SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636535763017043973?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boo Buie scored 22 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636530025821528065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Rice scored 17 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636535763017043973?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boo Buie scored 22 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636530025821528065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Rice scored 17 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone expected us to be here,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I still think it was an amazing season. Obviously we wanted to get our first win in the tournament. But they played good tonight. They played better than us tonight and made a bunch of big shots. But that doesn&rsquo;t take away from what we&rsquo;ve done this year.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636535763017043973?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boo Buie scored 22 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636530025821528065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Rice scored 17 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone expected us to be here,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I still think it was an amazing season. Obviously we wanted to get our first win in the tournament. But they played good tonight. They played better than us tonight and made a bunch of big shots. But that doesn&rsquo;t take away from what we&rsquo;ve done this year.&rdquo;
Chase Audige added 20 points for the Wildcats and Ty Berry scored 13, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs fell behind by 10 points early but fought back to tie the game at 40 early in the second half when Rice hit his second 3-pointer of the half.
The game was tight most of the way before Northwestern finally built the lead back to 10 on a tip-in by Brooks Barnhizer with 3:15 to go.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t break down,&rdquo; Audige said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t screaming. We might have screamed at each other, but it was a good type of like, &lsquo;C&rsquo;mon, let&rsquo;s be better.&rsquo; I think every single time we just executed, whether we missed a shot or made it, we got a shot we wanted or liked.&rdquo;
TOUGH IT OUT
Broncos guard Marcus Shaver Jr. had to be helped off the court after going down with an apparent leg injury late in the first half. He came out of locker room late after halftime and returned to the game.
&nbsp;

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636535763017043973?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boo Buie scored 22 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636530025821528065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Rice scored 17 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone expected us to be here,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I still think it was an amazing season. Obviously we wanted to get our first win in the tournament. But they played good tonight. They played better than us tonight and made a bunch of big shots. But that doesn&rsquo;t take away from what we&rsquo;ve done this year.&rdquo;
Chase Audige added 20 points for the Wildcats and Ty Berry scored 13, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs fell behind by 10 points early but fought back to tie the game at 40 early in the second half when Rice hit his second 3-pointer of the half.
The game was tight most of the way before Northwestern finally built the lead back to 10 on a tip-in by Brooks Barnhizer with 3:15 to go.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t break down,&rdquo; Audige said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t screaming. We might have screamed at each other, but it was a good type of like, &lsquo;C&rsquo;mon, let&rsquo;s be better.&rsquo; I think every single time we just executed, whether we missed a shot or made it, we got a shot we wanted or liked.&rdquo;
TOUGH IT OUT
Broncos guard Marcus Shaver Jr. had to be helped off the court after going down with an apparent leg injury late in the first half. He came out of locker room late after halftime and returned to the game.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s courageous, he&rsquo;s tough, and he didn&rsquo;t want to let these guys down, us down,&rdquo; coach Leon Rice said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just unfortunate.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Boise State: With four returning starters from last year&rsquo;s tournament team, including three seniors, the Broncos hoped this year&rsquo;s team could be the one finally to break through. They fell to 0-4 in the tournament under Rice.
Northwestern: After finishing second in the Big Ten for the first time since the 1958-59 season, the Wildcats made sure this special season wouldn&rsquo;t come to an early finish. Northwestern lost in the second round to Gonzaga in 2017 after beating Vanderbilt in its tournament debut.
UP NEXT
Northwestern is seeking its first trip to the Sweet 16.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Boo Buie scored 22 points&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636530025821528065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Max Rice scored 17 points</a>&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone expected us to be here,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I still think it was an amazing season. Obviously we wanted to get our first win in the tournament. But they played good tonight. They played better than us tonight and made a bunch of big shots. But that doesn&rsquo;t take away from what we&rsquo;ve done this year.&rdquo;
Chase Audige added 20 points for the Wildcats and Ty Berry scored 13, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs fell behind by 10 points early but fought back to tie the game at 40 early in the second half when Rice hit his second 3-pointer of the half.
The game was tight most of the way before Northwestern finally built the lead back to 10 on a tip-in by Brooks Barnhizer with 3:15 to go.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t break down,&rdquo; Audige said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t screaming. We might have screamed at each other, but it was a good type of like, &lsquo;C&rsquo;mon, let&rsquo;s be better.&rsquo; I think every single time we just executed, whether we missed a shot or made it, we got a shot we wanted or liked.&rdquo;
TOUGH IT OUT
Broncos guard Marcus Shaver Jr. had to be helped off the court after going down with an apparent leg injury late in the first half. He came out of locker room late after halftime and returned to the game.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s courageous, he&rsquo;s tough, and he didn&rsquo;t want to let these guys down, us down,&rdquo; coach Leon Rice said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just unfortunate.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Boise State: With four returning starters from last year&rsquo;s tournament team, including three seniors, the Broncos hoped this year&rsquo;s team could be the one finally to break through. They fell to 0-4 in the tournament under Rice.
Northwestern: After finishing second in the Big Ten for the first time since the 1958-59 season, the Wildcats made sure this special season wouldn&rsquo;t come to an early finish. Northwestern lost in the second round to Gonzaga in 2017 after beating Vanderbilt in its tournament debut.
UP NEXT
Northwestern is seeking its first trip to the Sweet 16.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Boo Buie scored 22 points&nbsp;to lead Northwestern to a win in the school&rsquo;s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn&rsquo;t be one-and-done.
&ldquo;All joy. No relief. It&rsquo;s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,&rdquo; coach Chris Collins said. &ldquo;When you get to this point now, it&rsquo;s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play second-seeded UCLA in the second round of the West Region.
The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries.&nbsp;Max Rice scored 17 points&nbsp;to lead Boise State and Naje Smith added 14.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone expected us to be here,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I still think it was an amazing season. Obviously we wanted to get our first win in the tournament. But they played good tonight. They played better than us tonight and made a bunch of big shots. But that doesn&rsquo;t take away from what we&rsquo;ve done this year.&rdquo;
Chase Audige added 20 points for the Wildcats and Ty Berry scored 13, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulldogs fell behind by 10 points early but fought back to tie the game at 40 early in the second half when Rice hit his second 3-pointer of the half.
The game was tight most of the way before Northwestern finally built the lead back to 10 on a tip-in by Brooks Barnhizer with 3:15 to go.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t break down,&rdquo; Audige said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t screaming. We might have screamed at each other, but it was a good type of like, &lsquo;C&rsquo;mon, let&rsquo;s be better.&rsquo; I think every single time we just executed, whether we missed a shot or made it, we got a shot we wanted or liked.&rdquo;
TOUGH IT OUT
Broncos guard Marcus Shaver Jr. had to be helped off the court after going down with an apparent leg injury late in the first half. He came out of locker room late after halftime and returned to the game.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s courageous, he&rsquo;s tough, and he didn&rsquo;t want to let these guys down, us down,&rdquo; coach Leon Rice said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just unfortunate.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Boise State: With four returning starters from last year&rsquo;s tournament team, including three seniors, the Broncos hoped this year&rsquo;s team could be the one finally to break through. They fell to 0-4 in the tournament under Rice.
Northwestern: After finishing second in the Big Ten for the first time since the 1958-59 season, the Wildcats made sure this special season wouldn&rsquo;t come to an early finish. Northwestern lost in the second round to Gonzaga in 2017 after beating Vanderbilt in its tournament debut.
UP NEXT
Northwestern is seeking its first trip to the Sweet 16.

Boo Buie scored 22 points to lead Northwestern to a 75-67 win over Boise State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Northwestern beats Boise State 75-67 in NCAA Tournament

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636521657509740546" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636521657509740546" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
Rice, the lanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who is aiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for 14 from the field.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good of an overall basketball player as I&rsquo;ve seen all year &mdash; his intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up,&rdquo; Colgate coach Matt Langel said.
The Longhorns have&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-midwest-texas-d2cf4f137d9cd1f2228b8bc9aa899942">come a long way</a>&nbsp;since coach Chris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violence charge and fired soon after that.
They hit the NCAA Tournament in stride under Terry&rsquo;s even-keeled guidance with two decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champion and No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conference championship.
These Longhorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge of a trip to the tournament&rsquo;s second weekend for the first time since 2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was an assistant under coach Rick Barnes.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636521657509740546" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
Rice, the lanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who is aiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for 14 from the field.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good of an overall basketball player as I&rsquo;ve seen all year &mdash; his intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up,&rdquo; Colgate coach Matt Langel said.
The Longhorns have&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-midwest-texas-d2cf4f137d9cd1f2228b8bc9aa899942">come a long way</a>&nbsp;since coach Chris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violence charge and fired soon after that.
They hit the NCAA Tournament in stride under Terry&rsquo;s even-keeled guidance with two decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champion and No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conference championship.
These Longhorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge of a trip to the tournament&rsquo;s second weekend for the first time since 2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was an assistant under coach Rick Barnes.
&ldquo;I think we prepare really well, better than a lot of teams in the country,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re really locked into the details and locked into the things that we have to do to win.&rdquo;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636521657509740546" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
Rice, the lanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who is aiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for 14 from the field.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good of an overall basketball player as I&rsquo;ve seen all year &mdash; his intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up,&rdquo; Colgate coach Matt Langel said.
The Longhorns have&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-midwest-texas-d2cf4f137d9cd1f2228b8bc9aa899942">come a long way</a>&nbsp;since coach Chris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violence charge and fired soon after that.
They hit the NCAA Tournament in stride under Terry&rsquo;s even-keeled guidance with two decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champion and No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conference championship.
These Longhorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge of a trip to the tournament&rsquo;s second weekend for the first time since 2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was an assistant under coach Rick Barnes.
&ldquo;I think we prepare really well, better than a lot of teams in the country,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re really locked into the details and locked into the things that we have to do to win.&rdquo;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
Rice, the lanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who is aiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for 14 from the field.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good of an overall basketball player as I&rsquo;ve seen all year &mdash; his intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up,&rdquo; Colgate coach Matt Langel said.
The Longhorns have&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-midwest-texas-d2cf4f137d9cd1f2228b8bc9aa899942">come a long way</a>&nbsp;since coach Chris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violence charge and fired soon after that.
They hit the NCAA Tournament in stride under Terry&rsquo;s even-keeled guidance with two decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champion and No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conference championship.
These Longhorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge of a trip to the tournament&rsquo;s second weekend for the first time since 2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was an assistant under coach Rick Barnes.
&ldquo;I think we prepare really well, better than a lot of teams in the country,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re really locked into the details and locked into the things that we have to do to win.&rdquo;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven 3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he last felt that confident.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily feel hot, because I missed three,&rdquo; Rice said with a straight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter next to him at the podium. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going.&rdquo;
The No. 2 seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.
Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament&nbsp;on Thursday night.
Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beat the Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded Penn State in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament. Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like we really won by five or seven,&rdquo; said Timmy Allen, who returned from a leg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.
In another inspired performance under&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-terry-texas-b5a4abdc1dee50bb96dfd70920d0b798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim coach Rodney Terry</a>, his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation&rsquo;s leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.
&ldquo;I just feel every single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,&rdquo; Carr said. &ldquo;The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.&rdquo;
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooter from long range this season.
&ldquo;They could beat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating us with 2s,&rdquo; Terry said.
Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seeded Raiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in six appearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of the Year, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.
&ldquo;Especially those guards when they&rsquo;ve got Rice in there as a third guard, they&rsquo;re just really quick,&rdquo; Richardson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard for us to get open.&rdquo;
With most of the fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhorns adjusted to Colgate&rsquo;s second-half zone defense and never let the lead get smaller than seven points.
About an hour before Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ousted by Princeton</a>&nbsp;in the West Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win a first-round game&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in 149 tries</a>&nbsp;and the third in three years.
The Longhorns played hard enough &mdash; and shot well enough &mdash; to make sure they didn&rsquo;t land on that list.
After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up&nbsp;Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer&nbsp;for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defense.
Rice, the lanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who is aiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for 14 from the field.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good of an overall basketball player as I&rsquo;ve seen all year &mdash; his intelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition of his teammates, but his ability to step up,&rdquo; Colgate coach Matt Langel said.
The Longhorns have&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-midwest-texas-d2cf4f137d9cd1f2228b8bc9aa899942" target="_blank" rel="noopener">come a long way</a>&nbsp;since coach Chris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violence charge and fired soon after that.
They hit the NCAA Tournament in stride under Terry&rsquo;s even-keeled guidance with two decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champion and No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conference championship.
These Longhorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge of a trip to the tournament&rsquo;s second weekend for the first time since 2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was an assistant under coach Rick Barnes.
&ldquo;I think we prepare really well, better than a lot of teams in the country,&rdquo; Rice said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re really locked into the details and locked into the things that we have to do to win.&rdquo;

Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

No. 2 seed Texas tops Colgate 81-61 behind Rice’s 7 made 3s

IRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636570293975040001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena</a>&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
&nbsp;

IRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636570293975040001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena</a>&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&nbsp;

IRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636570293975040001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena</a>&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

IRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636570293975040001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena</a>&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
&nbsp;

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636570293975040001" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena</a>&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1636565839116898305" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">But Houston pulled away</a>&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
But Houston pulled away&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
But Houston pulled away&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Chants of &ldquo;NKU!&rdquo; and &ldquo;Overrated!&rdquo; filled Legacy Arena&nbsp;as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and made it 36-all with under 16 minutes to go against the Cougars (32-3).
But Houston pulled away&nbsp;behind 16 points from Jarace Walker, advancing to face ninth-seeded Auburn on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t coach Northern Kentucky, but I was proud of their team tonight,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;They fought. Their kids are tough. They&rsquo;re smart.&rdquo;
Now, all eyes turn to Sasser, Houston&rsquo;s top scorer and its first member of The Associated Press All-America first team since 1984.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/marcus-sasser-houston-injured-aac-39f06479277c8f000600262dfe7d4bea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After going down last weekend with a groin injury</a>&nbsp;in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Sasser was a game-time decision for the start of the NCAA Midwest Region.
He got the start and looked just fine when he knocked down an early 3-pointer. But Sasser didn&rsquo;t do much else, finishing with five points on 2-of-5 shooting in just under 14 minutes of playing time.
When the second half began, Sasser wasn&rsquo;t on the court. The school announced he had aggravated his groin problem, forcing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.
&ldquo;He said it felt funny,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;So he shut it down, which is the right thing to do.&rdquo;
Sampson also revealed that guard Jamal Shead is bothered by a sore knee, thought he managed to play more than 36 minutes. Shead chipped in with 13 points and six assists.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to see how many healthy bodies we have right now,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably our most important thing.&rdquo;
The Cougars got by without Sasser on this night.
The Norse&rsquo;s upset bid went down in a hail of clankers, the Horizon League champions shooting just 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) &mdash; including a horrendous 5 of 34 from 3-point range &mdash; to ruin any chance of becoming the next UMBC.
The Retrievers remain the only 16th seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 1 seed, shocking Virginia in 2018.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unbelievably proud of our team, the fight that we showed,&rdquo; coach Darrin Horn said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a stretch to say we outplayed Houston tonight. We just didn&rsquo;t make enough shots.&rdquo;
Sam Vinson led the Norse (22-13) with 15 points, though he made just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
&ldquo;It was frustrating a little bit, but we don&rsquo;t think about that during the game,&rdquo; Vinson said. &ldquo;The coaches keep saying, &lsquo;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The Cougars avoided UMBC&rsquo;s fate but things figure to get much tougher in the next one, especially if Sasser can&rsquo;t go.
Auburn knocked off No. 8 seed Iowa 83-75 and will have another de facto home game in the second round, playing just a two-hour drive from its campus.
&ldquo;Good for them,&rdquo; Sampson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great break.&rdquo;
The Cougars struggled offensively against Northern Kentucky&rsquo;s matchup zone, which was unlike any defense they had seen this season. Houston led just 30-27 at halftime and finished well under its 75-point average coming into the game.
Sampson and his players also conceded to a lack of toughness.
&ldquo;They were more aggressive,&rdquo; said J&rsquo;Wan Roberts, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds. &ldquo;It felt like they wanted it more. We&rsquo;ve got to learn from that and get better.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Northern Kentucky: The Norse have yet to win three NCAA Tournament appearances, losing as a 14th, 15th and now 16th seed.
Houston: The Cougars hardly looked like a national championship contender, and Sasser&rsquo;s health makes a title run look even more tenuous.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be playing Auburn for the first time since Dec. 8, 1982, when Houston&rsquo;s &ldquo;Phi Slama Jama&rdquo; powerhouse featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler prevailed 77-65 against the Charles Barkley-led Tigers. Overall, the teams have met just seven times, with the Cougars winning six. Auburn&rsquo;s lone victory in the series came in 1962.

With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston beat Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

Sasser reinjured as top-seeded Houston beats Northern Kentucky

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State&rsquo;s biggest stage in over two decades.
Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&amp;M for the Nittany Lions&rsquo; first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years.
Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.
Penn State&rsquo;s previous tournament win was its second round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.
Texas A&amp;M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances since 2006.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State&rsquo;s biggest stage in over two decades.
Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&amp;M for the Nittany Lions&rsquo; first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years.
Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.
Penn State&rsquo;s previous tournament win was its second round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.
Texas A&amp;M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances since 2006.
Dexter Dennis scored 19 points to lead A&amp;M, which shot 34%.
Funk was 0 for 5 on 3s in the Big Ten championship game last weekend. But he made his first 3-pointer against the Aggies, missed his second, and then hit six in a row. The streak ended when he put up an air ball on a desperation 3 as the shot clock was running out.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State&rsquo;s biggest stage in over two decades.
Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&amp;M for the Nittany Lions&rsquo; first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years.
Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.
Penn State&rsquo;s previous tournament win was its second round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.
Texas A&amp;M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances since 2006.
Dexter Dennis scored 19 points to lead A&amp;M, which shot 34%.
Funk was 0 for 5 on 3s in the Big Ten championship game last weekend. But he made his first 3-pointer against the Aggies, missed his second, and then hit six in a row. The streak ended when he put up an air ball on a desperation 3 as the shot clock was running out.
Jalen Pickett, the biggest star for Penn State (23-13), played another strong all-around game with 19 points, eight assists, no turnovers and seven rebounds.
Penn State led 38-22 after outscoring the Aggies 28-10 to close the first half. The Aggies hadn&rsquo;t scored so few points in a first half since a win over Notre Dame on Nov. 24, 2021.
The Lions&rsquo; offense ran just the way coach Micah Shrewsberry likes it, with the threat of 6-foot-10 Kebba Jjie in the post creating space on the perimeter for Funk, Myles Dread and Seth Lundy to do what they do best. Dread and Lundy had two 3s apiece and Penn State finished 13 of 22 from distance.
The Aggies have had trying times recently when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. Coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/aggiembk/status/1503950408561139717?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buzz Williams was infamously miffed&nbsp;</a>when the Aggies weren&rsquo;t selected last year. This season they came in as a No. 7 seed, lower than Aggie faithful felt fair.
BIG PICTURE:
Penn State: The Lions&rsquo; dominance in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2011 will only intensify the spotlight on second-year coach Shrewsberry, whose name has been connected to openings at Notre Dame and Georgetown.
&nbsp;

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State&rsquo;s biggest stage in over two decades.
Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&amp;M for the Nittany Lions&rsquo; first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years.
Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.
Penn State&rsquo;s previous tournament win was its second round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.
Texas A&amp;M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances since 2006.
Dexter Dennis scored 19 points to lead A&amp;M, which shot 34%.
Funk was 0 for 5 on 3s in the Big Ten championship game last weekend. But he made his first 3-pointer against the Aggies, missed his second, and then hit six in a row. The streak ended when he put up an air ball on a desperation 3 as the shot clock was running out.
Jalen Pickett, the biggest star for Penn State (23-13), played another strong all-around game with 19 points, eight assists, no turnovers and seven rebounds.
Penn State led 38-22 after outscoring the Aggies 28-10 to close the first half. The Aggies hadn&rsquo;t scored so few points in a first half since a win over Notre Dame on Nov. 24, 2021.
The Lions&rsquo; offense ran just the way coach Micah Shrewsberry likes it, with the threat of 6-foot-10 Kebba Jjie in the post creating space on the perimeter for Funk, Myles Dread and Seth Lundy to do what they do best. Dread and Lundy had two 3s apiece and Penn State finished 13 of 22 from distance.
The Aggies have had trying times recently when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. Coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/aggiembk/status/1503950408561139717?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buzz Williams was infamously miffed&nbsp;</a>when the Aggies weren&rsquo;t selected last year. This season they came in as a No. 7 seed, lower than Aggie faithful felt fair.
BIG PICTURE
Penn State: The Lions&rsquo; dominance in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2011 will only intensify the spotlight on second-year coach Shrewsberry, whose name has been connected to openings at Notre Dame and Georgetown.
Texas A&amp;M: The Aggies&rsquo; first appearance in the tournament in five years ended the same way as the last one &mdash; with a thud. They lost by 27 points to Michigan in the 2018 Sweet 16.
UP NEXT
Penn State will play Texas for the first time in men&rsquo;s basketball.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State&rsquo;s biggest stage in over two decades.
Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&amp;M for the Nittany Lions&rsquo; first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years.
Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.
Penn State&rsquo;s previous tournament win was its second round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.
Texas A&amp;M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances since 2006.
Dexter Dennis scored 19 points to lead A&amp;M, which shot 34%.
Funk was 0 for 5 on 3s in the Big Ten championship game last weekend. But he made his first 3-pointer against the Aggies, missed his second, and then hit six in a row. The streak ended when he put up an air ball on a desperation 3 as the shot clock was running out.
Jalen Pickett, the biggest star for Penn State (23-13), played another strong all-around game with 19 points, eight assists, no turnovers and seven rebounds.
Penn State led 38-22 after outscoring the Aggies 28-10 to close the first half. The Aggies hadn&rsquo;t scored so few points in a first half since a win over Notre Dame on Nov. 24, 2021.
The Lions&rsquo; offense ran just the way coach Micah Shrewsberry likes it, with the threat of 6-foot-10 Kebba Jjie in the post creating space on the perimeter for Funk, Myles Dread and Seth Lundy to do what they do best. Dread and Lundy had two 3s apiece and Penn State finished 13 of 22 from distance.
The Aggies have had trying times recently when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. Coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/aggiembk/status/1503950408561139717?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buzz Williams was infamously miffed&nbsp;</a>when the Aggies weren&rsquo;t selected last year. This season they came in as a No. 7 seed, lower than Aggie faithful felt fair.
BIG PICTURE
Penn State: The Lions&rsquo; dominance in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2011 will only intensify the spotlight on second-year coach Shrewsberry, whose name has been connected to openings at Notre Dame and Georgetown.
Texas A&amp;M: The Aggies&rsquo; first appearance in the tournament in five years ended the same way as the last one &mdash; with a thud. They lost by 27 points to Michigan in the 2018 Sweet 16.
UP NEXT
Penn State will play Texas for the first time in men&rsquo;s basketball.

Andrew Funk made 8-of-10 threes and scored 27 points in Penn State's 76-59 win over Texas A&M on Thursday night.

Hot-shooting Funk leads Penn St. to first NCAA win since 2001

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and Toronto extended its season-high home winning streak to six games with a win over Oklahoma City.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points and Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19. O.G. Anunoby added 17 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a win over Oklahoma City.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points and Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19. O.G. Anunoby added 17 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points and Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19. O.G. Anunoby added 17 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and rookie Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three straight and six of seven. Oklahoma City is 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and rookie Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three-straight games (and six of seven).
Oklahoma City is now 13-21 on the road.
Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Luguentz Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and rookie Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three-straight games (and six of seven).
Oklahoma City is now 13-21 on the road.
Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Lu Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

TORONTO (AP) &mdash; Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to six games with a 128-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19 points. O.G. Anunoby added 17.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and rookie Jalen Williams had 15 for the Thunder, who came in having won three-straight games (and six of seven).
Oklahoma City is now 13-21 on the road. Josh Giddey scored 13 points, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each had 12 and Lu Dort scored 10 points for the Thunder.

Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds, lifting the Raptors to a 128-111 win over the Thunder on Thursday night.

Siakam, Raptors beat Thunder 128-111 for 6th straight home win

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20 for 41 from 3-point distance, including 11 of 14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall. Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, went 11 for 32 from beyond the arc and gave up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 and Khris Middleton finished with 16 for Milwaukee.
Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall. Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, went 11 for 32 from beyond the arc and gave up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 and Khris Middleton finished with 16 for Milwaukee.
Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, went 11 for 32 from beyond the arc and gave up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 and Khris Middleton finished with 16 for Milwaukee.
Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 and Khris Middleton finished with 16 for Milwaukee.
Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton finished with 16 points for Milwaukee.
Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton finished with 16 points for Milwaukee.
The Pacers were playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton finished with 16 points for Milwaukee.
The Pacers, who were playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton finished with 16 points for Milwaukee.
The Pacers, who were playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored 20 points and T.J. McConnell 19 points.

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123.
With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20-of-41 from 3-point distance, including 11-of-14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, but went 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while giving up 13 points off 12 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton finished with 16 points for Milwaukee.
The Pacers, who were playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored 20 points and T.J. McConnell had 19.

Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late to beat the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123 on Thursday.

Nembhard scores 24 as short-handed Pacers upset Bucks 139-123

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/furman-virginia-march-madness-upset-1b4e3c5c8b1ce5896eea85ba9fd42761">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted midway through the first round</a>&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-arizona-princeton-4b28e0acabe2b75ccdbac81d40a6fd66">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted midway through the first round</a>&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">posted midway through the first round</a>&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;posted midway through the first round&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;posted midway through the first round&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
&nbsp;
Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;posted midway through the first round&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The number of perfect brackets gets smaller and smaller... 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/3LTP9raPf1">pic.twitter.com/3LTP9raPf1</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp3mNlFpJBt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at CBS Sports</a>, too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;posted midway through the first round&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The number of perfect brackets gets smaller and smaller... 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/3LTP9raPf1">pic.twitter.com/3LTP9raPf1</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;at CBS Sports&nbsp;too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.
&nbsp;

From No. 13 seed Furman&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pegues-three-gives-no-13-seed-furman-6867-win-over-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating fourth-seeded Virginia</a>&nbsp;to No. 15 Princeton&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/princeton-stuns-arizona-5955-in-march-madness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeating second-seeded Arizona</a>, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down.
The NCAA March Madness Twitter account&nbsp;posted midway through the first round&nbsp;that only .065% of brackets remained perfect.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The number of perfect brackets gets smaller and smaller... 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/3LTP9raPf1">pic.twitter.com/3LTP9raPf1</a>
&mdash; NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636499892603437059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Numbers were similar elsewhere.
In ESPN&rsquo;s Tournament Challenge bracket game, 18,078 perfect brackets remained &mdash; and more than 20 million had suffered at least one loss.
Furman received a decent amount of support. The Paladins were picked to win their opener on 18.2% of brackets. Only 6.6% picked Princeton to beat Arizona, and the Wildcats going down did tremendous damage to many brackets. They were picked in 4.9% of brackets to cut down the nets at the national championship game.
Arizona was a popular pick&nbsp;at CBS Sports&nbsp;too, appearing on 96.9% of brackets win its opener, 84.9% to make the Sweet 16, 55.2% to make the Elite Eight, 21.5% to reach the Final Four and 5% to win it all.

From No. 13 Furman beating No. 4 Virginia to No. 15 Princeton defeating No. 2 Arizona, most brackets were busted today.

Most March Madness brackets busted before sundown on Day 1

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/nikola-jokic">Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/denver-nuggets">Nuggets</a>&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/nikola-jokic">Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/denver-nuggets">Nuggets</a>&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/nikola-jokic">Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/denver-nuggets">Nuggets</a>&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-detroit-pistons-isaiah-livers-cade-cunningham-1f072b775c3157c9c24c8a373478793a">Cade Cunningham</a>, who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/nikola-jokic">Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/denver-nuggets">Nuggets</a>&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-detroit-pistons-isaiah-livers-cade-cunningham-1f072b775c3157c9c24c8a373478793a">Cade Cunningham</a>, who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&ldquo;They have not been winning games, but they&rsquo;ve been playing hard with the guys they have available,&rdquo; Malone said.
ON D IN THE D
Denver limited Detroit to 14 points in the fourth quarter after giving up an average of 117 points over the previous three games.
&ldquo;It always starts with our offense,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re turning the ball over, it makes it really hard to defend.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re not aggressive and we&rsquo;re not physical, it&rsquo;s like a layup line out there.&rdquo;
HE SAID IT
Casey said Jokic reminds him of Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get in a hurry, and you can&rsquo;t rush or speed him up,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;He gets to where he wants to go by taking his time, using his body, angles, pass fakes.
&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/nikola-jokic">Nikola Jokic</a>&nbsp;deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/hub/denver-nuggets">Nuggets</a>&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-detroit-pistons-isaiah-livers-cade-cunningham-1f072b775c3157c9c24c8a373478793a">Cade Cunningham</a>, who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&ldquo;They have not been winning games, but they&rsquo;ve been playing hard with the guys they have available,&rdquo; Malone said.
ON D IN THE D
Denver limited Detroit to 14 points in the fourth quarter after giving up an average of 117 points over the previous three games.
&ldquo;It always starts with our offense,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re turning the ball over, it makes it really hard to defend.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re not aggressive and we&rsquo;re not physical, it&rsquo;s like a layup line out there.&rdquo;
HE SAID IT
Casey said Jokic reminds him of Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get in a hurry, and you can&rsquo;t rush or speed him up,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;He gets to where he wants to go by taking his time, using his body, angles, pass fakes.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the most athletic guy in the world, but he gets exactly where he wants to go when he wants to get there.&rdquo;
Jokic has a shot to be the first player since Bird to win three straight NBA MVP awards. The former Boston Celtics superstar pulled off the feat in the mid 1980s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Stay on the road for third of five-game trip to face the New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon.
Pistons: Host Miami on Sunday night.&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
Nikola Jokic deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the Nuggets&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-detroit-pistons-isaiah-livers-cade-cunningham-1f072b775c3157c9c24c8a373478793a">Cade Cunningham</a>, who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&ldquo;They have not been winning games, but they&rsquo;ve been playing hard with the guys they have available,&rdquo; Malone said.
ON D IN THE D
Denver limited Detroit to 14 points in the fourth quarter after giving up an average of 117 points over the previous three games.
&ldquo;It always starts with our offense,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re turning the ball over, it makes it really hard to defend.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re not aggressive and we&rsquo;re not physical, it&rsquo;s like a layup line out there.&rdquo;
HE SAID IT
Casey said Jokic reminds him of Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get in a hurry, and you can&rsquo;t rush or speed him up,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;He gets to where he wants to go by taking his time, using his body, angles, pass fakes.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the most athletic guy in the world, but he gets exactly where he wants to go when he wants to get there.&rdquo;
Jokic has a shot to be the first player since Bird to win three straight NBA MVP awards. The former Boston Celtics superstar pulled off the feat in the mid 1980s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Stay on the road for third of five-game trip to face the New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon.
Pistons: Host Miami on Sunday night.&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
Nikola Jokic deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the Nuggets&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-detroit-pistons-isaiah-livers-cade-cunningham-1f072b775c3157c9c24c8a373478793a">Cade Cunningham</a>, who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&ldquo;They have not been winning games, but they&rsquo;ve been playing hard with the guys they have available,&rdquo; Malone said.
ON D IN THE D
Denver limited Detroit to 14 points in the fourth quarter after giving up an average of 117 points over the previous three games.
&ldquo;It always starts with our offense,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re turning the ball over, it makes it really hard to defend.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re not aggressive and we&rsquo;re not physical, it&rsquo;s like a layup line out there.&rdquo;
HE SAID IT
Casey said Jokic reminds him of Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get in a hurry, and you can&rsquo;t rush or speed him up,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;He gets to where he wants to go by taking his time, using his body, angles, pass fakes.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the most athletic guy in the world, but he gets exactly where he wants to go when he wants to get there.&rdquo;
Jokic has a shot to be the first player since Bird to win three straight NBA MVP awards. The former Boston Celtics superstar pulled off the feat in the mid 1980s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Stay on the road for third of five-game trip to face the New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon.
Pistons: Host Miami on Sunday night.&nbsp;

DETROIT (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets have been so dominant this season that they&rsquo;ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the regular season.
Nikola Jokic deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the Nuggets&nbsp;beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 on Thursday night and end a season-high four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;This has to be a building block,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;I told our team, it&rsquo;s a good win. Clinched a playoff spot. Won your division. That&rsquo;s great. Let this be the start of something special. We lost four in a row, lowest of the low for us during this season. Now, let&rsquo;s get back to playing and go on a run.&rdquo;
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points, Jamal Murray had 19 and Aaron Gordon 15 for the Western Conference-leading Nuggets.
Jokic,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-nuggets-nba-sports-basketball-e71877c5accadfafcf69dfc799ed2448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the two-time reigning NBA MVP</a>, had three assists and three rebounds before his first attempt several minutes into the game and finished 14 of 18 from the field with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The short-handed Pistons were competitive for three quarters, leading by as many as seven points in a game with 16 lead changes and 10 ties. The Nuggets picked up their intensity on defense in the fourth, and pulled away easily to lead by double digits midway through the quarter.
&ldquo;A championship team is going to turn up their energy,&rdquo; Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. &ldquo;We talked about that during the timeout. We didn&rsquo;t respond, and that&rsquo;s part of our growth.&rdquo;
Rodney McGruder scored 20 for the Pistons, who have lost 12 of 13 games and have the NBA&rsquo;s worst record. Detroit rookies Jalen Duren had 15 points and 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey added 14 points and six assists.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic was an assist away from a triple-double. The 7-foot center, who often plays like a point guard, has an league-high 27 triple-doubles to nearly triple the rest of the league leaders in the category. ... With the win, Denver is .500 on the road. ... The Nuggets have won the division for the third time in five seasons, and they finished in second place the other two years.
Pistons: The banged-up team was missing many injured players: Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Livers, along with Cade Cunningham,&nbsp;who had season-ending shin surgery three months ago.
&ldquo;They have not been winning games, but they&rsquo;ve been playing hard with the guys they have available,&rdquo; Malone said.
ON D IN THE D
Denver limited Detroit to 14 points in the fourth quarter after giving up an average of 117 points over the previous three games.
&ldquo;It always starts with our offense,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;When we&rsquo;re turning the ball over, it makes it really hard to defend.
&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re not aggressive and we&rsquo;re not physical, it&rsquo;s like a layup line out there.&rdquo;
HE SAID IT
Casey said Jokic reminds him of Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get in a hurry, and you can&rsquo;t rush or speed him up,&rdquo; Casey said. &ldquo;He gets to where he wants to go by taking his time, using his body, angles, pass fakes.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the most athletic guy in the world, but he gets exactly where he wants to go when he wants to get there.&rdquo;
Jokic has a shot to be the first player since Bird to win three straight NBA MVP awards. The former Boston Celtics superstar pulled off the feat in the mid 1980s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Stay on the road for third of five-game trip to face the New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon.
Pistons: Host Miami on Sunday night.&nbsp;

The Nuggets have been so dominant this year that they’ve clinched the Northwest Division with a few weeks left in the season.

Nuggets top Pistons to end skid, clinch Northwest Division

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap</a>&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap</a>&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&nbsp;

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap</a>&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap</a>&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
&nbsp;
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
History repeats itself. Pete Carril is smiling upstairs - Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Henderson98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@M_Henderson98</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2cbrCVz6I">pic.twitter.com/V2cbrCVz6I</a>
&mdash; Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636490663868129280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton</a>&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
History repeats itself. Pete Carril is smiling upstairs - Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Henderson98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@M_Henderson98</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2cbrCVz6I">pic.twitter.com/V2cbrCVz6I</a>
&mdash; Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636487162651893761?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a second-chance 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
History repeats itself. Pete Carril is smiling upstairs - Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Henderson98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@M_Henderson98</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2cbrCVz6I">pic.twitter.com/V2cbrCVz6I</a>
&mdash; Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;a second-chance 3-pointer&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1636493363561000966?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sending Princeton into an early celebration</a>.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;Mitch Henderson&rsquo;s victory leap&nbsp;that punctuated Princeton&rsquo;s famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school&rsquo;s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what&rsquo;s possible.
Now Henderson&rsquo;s current players have authored one of their own.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
History repeats itself. Pete Carril is smiling upstairs - Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/M_Henderson98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@M_Henderson98</a> <a href="https://t.co/V2cbrCVz6I">pic.twitter.com/V2cbrCVz6I</a>
&mdash; Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GottliebShow/status/1636493636153262081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton&nbsp;to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.
&ldquo;Pretty surreal feeling,&rdquo; guard Matt Allocco said. &ldquo;To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special feeling. But also I can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m surprised. This team has been so good all year, so gritty. On paper, it&rsquo;s going to look like a big upset. But we believe in each other and we think we&rsquo;re a really good team. When we&rsquo;re at our best, then I think we can beat anybody in the country.&rdquo;
The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton&rsquo;s first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGDaNvjflL4" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school&rsquo;s final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
&ldquo;He would be very proud of the group,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t want any attention to be brought other than what these guys did. They played to win. We knew we had to keep the game low possessions.&rdquo;
Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region. The Tigers beat Utah State 76-65.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 22 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven&rsquo;t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It marked the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed won a first-round game. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
&ldquo;If you want to be a great player, you want to be a great coach, we all got to learn from this,&rsquo;&rdquo; coach Tommy Lloyd said. &ldquo;We got to go back and figure out what happened and understand the value of being up 10 to 12 points with 10 minutes to go, putting the hammer on people, not letting people get back in the game.&rdquo;
The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo&rsquo;s basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by&nbsp;a second-chance 3-pointer&nbsp;from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run &mdash; just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Keeshawn Kellman started the spurt with a putback dunk before Langborg hit a jumper and then a layup to give the Tigers the lead.
The Wildcats then missed all five shots down the stretch and Princeton put it away at the foul line. Langborg also blocked Courtney Ramey&rsquo;s shot with 50 seconds left and the Tigers protecting a one-point lead.
&ldquo;When I blocked it I saw the whole crowd erupt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My teammates were all locked in with each other and it was kind of that moment where you know, like, &lsquo;Wow we can really do this. We&rsquo;re going to do this and nothing&rsquo;s going to stop us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Ramey, who hit a game-winning shot in the Pac-12 Tournament, missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound,&nbsp;sending Princeton into an early celebration.
LET THEM PLAY
The game featured just 12 free throws, with four coming after intentional fouls by Arizona late in the game. The Wildcats went to the line seven times despite a big size advantage with Tubelis and Bello.
&ldquo;You go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws. I mean, I don&rsquo;t know if they&rsquo;re fouls or not. They must not have been because obviously they didn&rsquo;t get called,&rdquo; Lloyd said. &ldquo;When the game is reffed like that, it makes it tough.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Princeton: The Tigers gave the Ivy League its first tournament win since 2016 when Yale beat Baylor. The conference had been one-and-done the last four trips, having missed the 2021 edition because of COVID-19.
Arizona: The Wildcats got little help offensively outside of Tubelis and Ballo, who combined for 35 points. The rest of the team shot 9 for 27.
UP NEXT
Princeton will look to win two games in the tournament for the first time since 1983.

The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points to finish the upset, holding the Wildcats scoreless over the final 4:21.

No. 15 Princeton stuns No. 2 Arizona 59-55 in March Madness

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA Tournament loss, 68-67 on Thursday.
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play either San Diego State or Charleston on Saturday.
Kihei Clark, who starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hein intercepted at midcourt with 7 seconds to go, setting up Pegues&rsquo; go-ahead basket.
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments &mdash; most notably its loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC in 2018.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&nbsp;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&nbsp;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
&nbsp;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
&ldquo;I told Mike that we weren&rsquo;t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,&rdquo; Slawson said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
The winning shot was Pegues&rsquo; only 3 of the game.
&ldquo;As soon as I saw it go into Garrett Hien&rsquo;s hands, I was like, I want the ball. I feel like those are moments I&rsquo;ve created my whole life, and I feel like I&rsquo;m built for,&rdquo; Pegues said. &ldquo;I had full belief that it was going in, and it did.&rdquo;
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments. The Cavaliers were also a No. 4 seed two years ago, when they were beaten by 13th-seeded Ohio.
&nbsp;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
&ldquo;I told Mike that we weren&rsquo;t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,&rdquo; Slawson said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
The winning shot was Pegues&rsquo; only 3 of the game.
&ldquo;As soon as I saw it go into Garrett Hien&rsquo;s hands, I was like, I want the ball. I feel like those are moments I&rsquo;ve created my whole life, and I feel like I&rsquo;m built for,&rdquo; Pegues said. &ldquo;I had full belief that it was going in, and it did.&rdquo;
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments. The Cavaliers were also a No. 4 seed two years ago, when they were beaten by 13th-seeded Ohio.
Kadin Shedrick led the Cavaliers with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Beekman scored 14 and Isaac McKneely added 12.
Marcus Foster scored 14 points and Pegues and Bothwell both finished with 11 for Furman.
WHAT&rsquo;S GOING ON
Pegues&rsquo; shot sent shock waves throughout the tournament.
Gradey Dick was shooting free throws late in the first half in Des Moines, Iowa, when the crowd roared, startling the Kansas freshman. Fans were reacting to the final seconds of the Furman-Virginia game being shown on the center-court video board. Dick made the first free throw, turned around and looked up at the video board to see what the commotion was about, and then sank the second. Another loud roar went up when time expired on the Furman upset, but it didn&rsquo;t disrupt Kansas&rsquo; win over Howard because the teams were in a timeout.
UP NEXT
Furman: The Paladins made six appearances in the tourney between 1971 and 1980. Their only other victory came against South Carolina in 1974. Slawson doesn&rsquo;t see any reason why the Southern Conference champions can&rsquo;t win again.
&nbsp;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
&ldquo;I told Mike that we weren&rsquo;t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,&rdquo; Slawson said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
The winning shot was Pegues&rsquo; only 3 of the game.
&ldquo;As soon as I saw it go into Garrett Hien&rsquo;s hands, I was like, I want the ball. I feel like those are moments I&rsquo;ve created my whole life, and I feel like I&rsquo;m built for,&rdquo; Pegues said. &ldquo;I had full belief that it was going in, and it did.&rdquo;
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments. The Cavaliers were also a No. 4 seed two years ago, when they were beaten by 13th-seeded Ohio.
Kadin Shedrick led the Cavaliers with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Beekman scored 14 and Isaac McKneely added 12.
Marcus Foster scored 14 points and Pegues and Bothwell both finished with 11 for Furman.
WHAT&rsquo;S GOING ON
Pegues&rsquo; shot sent shock waves throughout the tournament.
Gradey Dick was shooting free throws late in the first half in Des Moines, Iowa, when the crowd roared, startling the Kansas freshman. Fans were reacting to the final seconds of the Furman-Virginia game being shown on the center-court video board. Dick made the first free throw, turned around and looked up at the video board to see what the commotion was about, and then sank the second. Another loud roar went up when time expired on the Furman upset, but it didn&rsquo;t disrupt Kansas&rsquo; win over Howard because the teams were in a timeout.
UP NEXT
Furman: The Paladins made six appearances in the tourney between 1971 and 1980. Their only other victory came against South Carolina in 1974. Slawson doesn&rsquo;t see any reason why the Southern Conference champions can&rsquo;t win again.
&ldquo;This team has done a great job making history all year,&rdquo; Slawson said, &ldquo;so you know, Saturday is going to be another chance to make history.&rdquo;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
&ldquo;I told Mike that we weren&rsquo;t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,&rdquo; Slawson said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
The winning shot was Pegues&rsquo; only 3 of the game.
&ldquo;As soon as I saw it go into Garrett Hien&rsquo;s hands, I was like, I want the ball. I feel like those are moments I&rsquo;ve created my whole life, and I feel like I&rsquo;m built for,&rdquo; Pegues said. &ldquo;I had full belief that it was going in, and it did.&rdquo;
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments. The Cavaliers were also a No. 4 seed two years ago, when they were beaten by 13th-seeded Ohio.
Kadin Shedrick led the Cavaliers with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Beekman scored 14 and Isaac McKneely added 12.
Marcus Foster scored 14 points and Pegues and Bothwell both finished with 11 for Furman.
WHAT&rsquo;S GOING ON
Pegues&rsquo; shot sent shock waves throughout the tournament.
Gradey Dick was shooting free throws late in the first half in Des Moines, Iowa, when the crowd roared, startling the Kansas freshman. Fans were reacting to the final seconds of the Furman-Virginia game being shown on the center-court video board. Dick made the first free throw, turned around and looked up at the video board to see what the commotion was about, and then sank the second. Another loud roar went up when time expired on the Furman upset, but it didn&rsquo;t disrupt Kansas&rsquo; win over Howard because the teams were in a timeout.
UP NEXT
Furman: The Paladins made six appearances in the tourney between 1971 and 1980. Their only other victory came against South Carolina in 1974. Slawson doesn&rsquo;t see any reason why the Southern Conference champions can&rsquo;t win again.
&ldquo;This team has done a great job making history all year,&rdquo; Slawson said, &ldquo;so you know, Saturday is going to be another chance to make history.&rdquo;

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark sat in the locker room watching video on his phone, trying to figure out how Virginia could have avoided another early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Five years to the day after losing as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC, the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team again Thursday &mdash; this time, falling 68-67 to 13th-seeded Furman.
Virginia hasn&rsquo;t won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title. Clark&rsquo;s bad pass was intercepted by Garrett Hien in the closing seconds, leading to a wide-open 3-pointer that JP Pegues sank without hesitation.
Clark starred as a freshman on Virginia&rsquo;s 2019 national title-winning team. His long career with the Cavaliers had a much more unsatisfying conclusion.
So, what would he have done differently?
&ldquo;Call timeout, maybe could have threw it to Armaan (Franklin) on the right wing maybe,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He was open. Couldn&rsquo;t see. It was a good trap.&rdquo;
Coach Tony Bennett wasn&rsquo;t surprised Clark patiently answered questions from reporters.
&ldquo;This is part of the game. I&rsquo;ve used this line before, but when you step between the lines, you take the good and you take the hard with it. You try to handle them both with dignity and respect,&rdquo; Bennett said.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve loved coaching him in his career. He had the most amazing assist to get us to a Final Four. We would not be in this spot without him, all the success,&rdquo; Bennett added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had an unbelievable career. You always look to that last moment, and there&rsquo;s so many what-ifs and who knows.&rdquo;
Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (28-6) on Saturday. The Aztecs held off No. 12 seed Charleston 63-57.
&ldquo;All year we&rsquo;ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. ... It&rsquo;s an unbelievable moment,&rdquo; Furman coach Bob Richey said.
&ldquo;This game is &mdash; interesting might be the word I&rsquo;d use,&rdquo; Bennett said. &ldquo;You feel like, we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden in a moment&rsquo;s notice, it changes at the end. That&rsquo;s tough.&rdquo;
Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league&rsquo;s automatic berth to the Mocs in overtime on a 35-foot buzzer-beater last year.
&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help but go back when I saw the shot in the air to a year ago. It&rsquo;s just a reminder, like we said it all year, count on joy, and you don&rsquo;t know timing of things. ... This team has persevered, and they did it today,&rdquo; Richey said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a microcosm of what they learned, and they just keep reliving the lesson and keep finding ways.&rdquo;
In the aftermath of last year&rsquo;s disappointment, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out with just over six minutes remaining, scoring nine consecutive points to turn a 54-48 deficit into Furman&rsquo;s first lead of the game, 57-54, with 5:02 to go.
Slawson, the Southern Conference player of the year, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
&ldquo;I told Mike that we weren&rsquo;t going to let today be his last time putting a jersey on, and I know if roles were reversed, the same thing would have happened,&rdquo; Slawson said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t have to just be me. But the game was up there for the taking, and these guys told me they believed in me and told me I was being a little bit passive, told me to be a little bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
The winning shot was Pegues&rsquo; only 3 of the game.
&ldquo;As soon as I saw it go into Garrett Hien&rsquo;s hands, I was like, I want the ball. I feel like those are moments I&rsquo;ve created my whole life, and I feel like I&rsquo;m built for,&rdquo; Pegues said. &ldquo;I had full belief that it was going in, and it did.&rdquo;
Reece Beekman&rsquo;s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments. The Cavaliers were also a No. 4 seed two years ago, when they were beaten by 13th-seeded Ohio.
Kadin Shedrick led the Cavaliers with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Beekman scored 14 and Isaac McKneely added 12.
Marcus Foster scored 14 points and Pegues and Bothwell both finished with 11 for Furman.
WHAT&rsquo;S GOING ON
Pegues&rsquo; shot sent shock waves throughout the tournament.
Gradey Dick was shooting free throws late in the first half in Des Moines, Iowa, when the crowd roared, startling the Kansas freshman. Fans were reacting to the final seconds of the Furman-Virginia game being shown on the center-court video board. Dick made the first free throw, turned around and looked up at the video board to see what the commotion was about, and then sank the second. Another loud roar went up when time expired on the Furman upset, but it didn&rsquo;t disrupt Kansas&rsquo; win over Howard because the teams were in a timeout.
UP NEXT
Furman: The Paladins made six appearances in the tourney between 1971 and 1980. Their only other victory came against South Carolina in 1974. Slawson doesn&rsquo;t see any reason why the Southern Conference champions can&rsquo;t win again.
&ldquo;This team has done a great job making history all year,&rdquo; Slawson said, &ldquo;so you know, Saturday is going to be another chance to make history.&rdquo;

Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region.

Pegues’ three gives No. 13 seed Furman 68-67 win over Virginia

They are the five letters no No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed ever wants to see: Upset.
Thursday marks the five-year anniversary of University of Maryland-Baltimore County &mdash; the tiny school few fans had ever heard of, let alone picked in their bracket &mdash; pulling off the biggest upset in college basketball history by beating the tournament&rsquo;s top seed in Virginia.
UMBC&rsquo;s lasting legacy became this: If you don&rsquo;t watch out, No. 1 can mean one-and-done.
While there were some close calls before 2018, No. 1 seeds had gone 135-0 before UMBC routed Virginia 75-54 at Charlotte&rsquo;s Spectrum Center. Now they are 1-147. Like the men, the women&rsquo;s side of March Madness has seen only one 16 knock off a 1: Harvard over Stanford in 1998.
On Thursday, three more No. 1 seeds &mdash; Alabama, Kansas and Houston &mdash; take the court looking to avoid what the Cavaliers endured five years ago, while their respective opponents Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi, Howard and Northern Kentucky look to capture that &ldquo;One Shining Moment&rdquo; and etch their name in history alongside the Retrievers.
Ryan Odom, the Retrievers coach that season, said after the game &ldquo;these are the moments that you dream of.&rdquo; while his players celebrated in a cramped locker room after shocking the world. Diminutive 5-foot-8, 140-pound guard KJ, Maura and his teammates joked about there being &ldquo;no more perfect brackets&rdquo; and possibly becoming the focal point of a future ESPN &ldquo;30 for 30&rdquo; episode.
&nbsp;

They are the five letters no No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed ever wants to see: Upset.
Thursday marks the five-year anniversary of University of Maryland-Baltimore County &mdash; the tiny school few fans had ever heard of, let alone picked in their bracket &mdash; pulling off the biggest upset in college basketball history by beating the tournament&rsquo;s top seed in Virginia.
UMBC&rsquo;s lasting legacy became this: If you don&rsquo;t watch out, No. 1 can mean one-and-done.
While there were some close calls before 2018, No. 1 seeds had gone 135-0 before UMBC routed Virginia 75-54 at Charlotte&rsquo;s Spectrum Center. Now they are 1-147. Like the men, the women&rsquo;s side of March Madness has seen only one 16 knock off a 1: Harvard over Stanford in 1998.
On Thursday, three more No. 1 seeds &mdash; Alabama, Kansas and Houston &mdash; take the court looking to avoid what the Cavaliers endured five years ago, while their respective opponents Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi, Howard and Northern Kentucky look to capture that &ldquo;One Shining Moment&rdquo; and etch their name in history alongside the Retrievers.
Ryan Odom, the Retrievers coach that season, said after the game &ldquo;these are the moments that you dream of.&rdquo; while his players celebrated in a cramped locker room after shocking the world. Diminutive 5-foot-8, 140-pound guard KJ, Maura and his teammates joked about there being &ldquo;no more perfect brackets&rdquo; and possibly becoming the focal point of a future ESPN &ldquo;30 for 30&rdquo; episode.
Some players struggled to process the enormity of the moment, hugging each other long and hard.
&ldquo;It felt like my soul left my body, man,&rdquo; UMBC guard Jourdan Grant said that day.
Odom, now the head coach at Utah State, a No. 10 seed in this year&rsquo;s tourney, said Wednesday it was &ldquo;a memory that will last a lifetime.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Will a 16 ever beat a 1 again? I have no idea,&rdquo; Odom said. &ldquo;It takes a special group. It takes a lot of luck in order to have a chance to win any game in the NCAA Tournament.&rdquo;
Former UMBC guard Joe Sherburne said it remains the single greatest day of his life.
&ldquo;You can measure my life by this: before that day, and after that day,&rdquo; Sherburne said Wednesday. When friends introduce him to people, the first thing they say is &ldquo;Joe played for UMBC.&rdquo;
Sherburne, who works as a financial adviser, remembers the day well.
As UMBC&rsquo;s lead over Virginia grew to double digits in the second half he sensed something special, something miraculous was happening. He struggled to concentrate on the next play call while sitting on the bench during TV timeouts: &ldquo;I felt like I was in shock.&rdquo;
Could this really be happening? Could a 20 1/2-point underdog really beat the No. 1 team in the nation in the NCAA Tournament?
But it happened &mdash; and everyone suddenly wanted to know their story.
Sherburne stayed at the arena until 1 a.m. doing interviews before returning to the team hotel where he was greeted by overwhelmed fans, friends and family members. He and his teammates watched &ldquo;Sports Center&rdquo; on repeat and ate pizza, basking in the moment.
&ldquo;We were all still running on adrenaline,&rdquo; Sherburne said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t eat or drink. I can usually eat a whole Domino&rsquo;s pizza by myself, but I couldn&rsquo;t that night. I might have had two or three slices.&rdquo;
Sherburne still wishes the celebration had gone on for days longer, but UMBC lost a close second round loss to Kansas State two days later.
Still, there will always be the satisfaction of accomplishing something that had never been done before. Sherburne is hoping it stays that way for awhile.
After the final 16 seed lost in last year&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament, he toasted UMBC&rsquo;s legacy with a shot of whiskey.
Two years ago, he attended Game 6 the 2016 NBA Finals where he watched former Virginia big man Mamadi Diakite win a championship ring. Diakite was one of six Virginia players from that team to play in the NBA; UMBC had none.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sitting in the arena that night, in the second row from the top, thinking to myself, &rsquo;You know, just a couple of years ago I was making this guy and his teammates cry,&rsquo;&rdquo; Sherburne said.
UMBC players haven&rsquo;t had an in-person reunion, but Sherburne said players remain in touch on group texts.
Last week, Odom opened one of those texts to find players and assistant coaches reminiscing about star guard Jairus Lyles&rsquo; buzzer-beater to beat Vermont in the 2018 America East Conference Tournament championship game &mdash; a dramatic win that earned the Retrievers an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
Odom&rsquo;s eyes swelled up with tears as he scrolled through the comments and pictures.
&ldquo;Each team that we&rsquo;re fortunate enough to coach has one life to live,&rdquo; Odom said. &ldquo;That particular team lived a great life. The joy that that team experienced was unlike any other. Certainly the memories that we&rsquo;ll all take from that particular season will last a lifetime. This is what all coaches and players want: they want to be a part of March Madness and the upset.&rdquo;.

Thursday marks five years since the University of Maryland-Baltimore County had the biggest upset in college basketball history.

UMBC’s legacy: No. 1 can mean one-and-done in March Madness

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; DJ Horne had 20 points and Arizona State raced to a big halftime lead and scored the most points ever in a First Four game, burying Nevada 98-73 on Wednesday night.
Desmond Cambridge Jr. &mdash; a Nevada transfer &mdash; scored 17 points as Arizona State (23-12) led 53-26 at the half and then kept up the pressure on the way to the rout. The first-half output was a season high for Arizona State, which advanced as a No. 11 seed to face TCU in a West Region first-round game on Friday in Denver.
Arizona State hit 67.7% of its shots from the floor and forced 10 turnovers in the first half, piling up a 22-2 run over eight minutes to pull away.
Will Baker scored 17 and Tre Coleman had 14 for the Wolf Pack (22-11). One of Nevada&rsquo;s top players, Kenan Blackshear, picked up three fouls early and sat on the bench for more than five minutes of the opening half. Averaging 14.4 per game, he was held to four points.
FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 84, TEXAS SOUTHERN 61
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Ansley Almonor scored 23 points and Fairleigh Dickinson earned its first NCAA Tournament win in four seasons.
Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50% and advanced to the East Region to play top-seeded Purdue in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday.
Joe Munden Jr. scored 17 points, Demetre Roberts had 15, Grant Singleton finished with 13 and Sean Moore 10 for Fairleigh Dickinson (20-15).
John Walker III led Texas Southern (14-21) with 22 points. Joirdon Karl Nicholas added 10.

The First Four of the 2023 Men's NCAA Tournament concluded with victories by the Sun Devils and the Knights on Wednesday.