Welcome to the Madness!
The 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicked into high gear Thursday in what is the most exciting day of the year on the college basketball calendar.
The action kicked off with an 8 vs. 9 matchup in the South Region, as Jahmir Young and the Maryland Terrapins pulled off a monster comeback to take down West Virginia, and No. 13 Furman stunned No. 4 Virginia with a last-second bucket.
Elsewhere, 15-seed Princeton upset 2-seed Arizona, capturing its first tournament win since 1998 to become the first Ivy League team to win in the tournament since 2016.
The Midwest, East and West Regions take center stage this evening. 9-seed Auburn was in control for much of its victory over 8-seed Iowa. 10-seed Penn State blew out 7-seed Texas A&M, winning by 17 to set up an enticing Round of 32 matchup against 2-seed Texas on Saturday.
We’ve got you covered with all the top highlights from an action-packed day of college hoops!
1. Houston 63, 16. Northern Kentucky 52
Making it interesting early
Northern Kentucky made a strong push to be the second No. 16 seed to ever beat a No. 1 seed in history. Sam Vinson scored seven points in the opening part of the first half, including a tip-in that gave Northern Kentucky the lead roughly 10 minutes in.
Ankle breaker
Xavier Rhodes hit his defender with a mean crossover and hit the jumper to give Northern Kentucky the lead again.
Northern Kentucky still trading blows with Houston
Trey Robinson hit a 3-pointer in the early minutes of the second half to tie the game.
Houston dodges upset
The Cougars avoided being on the wrong side of history on Thursday. Houston opened the game up a bit in the middle of the second half with Emanuel Sharp scoring 10 points in the final frame to help pull away.
4. Tennessee 58, 13. Louisiana 55
Chase-down block!
Olivier Nkamhoua got back on defense to stop Louisiana from scoring the easy bucket in transition, helping keep Tennessee’s lead intact early.
Leave your tip before the buzzer!
Uros Plavsic got a hand on a perfect inbound pass to tip the ball in right before the buzzer sounded to give Tennessee a 30-19 point lead at the break.
ULL on the run!
The Ragin’ Cajuns went on a 13-0 run as Kobe Julien drained a 3-pointer to cut the Volunteers’ lead to five with just over seven minutes left.
Louisiana makes it close, but Tennessee pulls away
The Ragin’ Cajuns still hung around until the final moments with Jalen Dalcourt making a pair of 3-pointers late. But the Volunteers made the free…
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