Xavier Roger
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Welcome to the happy confluence that is the first Friday of March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day.
This promising day of cool and fun features 16 men’s NCAA Tournament games in the Round of 64 slate. Will there be any more big upsets? On Thursday, No. 15 Princeton stunned No. 2 Arizona and the 13-seeded Paladins of Furman upset No. 4 Virginia.
No. 14 Kennesaw State started the day with a near-upset of No. 3 Xavier, but the Musketeers rallied in the final minutes. The action won’t stop until around midnight on the East Coast with No. 11 Arizona State and No. 6 TCU tipping off at 10:05 p.m. ET (truTV).
In addition, the women’s first round got underway. No. 1 seed Virginia Tech takes on Chattanooga at 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU). Caitlin Clark and 2nd-seeded Iowa face SE Louisiana at 4 p.m. (ESPNU). The final games on the schedule start at 10 p.m. ET with Gonzaga facing Ole Miss (ESPNU) and Princeton matching up against N.C. State (ESPN2).
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Men’s final: Saint Mary’s 63, VCU 51
The No. 5 Gaels pulled away after star VCU guard Adrian Baldwin Jr. injured his ankle in the second half.
Mitchell Saxen and Alex Ducas paced Saint Mary’s with 17 points apiece. Despite the injury, Baldwin Jr. led the 12-seeded Rams with 13 points.
Saint Mary’s prevailed despite struggling to connect from 3-point range. The Gaels were just 3 of 17 (17.6%) from beyond the arc. Conversely, VCU went 35.7% on 3-point attempts in the loss. The Gaels won the rebound battle 37-29.
Women’s final: Georgia 66, Florida State 54
Diamond Battles had 21 points to lead the Bulldogs to an upset victory over Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Georgia, the No. 10 seed in the Seattle 4 Region, took control with a dominant second quarter and kept the pressure on the Seminoles, who compounded their problems with poor shooting and costly turnovers.
Florida State, who played the game without leading scorer Ta’Niya Latson who sat out with an undisclosed injury, was led by Erin Howard’s 19 points and nine rebounds, with Taylor O’Brien chipping in 15, but each player shot 6-16 from the field.
The Seminoles shot 27 percent for the game and were outrebounded by 10. Georgia moves on and will play the winner of host and No. 2 seed Iowa and No. 15 SE Louisiana.
Baylor 74, UC Santa Barbara 56
Adam Flagler scored 18 points for Baylor and LJ Cryer added 15 as the Bears blitzed UC Santa Barbara in the second half to come away with a 74-56 victory.
Caleb Lohner had 13 points off the bench for Baylor, and the Gauchos were held to just 18 points in the second half after leading 36-35 at halftime. Baylor hit 55 percent of its shots and forced 14 turnovers.
UC Santa Barbara was led by Miles Norris, who scored 15 points.
Xavier 72, Kennesaw State 67
Colby Jones’ free throw with 18.3 left gave Xavier the lead and Jack Nunge had a last-second block to secure the win as the Musketeers erased a 13-point second-half deficit and held off the upset bid by 14-seed Kennesaw State, which was making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Jerome Hunter scored 24 points and Nunge had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Xavier, which went 2-12 from 3-point range. Xavier stormed back with a 15–0 run to take the lead with 4:47 left as Kennesaw State went more than seven minutes without making a field goal, missing 11 shots in a row.
Brandon Stroud’s two free throws tied the score at 63 and Demond Robinson’s jumper gave the Owls a 65-64 lead with 2:04 left, but Kennesaw State scored only six points over the final 10 minutes of the game.
The Musketeers move on to take on the winner of Iowa State and Pittsburgh.
Women’s final: Arizona 75, West Virginia 62
Despite entering the tournament on a three-game losing streak, the Wildcats came out refreshed on hot from the field. Arizona built an 11-point lead in the first quarter and staved off a third-quarter rally before pulling away again.
Senior forward Cate Reese led Arizona with 25 points, six rebounds and two blocks, while senior forward Esmery Martinez — who played three seasons at West Virginia before transferring to Arizona — chipped in a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, with two blocks.
Women’s final: USF 67, Marquette 65, OT
We got free basketball for the first time in this year’s March Madness when Marquette and South Florida went to overtime in the opening game of the women’s tournament.
The Bulls rallied from 11 down late in the third quarter, taking the lead on Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu’s three-point play with 1:21 left in regulation. A 3-pointer by Elena Tsineke gave South Florida a four-point lead, but Marquette’s Jordan King and Mackenzie Hare each made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 59 and force OT.
Chloe Marotta, who led Marquette with 25 points Friday, fouled out with 2:56 left in overtime. The teams traded 1-point leads until seven seconds left, when Fankam Mendjiadeu made a free throw to put South Florida up 67-65.
Marquette’s 3-point attempt was off target. The Golden Eagles grabbed the rebound but couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.
— Nancy Armour
Men’s final: Michigan State 72, USC 62
Joey Hauser scored 17 points as Michigan State held off the cold-shooting Trojans 72-62 to advance in the East Region. The Spartans will next take on the winner of Marquette and Vermont in the second round.
The score was tied at 34 after the first 20 minutes, but Michigan State started to take control with a 13-2 run capped off by a Jaden Akins three-pointer with 4:24 left. Akins and Tyson Walker scored 12 each and A.J. Hoggard had 11 points for the Spartans.
USC shot 40% for the game and was led by Joshua Morgan, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half, with Kobe Johnson adding 13. Boogie Ellis, the team’s leading scorer, finished 3-12 for six points, adding six rebounds and five assists before fouling out in the final minute.
No. 14 Kennesaw State looking for upset bid, leads Xavier at half
Terrell Burden leads a balanced scoring effort for Kennesaw State with 10 points as the Owls look for the upset and leads Xavier, the No. 3 seed, 43-36 in the Midwest Region’s first round. Chris Youngblood and Spencer Rodgers paced Kennesaw with eight points each.
Jerome Hunter leads Xavier with 13 points, as the Musketeers hit 1 from 7 from three-point range and did not have an offensive rebound in the first half.
Michigan State and USC tied at half
Joey Hauser scored eight points, and Jaden Akins and Tyson Walker each had six points as Michigan State and USC are tied at 34 in the first-round matchup in the East Region. The Spartans led for all of the first half, except for 1:31 when the Trojans used a 13-2 run to take a lead late in the first 20 minutes after trailing by nine.
Joshua Morgan, who averages only 6.7 points a game, scored 10 points to lead the Trojans. The team’s leading scorer, Boogie Ellis went 1-6 for two points but has four rebounds and four assists.
Women’s first round gets underway
The women’s field of 64 was polished off Thursday night with No. 11 St. John’s and No. 16 Tennessee Tech joining No. 11 Mississippi State and No. 16 Sacred Heart as First Four winners.
Friday’s first round kicks off with a Greenville 1 Region matchup between No. 8 South Florida and No. 9 Marquette. The Bulls are led by Elena Tsineke, who averaged 18 points per game and shot 37.3% from 3-point, and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, who averaged 16.7 points and 12.3 rebounds. The Golden Eagles rely more on sound defense to grind out wins. Guard Jordan King leads Marquette with 15.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 steals.
Best first-round picks in women’s bracket
Deciding on first-round picks is an arduous task. It is important to take into account seed positioning and game matchups. For example, a team with a favorable first-round matchup that has the potential of facing a higher seed in one of the next few rounds could be a smart pick. Why? Because an unfavorable future matchup would result in that team being less tempting to select again.
Here are five intriguing picks for first-round consideration in the women’s tournament, taking into account matchups and bracket positioning.
- No. 3 Duke over No. 14 Iona
- No. 6 Colorado over No. 11 Middle Tennessee
- No. 3 Ohio State over No. 14 James Madison
- No. 8 USC over No. 9 South Dakota State
- No. 5 Oklahoma over No. 12 Portland
— Richard Morin
Winners and losers from Thursday’s action
This is what we want on the first day of Madness: Brackets breaking all over the country and double-digit seeds shocking everyone (except themselves, at least if you’re Princeton).
But other top seeds looked dominant — which is what they’re supposed to look like, especially in their first-round games. All of it is coming together to provide an intriguing second round. But first, we’ve got one more whole day of first-round games, which may provide even more chaos.
— Lindsay Schnell
Ranking Friday’s men’s games
Curiously, the second day of March Madness features all four of the No. 3 seeds in action, and by extension all of the often compelling No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchups. That’s the area of the bracket where first- and second-round chaos often occurs.
Here’s the list of Friday’s games ranked by how watchable we think they’ll be. But again, keep that remote handy in case unexpected situations develop.
- No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 11 Providence
- No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic
- No. 5 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth
- No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Arizona State
- No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Southern California
— Eddie Timanus
Houston ruins title hopes by playing Marcus Sasser before he was ready
That backfired in spectacular fashion.
Just five days after Marcus Sasser strained his groin in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals, he was back in the Cougars’ starting lineup Thursday night. For a first-round game against a No. 16 team.
In a surprise to pretty much no one, Sasser didn’t even make it to halftime. Now top-seeded Houston might not make it to the second weekend, let alone to the Final Four in its hometown.
— Nancy Armour
Alabama’s biggest opponent may be exhaustion from unending chaos
The athletics director issued a statement at halftime. The most scrutinized 20-year-old in basketball couldn’t make a shot before eventually going to the bench to rest a sore groin. The walk-on nobody had heard of before Wednesday night threatened to sue the New York Times. And the coach is losing his mind on every dribble for two straight hours of a game he didn’t come close to losing.
In other words, it was just another day in Alabama basketball.
— Dan Wolken
What’s a Paladin?
Princeton might have pulled off the biggest upset Thursday, but 13-seeded Furman’s downing of No. 4 Virginia was a fun (unless you’re a Cavaliers fan, of course) start to the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament.
It’s been a long wait for Paladins men’s basketball fans. It was more than 40 years since Furman was last in the tournament, and over 45 years since its last March Madness win.
— Jordan Mendoza
How to watch NCAA Tournament first-round games
Whether it’s at home, at a bar or at work, millions of Americans will be tuning in to watch teams make or break their bracket.
CBS and Turner Sports have the broadcasting rights to the men’s NCAA Tournament and broadcast games on four channels. Three of them – CBS, TNT and TBS – you may know from broadcasting dozens of other sporting events each year, but the remaining channel, truTV, is one that always eludes basketball fans each year.
Here’s where to find TruTV, depending on your cable provider or streaming service, and what games will be on the network:
What channel is truTV?
TruTV can be found on several cable providers, and has the same channel number nationwide on some of the providers. Here are the channels:
- AT&T U-Verse: 164/1164
- FIOS: 183/683
- Cox: Varies by location
- DISH: 242
- DirecTV: 246
- Spectrum: Varies by location
- Xfinity: Varies by location
For streaming, truTV is also available on: YouTube TV, iOS App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV.
Which March Madness games will be on truTV?
Four games will be broadcast Friday on truTV during the first rounds of March Madness. Here are the games that will be on truTV, as well as tip-off times (in ET):
► No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State (Friday, 12:40 p.m.)
► No. 6 Iowa State vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh (Friday, 3:10 p.m.)
► No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 14 Grand Canyon (Friday, 7:35 p.m.)
► No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Nevada/No. 11 Arizona State (Friday, 10:05 p.m.)
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