull off a signature victory.
The Vols did just about everything right and showed again why — no matter the seed — they are a perennial threat to go deep in March. Led by Gillespie, the Vols made 12 of 19 shots to start the game, including long 3s and 20 quick points in the paint.
Just to add one more gut punch to Miami, Ethan Burg hit a 3 at the first-half buzzer for a 51-32 lead.
Gillespie passed up a chance to score 30 points — only two other Vols have ever reached that mark in the NCAA Tournament — when he drove the lane with 1:13 left but skipped the open look and threw a lob to Felix Okpara for the bucket.
J.P. Estrella had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Vols.
Peter Suder was the lone Miami player in double digits with 27 points.
NO. 1 FLORIDA 114, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 55
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Florida began its national title defense with the second-largest victory margin in NCAA Tournament history, pounding Prairie View A&M.
Boogie Fland scored 16 points to lead seven players in double figures for the top-seeded Gators (27-7), whose 59-point margin fell short of only Loyola Chicago’s 111-42 win over Tennessee Tech in 1963. Florida advanced to face the South Region’s No. 9 seed, Iowa, in the second round on Sunday.
Florida went on runs of 18-0 and 17-0 in the first half to turn a 15-all tie into a 60-21 lead at the break. The Gators shot 75% before halftime and 64.3% for the game against the 16th-seeded Panthers (19-18).
Late in the second half, 7-foot-9 freshman Olivier Rioux — the world’s tallest teenager before he turned 20 last month — got in on the action with a putback dunk.
NO. 9 IOWA 67, NO. 8 CLEMSON
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Bennett Stirtz scored 16 points and Iowa weathered his erratic shooting to hold off Clemson.
The Hawkeyes (22-12), making their March Madness debut under coach Ben McCollum, move on to a second-round South Region meeting against either top-seeded and defending national champion Florida or No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M.
Stirtz made two free throws with 10.9 seconds remaining help put the game away after Clemson (24-11) rallied to within 61-57 in the closing minutes. But Iowa’s leading scorer had an off night, going 3 for 10 on 3-point attempts and 1 for 7 inside the arc. Kael Combs kept the Hawkeyes stay afloat with 15 points and Alvaro Foigueiras came off the bench to score 14.
RJ Godfrey led Clemson with 15 points.
NO. 2 UCONN 82, NO. 15 FURMAN 71
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tarris Reed Jr. had 31 points and 27 rebounds in a dominant NCAA Tournament performance, leading UConn to a victory over Furman.
Alex Karaban added 22 points for UConn (30-5), which advanced to play UCLA in the second round of the East Region on Sunday.
For about 36 minutes in Philadelphia, it sure looked like coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies had a chance of heading back home instead.
But Reed wouldn’t let them, the All-Big East center becoming the first player with 30-plus points and 25-plus rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Elvin Hayes did it twice in 1968.
NO. 5 ST. JOHN'S 79, NO. 12 NORTHERN IOWA 53
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Bryce Hopkins added 13 points and St. John’s beat Northern Iowa for its second NCAA Tournament victory since 2000.
Oziyah Sellers scored 11 points for Rick Pitino’s gathering Red Storm (29-6), who have won 20 of 21 since early January in increasingly impressive fashion. With a fluid, balanced offensive effort against the nation’s stingiest scoring defense, St. John’s jumped to a huge early lead at Viejas Arena and never trailed the 12th-seeded Panthers (23-13).
The New York City program revitalized by Pitino ended its 25-year March Madness victory drought last season. After rolling through the Big East tournament last week, Pitino’s current team is one win away from the Johnnies’ first trip to the Sweet Sixteen in the 21st century.
St. John’s will return Sunday to face the winner of fourth-seeded Kansas’ meeting with Cal Baptist in the East Region bracket.
Trey Campbell scored 14 points and Leon Bond III added 12 for Northern Iowa, which surprisingly snared its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016 by streaking through the Missouri Valley Conference tournament last week with four wins in four days as the sixth seed.
NO. 4 KANSAS 68, NO. 13 CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 60
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Darryn Peterson made four 3-pointers and scored 28 points, and Kansas squandered most of a 26-point lead before holding off scrappy NCAA Tournament newcomer Cal Baptist.
Kansas (24-10) advances to face St. John’s in the second round on Sunday in a matchup between Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self of the Jayhawks and Rick Pitino of the Red Storm. The No. 5-seeded Red Storm beat Northern Iowa 79-53 in the East Region bracket. Kansas hasn’t survived the opening weekend since 2022, when it won the national title.
The Jayhawks led 48-22 just four minutes into the second half but the No. 13-seeded Lancers, backed by a small but loud student section, never gave up as the Jayhawks went cold for most of the last six minutes.
Dominique Daniels Jr. scored 25 points for the Lancers (25-9), including two 3-pointers in the closing minutes that brought the crowd at Viejas Arena to life as the Lancers went on an 18-2 run. They pulled to 66-60 on a layup by Martel Williams with 1:16 to go.
NO. 7 UCLA 75, NO. 10 UCF 75
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Eric Dailey Jr. scored 20 points, Xaiver Booker had 15 points and eight rebounds to make up for the absence of leading scorer Tyler Biloudeau and UCLA withstood every serious challenge and beat UCF.
The Bruins (24-11) play the winner of the game between No. 2 seed UConn and Furman on Sunday.
Jordan Burks scored 22 points and hit six 3-pointers — including one that made it 72-69 with 10 seconds left — to almost single-handedly carry UCF (21-12) into the second round.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Bryce Hopkins added 13 points and St. John’s beat Northern Iowa for its second NCAA Tournament victory since 2000.
Oziyah Sellers scored 11 points for Rick Pitino’s gathering Red Storm (29-6), who have won 20 of 21 since early January in increasingly impressive fashion. With a fluid, balanced offensive effort against the nation’s stingiest scoring defense, St. John’s jumped to a huge early lead at Viejas Arena and never trailed the 12th-seeded Panthers (23-13).
The New York City program revitalized by Pitino ended its 25-year March Madness victory drought last season. After rolling through the Big East tournament last week, Pitino’s current team is one win away from the Johnnies’ first trip to the Sweet Sixteen in the 21st century.
St. John’s will return Sunday to face the winner of fourth-seeded Kansas’ meeting with Cal Baptist in the East Region bracket.
Trey Campbell scored 14 points and Leon Bond III added 12 for Northern Iowa, which surprisingly snared its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016 by streaking through the Missouri Valley Conference tournament last week with four wins in four days as the sixth seed.
No. 1 ARIZONA 92, NO. 16 LIU POST 58
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Brayden Burries hit four 3-pointers while scoring 18 points, Koa Peat added 15 points and top-seeded Arizona opened its NCAA Tournament run with a over Long Island on Friday.
Ivan Kharchenkov had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion Wildcats (33-2), who quickly showed why they’re the tournament’s second overall seed behind Duke.
Pushing the pace on offense and stifling the Sharks with defense, Arizona went up by double digits in the opening minutes and led the Sharks by 27 in the first half while delighting the thousands of fans who filled Viejas Arena with red.
Arizona will return Sunday to face the winner of Villanova’s meeting with Utah State in the West Region bracket.
NO. 2 PURDUE 104, QUEENS UNIVERSITY 71
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Braden Smith scored 26 points and became the Division I career leader in assists, guiding Purdue to a win over Queens University.
The Boilermakers seized control with a pair of 10-0 runs, once in the waning moments of the first half and in the opening minutes of the second half. Trey Kaufman-Renn’s basket after an offensive rebound capped the second surge and stretched Purdue’s lead to 58-36 with 16:27 to play.
Purdue (28-8) led by at least 20 the rest of the way.
About eight minutes in, Smith handed out his 1,077th career assist, breaking the record previously held by Duke’s Bobby Hurley. The milestone came when Smith, wearing glittering black Nike sneakers, set up a layup by Kaufman-Renn that gave Purdue a 17-12 advantage.
Smith finished with eight assists and made 10 of 15 shots as Purdue converted at a 63% clip from the field, including 58% from 3-point range.
Kaufman-Renn contributed 25 points and nine rebounds, and Oscar Cluff had nine points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks for Purdue.
Jordan Watford and Nasir Mann, the younger brother of Charlotte Hornets guard Tre Mann, led the 15th-seeded Royals (21-14) with 10 points apiece.
NO. 7 MIAMI 80, NO. 10 MISSOURI 66
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Malik Reneau scored 24 points, Tre Donaldson hit a couple of big baskets down the stretch, and Miami pulled away late for a victory over Missouri.
Donaldson finished with 17 points, and Shelton Henderson had 15 for the Hurricanes (26-8), who trailed midway through the second half before an 11-0 run that gave them control and pushed them into a matchup with Purdue for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Jayden Stone scored 21 points and Mark Mitchell had 19 for the Tigers (20-13), who have lost nine of their last 10 NCAA Tournament games. Anthony Robinson II also had 11 points and five assists before fouling out in the final minute.
NO. 9 UTAH STATE 86, NO.8 VILLANOVA 76
SAN DIEGO (AP) — MJ Collins’ steal and emphatic one-handed slam dunk with 1:13 left gave him 20 points and Utah State opened its fourth straight NCAA Tournament by beating Villanova.
Mason Falslev, the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, scored 22 and helped bring the Aggies back from a 10-point deficit early in the second half.
Utah State (29-6), the No. 9 seed in the West Region, will play No. 1 seed Arizona in the second round on Sunday. The Wildcats beat No. 16 Long Island 92-58 on Friday.
Collins converted a three-point play with 2:53 left to give the Aggies a 78-73 lead. After No. 8 seed Villanova (24-9) committed a five-second inbound violation, Falslev fed Collins for a layup and an 80-73 lead. Collins intercepted a pass by Bryce Lindsay and went in for his slam for an 84-74 lead.
Lindsay made six 3-pointers and scored 25 points for Villanova. Duke Brennan and Tyler Perkins added 15 points apiece.
_____
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
