— Baylor 75, Mississippi State 72
Baylor shot 55.3% inside arc, had 16 offensive rebounds.
Miss State shot 72.7% inside arc, only 10-30 on arc.
Baylor has won its last seven first round games.
Miss State lost its last six NCAA Tournament games.
— Ole Miss 71, North Carolina 64
Ole Miss led 44-26 at halftime.
Coach Beard is 6-0 in first round games, for four different schools.
Tar Heels shot only 5-24 on the arc.
UNC was 2-6 this year in non-ACC games vs top 100 teams.
— Saint Mary’s 59, Vanderbilt 56
Vandy led 29-22 at half 0f a slow-paced (59 possessions) game.
Saint Mary’s out-rebounded the Commodores, 41-28
Vandy finished 20-13, making their first NCAA since 2016.
Saint Mary’s-Alabama Sunday will definitely be worlds colliding.
— Colorado State 78, Memphis 70
Rams outscored Memphis 47-34 in second half.
Colorado State was 11-30 on arc, Tigers 6-23
Memphis star Haggerty was only 7-23 from the floor.
Rams have now won 11 games in a row.
This was first time since 2017 that a #12-seed was favored over a #5-seed.
— Iowa State 82, Lipscomb 55
Cyclones shot 68.3% inside arc, led 40-24 at halftime.
Last six years, #3-seeds are 16-8 ATS in first round.
Lipscomb was 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 16-29-27 points.
Iowa State-Ole Miss will be fun to watch Sunday.
— Alabama 90, Robert Morris 81
Most points a #2-seed allowed in a 1st round win since Arizona in 2017..
Underdog Colonials led by a point with 7:01 left to play.
Alabama shot 75.7% (28-37) inside the arc.
Horizon teams have now covered their last six NCAA Tourney games.
This was the most points a #2-seed was favored by Arizona in 2015.
— Maryland 81, Grand Canyon 49
Dismal performance by the Antelopes, who shot 32.1%
Could’ve been worse; Terps were 12-24 on foul line.
Maryland has won 13 of its last 16 games.
Maryland plays Colorado State in the 2nd round Sunday.
— Duke 93, Mt St Mary’s 49
Awful game; Duke led 54-28 at halftime.
Duke had only two turnovers in 70 possessions.
#1-seeds went 4-0/2-2 in first round (wins by 20-38-44-26 points)
Blue Devils play Baylor Sunday.
— Famous birthdays, March 22nd:
William Shatner, 94
Matthew Modine, 66
Jimbo Covert, 65
Brian Shaw, 59
Ramón Martínez, 57
Shawn Bradley, 53
Marcus Camby, 51
Reese Witherspoon, 49
Marques Tuiasosopo, 46
Dexter Fowler, 39
Ike Davis, 38
JJ Watt, 36
— New Mexico 75, Marquette 66
Marquette led by 3 with 12:29 left in the game.
Lobos were 18-21 on foul line, Marquette 7-12.
Mountain West is 2-2 SU in NCAA’s this week; previous three years, they were 3-16.
Lobos play Michigan State in second round Sunday.
— UConn 67, Oklahoma 59
Sooners led by a point with 9:03 left in the game.
UConn shot 58.1% inside arc, 6-25 on the arc.
Oklahoma shot 32.1% from the floor.
Huskies won 6 of last 7 games, after a 6-6 stretch.
— Kentucky 76, Troy 57
Kentucky led 35-27 at the half, pulled away in second half.
Amari Williams only had 5 points, but had 12 rebounds, 4 assists.
Troy took lot of 3’s, but made only 8-32.
Kentucky-Illinois should be a good game Sunday.
— Illinois 86, Xavier 73
Illini out-rebounded Xavier, 45-25.
Xavier was +9 in turnovers (14-5)
Illinois is in bottom 5 in country at forcing turnovers.
Illini shot 57.1% inside arc, scored 1.21 points/possession.
Last year was the first Sweet 16 for Illinois since 2005.
— Michigan State 87, Bryant 62
Bryant actually led 19-15 midway thru first half.
Spartans out-rebounded Bryant, 54-29.
Michigan State shot 10-26 on arc, scored 1.23 points/possession.
This was Bryant’s second trip to NCAA’s in last four years.
— Florida 95, Norfolk State 69
Gators won easily, led 53-32 at halftime.
Florida shot 67.9% inside arc, scored 1.44 points/possession.
Florida had 21 offensive rebounds, Norfolk 14 defensive rebounds.
Gators-UConn is an interesting matchup for Sunday.
— Arizona 93, Akron 65
Arizona out-rebounded the Zips, 53-22.
Wildcats outscored Akron 52-34 in second half.
Akron shot 33.3% from the floor.
Arizona shot 12-25 on the arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.
— Oregon 81, Liberty 52
Ducks sprinted out to 25-8 lead, jogged to an easy win. (do ducks jog?)
Oregon out-rebounded Liberty, 43-27
Liberty shot 8-37 on the arc.
Oregon won nine of last ten games; they play Arizona Sunday.
