No. 12 seed McNeese holds off Clemson to earn first March Madness victory

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Friday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament.

Brando Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time.

With its first NCAA Tournament victory, McNeese earned a second-round matchup on Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue, a 75-63 winner over High Point.

Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job — at NC State.

PURDUE 75, HIGH POINT 63

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Trey Kaufman-Renn had 21 points and eight rebounds, and fourth-seeded Purdue held off High Point for a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Big Ten player of the year Braden Smith added 20 points and six assists as Purdue (23-11) avoided a first-round exit after reaching the championship game last season. The Boilermakers will meet the winner of Clemson and McNeese State in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.

D’Maurian Williams had 12 points for No. 13 seed High Point (29-6), which had won 14 straight. Trae Benham added 11 points.

HOUSTON 78, SIU-EDWARDSVILLE 40

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the Midwest Region.

Ja’Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga or No. 9 seed Georgia. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of its last 27 overall.

Ray’Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance.

GONZAGA 89, GEORGIA 68

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Khalif Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18 and eighth-seeded Gonzaga routed Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting as Gonzaga (26-8) advanced to an intriguing second-round matchup with top-seeded Houston. The Cougars rolled to a 78-40 victory over SIU Edwardsville.

The Zags used a sharp, focused performance to move into the second round for the 22nd time since Mark Few took over as coach in 1999. They went 12 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 55% from the field overall.

TENNESSEE 77, WOFFORD 62

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chaz Lanier scored 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting and No. 2 seed Tennessee never trailed in a victory over Wofford on that sent the Volunteers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.

Coach Rick Barnes’ Vols (28-7) will play either No. 7 seed UCLA or 10th-seeded Utah State on Saturday in the Midwest Region as they try to reach a third straight Sweet 16.

Zakai Zeigler had 12 points and 12 assists. He became Tennessee’s career assist leader after setting the single-season record for assists at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

No. 15 seed Wofford was making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance as the Southern Conference Tournament champion but ended a run of reaching four straight second rounds. The Terriers’ last first-round loss was in 2010.

Jackson Sivills led the Terriers (19-16) with 15 points. Corey Tripp scored 14, Jeremy Lorenz 12 and Justin Bailey 10.

UCLA 72, UTAH ST. 47

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Skyy Clark and Eric Dailey Jr. each scored 14 points and No. 7 seed UCLA routed 10th-seeded Utah State to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five seasons.

Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 reserve center, added 10 points for coach Mick Cronin’s Bruins (23-10), who will face second-seeded Tennessee on Saturday in the Midwest Region as they seek their fourth Sweet 16 appearance in the past five editions of March Madness. The Volunteers also cruised to an easy win, 77-62 over Wofford.

Mason Falslev scored 17 points and Deyton Albury had 12 for Utah State (26-8), which reached its third consecutive NCAA Tournament — this time under Jarrod Calhoun, the Aggies’ third coach in that span.

WEST REGION

ARKANSAS 79, KANSAS 72

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points to help 10th-seeded Arkansas to an opening-round NCAA Tournament victory over No. 7 seed Kansas in the latest meeting between two of college basketball’s winningest coaches.

Johnell Davis added 18 points, including some crucial late free throws, to help John Calipari to his first tournament victory as Razorbacks coach. Freshman standout Boogie Fland played for the first time since having right thumb surgery in January and scored six points in 24 minutes.

Arkansas will get either No. 2 seed St. John’s or No. 15 Omaha in the second round of the West Region on Saturday.

Zeke Mayo had 18 points for Kansas (21-13), which has made 35 straight NCAA Tournaments and hadn’t lost in the first round since 2006. AJ Storr finished with 15 points and Hunter Dickinson added 11 points and nine rebounds.

DRAKE 67, MISSOURI 57

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Bennett Stirtz scored 21 points and No. 11 seed Drake, a team relying heavily on Division II transfers, held on after blowing most of a 15-point lead to beat sixth-seeded Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Tavion Banks added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (31-3), who along with first-year coach Ben McCollum advanced to a second-round matchup with third-seeded Texas Tech or No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington on Saturday.

Caleb Grill had 14 points for Missouri (22-12). Tamar Bates had 10 before fouling out.

As expected, the game was a stylistic clash: Drake and its nation-leading scoring defense trying to force a rock fight, and Missouri with its top-10 scoring offense trying to push the tempo whenever it had the chance.

ST. JOHN’S 83, OMAHA 53

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rick Pitino returned to Providence and picked up a March Madness victory with yet another school, coaching St. John’s past Omaha and into a second-round matchup with longtime nemesis John Calipari.

RJ Luis Jr. had 22 points and eight rebounds for the second-seeded Red Storm, who recovered from a cold-shooting start to pull away early in the second half. That earned them a matchup against No. 10 seed Arkansas on Saturday, with the winner earning a trip to the Sweet 16.

But more delectable for basketball fans will be the pairing of Pitino and Calipari, two strong-willed Hall of Famers – and NCAA infraction magnets – who developed an unfriendly rivalry in the 2010s when Calipari was at Kentucky and Pitino was an hour away in Louisville.

TEXAS TECH 82, UNC-WILMINGTON 72

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kerwin Walton scored a career-high 27 points and No. 3 seed Texas Tech attempted an NCAA Tournament-record 46 3-pointers in a victory over No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington.

The Red Raiders raced to a 16-point lead, lost most of it by going cold in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the first half and then made enough plays down the stretch to recover after the Seahawks went ahead with about 14 minutes remaining.

Texas Tech (26-8) finished 13 for 46 behind the arc, breaking the tournament record of 43 attempts by Saint Joseph’s in a 1997 second-round game against Boston College. The 46 3s also set a school record.

Elijah Hawkins contributed 14 points for the Red Raiders and Darrion Williams had 13 to set up a second-round matchup with No. 11 seed Drake on Saturday. Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season.

Nolan Hodge scored 18 points for UNC Wilmington (27-8), the Coastal Athletic Association Champion. The Seahawks shot 41% from the floor.

EAST REGION

WISCONSIN 85, MONTANA 66

DENVER (AP) — Wisconsin grinded its way back into the March Madness win column, getting 19 points from John Blackwell and double-digit scoring from four others on the way to a victory over Montana.

The third-seeded Badgers won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. Last year, they were a first-round upset victim to James Madison.

Next, coach Greg Gard’s team will try to make the Sweet 16 for the first time in eight years with a game against either VCU or BYU in the East Region.

BYU 80, VCU 71

DENVER (AP) — Igor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one.

The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against third-seeded Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day in the East Region.

Zeb Jackson scored a season-high 23 points for the Rams (28-7), who reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years but still haven’t had any March Madness success since 2016.

SOUTH REGION

AUBURN 83, ALABAMA ST. 63

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Mike Kelly made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, All-American Johni Broome added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Auburn beat 16th-seeded Alabama State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (29-5) lasted one game in 2024, losing to Yale days after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament. This time, Auburn came in having lost three of four inside the power-packed SEC with a resume still strong enough to earn the top overall seed among the four No. 1 teams.

Auburn will play No. 9 seed Creighton, an 89-75 winner over eighth-seeded Louisville, in the second round of the South Region on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta.

CREIGHTON 89, LOUISVILLE 75

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Greg McDermott’s Bluejays (25-10) won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season. Louisville (27-8), despite its unimpressive seeding, entered at No. 10 in the AP Top 25.

Seeking its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years, Creighton will play either No. 1 overall seed Auburn or 16th-seeded Alabama State in the second round of the South Region on Saturday.

TEXAS A&M 80, YALE 71

DENVER (AP) — Texas A&M snuffed out hope of another Ivy League upset Thursday, sending Yale back to class with a victory behind a career-high 25 points along with 10 rebounds from big man Pharrel Payne in the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Aggies (23-10) were on a lot of “upset watch” lists, thanks mainly to going against a Yale team some thought might be even better than the one that pulled off a first-round shocker last year against Auburn.

But an upper-division team from the best conference in the country, the Southeastern, proved too much for the Yalies.

Coach Buzz Williams earned his second March Madness win in six years at College Station. A&M’s next game is Saturday against Michigan or UC San Diego.

John Poulakidas led 13th-seeded Yale with 23 points.

MICHIGAN 68, UC SAN DIEGO 65

DENVER (AP) — Vladislav Goldin and Michigan proved a bit too much for UC San Diego when the Russian center scored 14 points and the fifth-seeded Wolverines overcame Tyler McGhie’s 25 points to escape with a win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

McGhie’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer with 7-footer Danny Wolf in his face hit the back iron and the Wolverines and their fans finally exhaled.

Michigan advanced to face fourth-seeded Texas A&M in the South Region. The Aggies turned away Yale 80-71 at Ball Arena earlier in the evening.

McGhie’s bucket with 2:29 left gave the 12th-seeded Tritons their only lead at 65-63. Tre Donaldson, who was on the Auburn team that was upset by Yale in last year’s NCAA Tournament, responded with a 3-pointer to restore Michigan’s lead.

Goldin, who picked up his fourth foul at the 8:25 mark, grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 19.3 seconds left. He sank both to make it 68-65.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness