Hawaii pulls off major upset over California
Hawaii sent California home early, downing the short-handed Bears on Friday in the first round with a 77-66 win, reports CBSSports.com. It was a disappointing end to a strong season from Cuonzo Martin's group, but the team on the floor at the end of the game had a much different makeup than the group that led the way in many of the team's 23 wins.
Senior point guard and leading scorer Tyrone Wallace was ruled out for the entire NCAA Tournament after suffering a hand injury in practice and star freshman Jaylen Brown was sidelined for many key parts of the game because of foul trouble. The result was a disjointed Cal offense that wasted too many possessions to ever fully recover from a six-point halftime deficit.
Hawaii, however, gets to celebrate its first-ever NCAA Tournament win with the upset. The Rainbow Warriors were 0-4 prior to Friday making its first appearance in the Big Dance since 2002. Strong shooting and a timely performance from Quincy Smith, a single-digit scorer who finished with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, helped advance Hawaii to the second round, awaiting the winner of Maryland and South Dakota State.
Cal's loss drops the Pac-12 to 1-5 in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Syracuse routs Dayton in return to NCAA Tournament
After routing Dayton in their NCAA Tournament opener, Syracuse guards Mike Gbinije and Trevor Cooney were asked whether they had heard all the naysayers who claimed they didn't belong.
Orange coach Jim Boeheim didn't give them a chance to answer.
"Anybody that said we didn't deserve to be in obviously doesn't know anything about basketball," he said flatly. "They were just doing it to be cute and that's - we don't need to react to those things."
Not when they play like they did Friday.
Malachi Richardson scored 21 points, Tyler Roberson added 10 points and 18 rebounds, and the No. 10 seed Orange clamped down with their trademark zone in a 70-51 win over the seventh-seeded Flyers.
Up next will be No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee State, who pulled off a stunning upset of second-seeded Michigan State, on Sunday.
"We think we can play with anybody," said Boeheim, whose Orange (20-13) are back in the tournament after a one-year ban for academic misconduct and improper benefits. "We don't look at it as we're an underdog or whatever. We just think if we can play and play the way we are capable, we can beat anybody."
Charles Cooke led the Flyers (25-8) with 14 points, but he was 2 of 9 from beyond the arc. Scoochie Smith added 12 points as the regular-season Atlantic 10 champions shot just 32 percent from the field in the first-round game of the Midwest Regional.
Villanova rolls into 2nd round with 86-56 win over Asheville
The first round of the NCAA Tournament was about as easy as could be for second-seeded Villanova. The Wildcats even got minutes for some walk-ons.
Now comes the part that has been so hard for coach Jay Wright's team. The hurdle the Wildcats have not cleared since 2009: their second game of the NCAA Tournament.
"Everyone's been talking about this next game coming up for the whole year, even before we got in the tournament, but it's very humbling for us to be able to get this first win," Daniel Ochefu said. "Just going forward in this game, we can't think about the shortcomings in the past years. We have to focus on the things we can take care of that will help us get this "W'' on Sunday."
Ryan Arcidiacono scored 14 points, including a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the first half, and Ochefu had 17 points and 10 rebounds as Villanova beat UNC Asheville 86-56 on Friday.
The Wildcats (30-5) will face seventh-seeded Iowa or No. 10 Temple in the South Region at Barclays Center, looking to reach the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since their Final Four run in 2009.
The early exits, including the last two seasons as either a one or two seed, have made that Final Four seem long ago for Villanova fans.
"All season, if we would have answered those questions and we lost this game today, we're idiots," Wright said.
Villanova spent three weeks at No. 1 this season and won the Big East regular-season title, but faces massive pressure to reach the Sweet 16.
Another second-round loss will lead to another round of questions about NCAA flameouts.
"I'm happy for them, how they've handled everything to get to this point," Wright said. "And now everyone's going to ask the question. We've got to go do it. That's the bottom line. If we don't do it, it's failure. But there's nothing wrong with failure in sports if you give your best effort."
Dylan Smith led 15th-seeded UNC Asheville (22-12) with 14 points.
Lewis leads tourney-tested VCU past Oregon State, 75-67
JeQuan Lewis had 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as 10th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2013 with a 75-67 first-round victory over No. 7 seed Oregon State on Friday.
The tournament appearance is the sixth straight for VCU (25-10), and the experience showed as the Rams led by eight points at halftime and held off a charge by the Beavers in the second half.
Mo Alie-Cox added 20 points and was 7 of 8 from the field in the win, while Melvin Johnson also finished in double figures with 12 points.
Gary Payton II scored 19 points to lead the Beavers (19-13), who were making their first tournament appearance in 26 years, while Derrick Bruce finished with 15 and Drew Eubanks 13.
After leading by eight points at halftime, VCU appeared in control as it extended the lead to 47-37 early in the second half - with Ahm Hamdy Mohamed scoring five straight points.
However, the Beavers - in search of their first NCAA victory since 1982 - didn't go away quietly.
With Bruce connecting on a pair of 3-pointers and Payton II throwing down a pair of dunks and scoring another basket on the fast break, Oregon State went on a 14-2 run to take a 51-49 lead. It was the first time the Beavers had led since a 20-19 edge in the first half.
The charge was short-lived, though, as the Rams regained their composure and stretched the lead to as many as 10 points before holding on for their first tournament win since a first-round victory over Akron in 2013.
The Rams played like an experienced team intent on making amends for first-round NCAA losses in each of the last two seasons, building a 36-28 halftime lead.
Fueled by two thundering dunks by Alie-Cox and an effective offensive attack against the Oregon State zone defense, VCU scored 23 of its 36 first-half points in the paint.
The interior domination continued to open the second half, with the Rams first four baskets coming inside the paint - capped by Hamdy Mohamed's 3-point play that put VCU up 45-37.
The Rams finished the game with 46 of their 75 points near the basket, and they shot 48.2 percent (27 of 56) from the field.