The first Thursday of the men’s NCAA Tournament brought upsets, courtesy of No. 12 McNeese and No. 11 Drake. It brought together old faces — John Calipari versus Bill Self, with Rick Pitino waiting for the winner — and less familiar ones, like Drake’s Bennett Stirtz and Creighton’s Jamiya Neal.
Sixteen games down, 16 to go in Round 1. Here are our takeaways from the first half of the first round.
You can follow Friday’s action via our March Madness live blog.
No. 10 Arkansas 79, No. 7 Kansas 72
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In a game of runs between two championship coaches, seventh-seeded Kansas was left with the streaks. With eight ties and 10 different lead changes, No. 10 seed Arkansas’ late 7-0 run gave coach John Calipari a 79-72 win against the Jayhawks and coach Bill Self in Providence, R.I.
Kansas (21-13) rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a 67-64 lead with 3:10 left in the game. The Razorbacks were reeling after missing six straight shots and a scoring drought of 4:16. But a careless Kansas pass turned to an easy Arkansas layup, and then two more turnovers led to a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer. That Arkansas 7-0 run followed by Kansas’ 4:34 stretch without a basket propelled the Razorbacks to a final 15-5 run and the victory.
THE RAZORBACKS TAKE MOMENTUM RIGHT BACK 🔥#MarchMadness @RazorbackMBB pic.twitter.com/GTEHwNaD5e
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
Kansas’ streak of 17 consecutive first-round tournament victories ended in the loss. This marked the third time the venerable coaches had met in the NCAA Tournament but the first time before the championship game. Self’s Jayhawks beat Calipari’s Memphis squad for the 2008 title, while Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats stopped Kansas in 2012.
Jonas Aidoo led Arkansas with 22 points, while Johnell Davis’ 3-pointer and steal in the final two minutes were pivotal. The Razorbacks (21-13) will face No. 2 seed St. John’s and coach Rick Pitino in a second-round game Saturday. — Scott Dochterman
No. 2 St. John’s 83, No. 15 Omaha 53
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It’s hard to describe the feeling in a building when a 15 or 16 seed is hanging with one of the big boys, and thoughts of the impossible creep into view. You could see it Thursday night, as St. John’s struggled through poor shooting and foul troubles in a dicey first half against a hard-playing, trash-can-smashing group from Omaha.
And then St. John’s came out of the halftime locker room.
Championship chops ultimately revealed themselves in what became a first-round rout for a Johnnies team with its eyes on San Antonio in the Final Four. An 83-53 win saw No. 2 seed St. John’s outscore the 15th-seeded Mavericks 50-25 in the second half and finish the game with a season-high 1.34 points per possession.
RJ Luis, the 2025 Big East player of the year, led four double-figure scorers with 22 points. The Johnnies made 14 3s courtesy of six different players.
Now everyone in Providence gets what they want. Rick Pitino versus John Calipari in the second round. The two have as much history with each other as this town does with Italians and basketball. Part bloodline, part blood feud, the backstory has traveled from here in New England, down through the commonwealth of Kentucky and back again.
Saturday. 🍿#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/jhfPbUPfV5
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
In a college basketball season that’s revolved so much around coaches of another era staying at the top of the game while doing it their own way, it feels all too appropriate to have a Pitino-Calipari showdown. They are 2-2 against each other in NCAA Tournament play. Bragging rights are on the line between two men who have little trouble doing so. — Brendan Quinn
No. 12 McNeese 69, No. 5 Clemson 67
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The most feared low-level seed in a first-round NCAA tournament game is No. 12. McNeese, and it proved why with the win against 5th-seed Clemson. McNeese became the 47th No. 12 seed to win a first-round game since 1979 and in the process won its first NCAA Tournament game in school history.
“We made school history, man,” McNeese coach Will Wade told CBS. “We’d never won a game. We didn’t have much history when we got there. We’ve broken almost every record. I’m just so proud for our guys, our university, our president, our athletic director. It’s incredible. This changes our university.”
The Cowboys rolled to a 31-13 halftime advantage while forcing Clemson into 10 first-half turnovers and a dismal 1-for-15 3-point shooting performance. That defensive effort proved critical in withstanding a late barrage from the Tigers.
McNeese (28-6) shot 43.5 percent from the field and held a 43-36 rebounding average. Brandon Murray led the Cowboys with 21 points. The performance comes in the wake of Wade’s agreement to leave McNeese and coach NC State following the tournament. But Wade’s transparency with his players and admission that he had contact with NC State did not become a distraction, he said.
“We’ve been doing it all year,” Wade said. “They’re all focused. We do what we do. That’s what we did.” — Scott Dochterman
No. 4 Purdue 75, No. 13 High Point 63
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Purdue hammered High Point on the boards to snap its run of being upset in the first round every other year.
The fourth-seeded Boilermakers never really shook free of the 13th-seeded Panthers, but they outrebounded High Point 45-24, including 17-5 on the offensive glass.
Dominating the glass hasn’t been Purdue’s thing this season post-Zach Edey, and the Big South champions aren’t a drastically undersized mid-major. Still, the Boilermakers got a full team, crash-the-glass effort. Camden Heide grabbed 10 boards, while Trey Kaufman-Renn and Gicarri Harris each had eight. Purdue finished with 20 second-chance points. And even when the Boilermakers weren’t converting those offensive rebounds into points, they were helping Purdue burn clock and stymie a High Point comeback in an arena the Panthers’ fans took over.
Matt Painter’s Boilermakers reached the Final Four last year, a season after losing in the first round as a No. 1 seed to FDU. They also were bounced in the first round as a four seed by North Texas in 2021.
McNeese awaits Purdue in the second round of the Midwest Regional. — Ralph Russo
Purdue with two big put-back slams 💪
The Boilermakers open up their largest lead of the day!#MarchMadness @BoilerBall pic.twitter.com/Sj8jGRND7u
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2025
No. 11 Drake 67, No. 6 Missouri 57
Iowa, West Virginia and perhaps other suitors will need to wait at least a few more days to talk with Ben McCollum, whose No. 11 seed Drake Bulldogs advanced with a 67-57 win against sixth-seeded Missouri in Wichita, Kan.
Born in Iowa City and raised in northwest Iowa, McCollum led Drake to its third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championship in his inaugural season and has extended the school record for victories to 31. McCollum brought four players, including MVC Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz, from Division II Northwest Missouri State, and the Bulldogs won both the MVC regular-season and tournament crowns.
McCollum, 43, played collegiately at North Iowa Area Community College and later at Northwest. He was hired as coach by current West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker and promptly guided the Bearcats to four national titles and 11 consecutive MIAA conference championships. Overall, McCollum is 425-94 at Northwest and Drake. — Scott Dochterman
No. 3 Texas Tech 82, No. 14 UNC Wilmington 72
WICHITA, Kan. — Texas Tech point guard Elijah Hawkins saw his defender back on his heels, going under the screen and almost daring him to shoot. Hawkins was 2 of 10 from 3 for the night, but at No. 3 seed Texas Tech, they shoot their shot. Sometimes they even set records.
Hawkins buried the 3 to finally create a little separation from pesky UNC Wilmington and help his team survive a scare from the No. 14 seed in an 82-72 win.
Elijah Hawkins with another triple 👌#MarchMadness @TexasTechMBB pic.twitter.com/IylU3auGj0
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
The Red Raiders set an NCAA Tournament record by attempting 46 3-pointers on Thursday night. They made only 13 (28.3 percent), and that second stat kept the Seahawks close. UNCW even led by one point in the second half after trailing by 16 in the first.
But the Red Raiders survived thanks to Kerwin Walton, who made 8 of his 19 3s and scored a career-high 27 points in his 154th college game. Texas Tech took all those 3s because most were good looks, with UNCW focusing on limiting All-American forward JT Toppin, who scored just 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Texas Tech advanced to the second round to face 11th-seeded Drake, coached by Ben McCollum, one of Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland’s best friends. The Red Raiders and Bulldogs played each other in a secret scrimmage in the preseason. Texas Tech won that one. This game will be played in front of a much larger crowd. — C.J. Moore
No. 5 Michigan 68, No. 12 UC San Diego 65
What looked early on like a potentially drama-free, comfortable Michigan victory turned into a tense close call for the fifth-seeded Wolverines, who survived with a 68-65 win over No. 12 seed UC San Diego.
Michigan led by 15 points less than a minute into the second half, but the Tritons’ 12-0 run over the next three minutes kept them within striking distance. The Wolverines’ hot shooting start (53.1 percent in the first half) fell off a cliff in the second (28 percent), allowing UC San Diego to creep back in on the shoulders of Tyler McGhie (25 points).
When McGhie’s jumper gave the Tritons their first lead, a 65-63 advantage with 2:29 left, the Wolverines didn’t panic. Junior guard Tre Donaldson answered with a trey of his own 16 seconds later to reclaim the lead. Some clutch rebounding by Michigan center Vladislav Goldin in the final minute and a good contest by 7-footer Danny Wolf of McGhie’s last-ditch effort at a game-tying 3 in the final seconds helped Michigan exhale.
The Wolverines (26-9) will face Texas A&M in the second round. — Sam Khan Jr.
MICHIGAN RIPS THE LEAD BACK 🔥
BACK AND FORTH WE GO IN DENVER ‼️ https://t.co/Cw7PWdG3Nq#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/5SNVJ7nOGb
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
No. 4 Texas A&M 80, No. 13 Yale 71
DENVER — Bolstered by an unlikely hero, Texas A&M avoided a loss to a Yale team that has plenty of experience with March upsets. Pharrel Payne, who averages just nine points per game off the bench, poured in 25 points as the Aggies advanced against the Ivy League champion Bulldogs 80-71.
It was just one year ago when Yale upset fellow SEC opponent Auburn. The Bulldogs hung around in this game, cutting the deficit to six points midway through the second half.
The size deficit was noticeable as the Aggies outscored the Bulldogs 48-32 in the paint. The dagger came from Payne with 2:30 left in the second half, when he gobbled an offensive rebound and put back an and-one layup to extend the lead to 12 points.
Payne putting finishing touches on this one for the Aggies 🙌#MarchMadness @aggiembk pic.twitter.com/JSZdrkZXor
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
This is the second straight season that Texas A&M won an NCAA Tournament game, but it’s been seven years since they made the second week before coach Buzz Williams’ tenure. They’ll face Michigan on Saturday. — Sam Blum
No. 7 UCLA 72, No. 10 Utah State 47
LEXINGTON, Ky. — UCLA coach Mick Cronin has many good players and a team that has been prone to ups, downs and Cronin scoldings this season, but when they all play well, as was the case Thursday night in Rupp Arena, behold the Bruins.
Midwest Region No. 10 seed Utah State was no match for No. 7 seed UCLA, which had seven players score at least 7 points, led by Skyy Clark’s 14, in a 72-47 romp. The Bruins (23-10) carved up the Aggies’ (26-8) matchup zone and had a whopping 22 assists on 26 baskets. Dylan Andrews had eight of those assists to lead UCLA.
This sets up an intriguing matchup Saturday with No. 2 seed Tennessee, which will be tested by the Bruins’ depth and size. — Joe Rexrode
UCLA running it up in the second half 😤#MarchMadness @UCLAMBB pic.twitter.com/qLZuvMeSLF
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
No. 2 Tennessee 77, No. 15 Wofford 62
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Chaz Lanier is not Dalton Knecht, it’s been said a time or two during this Tennessee season, and that’s true — this year’s high-scoring senior transfer is not doing ridiculous things on the court and not expected to go high in the NBA Draft.
But Lanier did a pretty good Knecht impersonation Thursday in the Midwest No. 2 seed Vols’ workmanlike 77-62 win over No. 15 seed Wofford at Rupp Arena. Every time the Terriers tried to make a run, the North Florida transfer was there with a huge shot. Lanier ended up with a game-high 29 points, nearly 12 above his team-leading average, finishing 6-for-13 from 3-point range.
Chaz Lanier is filling it up 🪣
The @Vol_Hoops standout is up to 26 points 🔥#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/gY4tcoq3ti
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2025
Zakai Zeigler found him on many of those and finished with 12 points and 12 assists. The nation’s No. 3 defense had a few more miscues than usual, but this was a good offensive start for the Vols, largely because of Lanier. — Joe Rexrode
No. 8 Gonzaga 89, No. 9 Georgia 68
WICHITA, Kan. — Turns out, the computers were onto something when it comes to Gonzaga.
The Zags, who rank No. 9 at KenPom and have remained highly regarded by all of college hoops’ major predictive metrics this season, looked drastically under-seeded as a No. 8 seed in an easy win over Georgia on Thursday afternoon.
Of course, it could have been the setting. Gonzaga has now played in 26 straight NCAA Tournaments. Georgia was playing in its first since 2015. One team looked comfortable on the stage, the other a little starry-eyed.
The Zags jumped out to a 27-3 lead and treated Georgia like they treat the bottom of the West Coast Conference, getting whatever shots they wanted and making things difficult for their foes offensively. Georgia had 13 turnovers, shot just 5 of 26 from 3, including back-to-back air balls at one point in the first half, and trailed by 25 multiple times.
Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman helped build that early lead by burying all four of his 3s in the first half, continuously finding himself open on the wing. Khalif Battle, playing in the first NCAA Tournament of his career, led the Zags with 24 points.
Gonzaga played its best opponents close in the nonconference schedule but struggled to get a marquee win, which is why its résumé-based ratings did not stack up to past Gonzaga teams. But outside of a regular-season sweep at the hands of Saint Mary’s, it has been typical Gonzaga since the calendar flipped to 2025, dominating the league and starting to play its best basketball in March.
On Saturday, we’ll see how good this Gonzaga team is, as it will try to beat top-seeded Houston and make its 10th straight Sweet 16. — C.J. Moore
No. 1 Houston 78, SIU Edwardville 40
WICHITA, Kan. — Houston achieved what it needed in the opening round: advance and stay healthy.
The top-seeded Cougars cruised to a 78-40 win over SIEU and Kelvin Sampson was able to rest his starters for much of the second half after building a 28-point lead in the first.
SIEU struggled with Houston’s defensive pressure, turning the ball over 13 times and making only 2 of 24 3s.
Houston came out hot from the perimeter, making 8 of 13 3s in the first half. The Coogs cooled off the second half — 22.9 percent shooting from the field — but a lot of those misses were with their reserves in and the game in hand.
The important stat: No starter played more than 23 minutes. Houston has been haunted by injuries in the NCAA Tournament the last three years, but it cruises into the second round with its entire rotation intact. J’Wan Roberts, who missed the final two games of the Big 12 tournament with a sprained ankle, played only 20 minutes and looked unaffected by his ankle injury. The Coogs were led by guards Milos Uzan (16 points) and LJ Cryer (15 points).
Houston will play Gonzaga on Saturday. — C.J. Moore
The exclamation point from Houston ‼️#MarchMadness @UHCougarMBK pic.twitter.com/YKrsMeG0fi
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2025
No. 6 BYU 80, No. 11 VCU 71
DENVER — All season, one of the biggest stories surrounding BYU basketball was the poor shooting numbers of prodigious point guard Egor Demin. His 3-point prowess in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament-opening win helped propel the Cougars to the victory. Demin finished with 15 points, hitting 3 of 7 from long range.
BYU went on a quick 13-3 burst early in the second half to go up by 20 points. VCU, the A-10 champion, was crushed on the glass, getting outrebounded 40-31. BYU also dominated the paint, outscoring VCU 38-18 while taking 22 more free throws. It led the Cougars to their first NCAA Tournament win since 2011, having lost five first-round matchups since then. VCU has not advanced out of the first round in five consecutive Tournaments.
At one point this season, the Cougars were just 11-6, 2-4 in the Big 12 and trending outside the NCAA Tournament picture. But they’ve now rattled off 10 of 11 and will face Wisconsin on Saturday for a chance to make the Sweet 16. — Sam Blum
No. 3 Wisconsin 85, No. 14 Montana 66
DENVER — With a trio of big men that Montana had no way to defend, Wisconsin pulled away in the second half for the win over the upset-minded Grizzlies. Steven Crowl, Xavier Amos and Nolan Winter combined for 39 points on 17-of-25 shooting, utilizing a clear size advantage. Meanwhile, Montana’s top scorer, Malik Moore, was held to just seven points on 3-for-7 shooting for the Big Sky Conference champions.
On the game’s first play, Crowl posted up on Montana’s Te’Jon Sawyer, who is four inches shorter than the Badgers’ center. He made an easy spin move and bucket. It set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Grizzlies made it close early in the second half, cutting the deficit to four points on multiple occasions. But they had no defensive answer for Wisconsin, which shot 55.4 percent from the floor, up from their season average of 45.2 percent. — Sam Blum
No. 1 Auburn 83, Alabama State 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. — “Pissed off” was a popular term heard around the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday, a day before they embarked on an NCAA Tournament quest as the No. 1 overall seed. That’s because Bruce Pearl has told his players all week that’s how he wants them to play.
Losing three of four games entering the tournament should have helped. But it was Pearl who embodied that phrase Thursday — barking at players and assistant coaches during a timeout as South No. 16 seed Alabama State was in the middle of an 18-6 run. Auburn figured it out and cruised behind 23 points from Miles Kelly and a 14-point, 11-rebound effort from Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome, setting up a Saturday date with No. 9 seed Creighton.
Still, this team simply isn’t playing its best ball. It looks strained. If focus, energy and joy don’t return at high levels Saturday, this could be a short stay. — Joe Rexrode
No. 8 Creighton 89, No. 9 Louisville 75
LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Creighton’s big three — 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner, point guard Steven Ashworth and wing Jamiya Neal, all seniors — are playing off each other and executing the way they did Thursday, the Bluejays leave defenses with few answers. Louisville had none in an 89-75 loss at Rupp Arena, ruining the joy of Cards fans taking over the home of their bitter rivals.
Those three combined for 65 points, and Neal posted a career-high 29, including a pair of back-breaking midrange makes in the second half with Louisville trying to fight back.
Creighton shredded Louisville – No. 21 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency per Kenpom – for 1.348 points per possession, with an effective field-goal percentage of 68.8 percent. Louisville got 22 points from Chucky Hepburn, a technical foul for coach Pat Kelsey and a crowd warning after a (presumed) Louisville fan threw a water bottle onto the court. — Joe Rexrode
After Pat Kelsey received a technical foul in the closing minutes of Creighton-Louisville, a water bottle was thrown from the stands and landed on the court.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 20, 2025
(Top photo of St. John’s coach Rick Pitino: Eric Canha / Imagn Images)
