NCAA Tournament roundup: Creighton tops Louisville for 5th straight opening-round win

Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville, 89-75, on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Greg McDermott’s Bluejays (25-10) won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season. Louisville (27-8), despite its unimpressive seeding, entered at No. 10 in the AP Top 25.

“We felt like we had to win the 3-point-line battle,” McDermott said, “so we did what we could to force them into 2s, and if they shot 3s that they’d be challenged. I think for the most part we were able to do that.”

Seeking its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years, Creighton will play No. 1 overall seed Auburn in the second round of the South Region on Saturday.

Chucky Hepburn scored 22 points, and Terrence Edwards Jr. had 21 for Louisville (27-8), which improved its record by 19 wins over last season with a transfer-heavy roster under first-year coach Pat Kelsey. It was the Cardinals’ first March Madness appearance since 2019, and they ran into a Creighton team with plenty of postseason experience.

After a cold start by the Bluejays, Ashworth and Jackson McAndrew (11 points) got hot from the perimeter, with each making two 3-pointers in a 12-0 run.

Ashworth’s 3 near the March Madness logo made it 31-25. McAndrew connected from deep after an offensive rebound, Ashworth converted again, and then McAndrew drained a transition 3 to make it 40-25. Creighton ultimately surged to a 20-point lead late in the first half and cruised from there.

“It was one of those moments where you could feel the momentum trying to swing their way and one of those things where you try and stop it,” Ashworth said.

Ashworth finished 4 of 8 from long range as Creighton made 11 of 24 from 3 and 32 of 56 overall (58%).

Neal, an Arizona State transfer, scored 17 points after halftime to top his previous best of 24 against UConn on Jan. 18. Fifth-year senior Ryan Kalkbrenner added 14 points as he seeks to return to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time of a career that began in 2020-21.

Auburn 83, Alabama State 63 — Mike Kelly made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, All-American Johni Broome added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Auburn advanced.

Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (29-5) lasted one game in 2024, losing to Yale days after winning the SEC Tournament. This time, Auburn came in having lost three of four inside the power-packed SEC with a resume still strong enough to earn the top overall seed among the four No. 1 teams.

Texas A&M 80, Yale 71 — Texas A&M snuffed out hope of another Ivy League upset, sending Yale back to class with a behind a career-high 25 points along with 10 rebounds from big man Pharrel Payne.

The fourth-seeded Aggies (23-10) were on a lot of “upset watch” lists, thanks mainly to going against a Yale team some thought might be even better than the one that pulled off a first-round shocker last year against Auburn.

But an upper-division team from the best conference in the country, the SEC, proved too much for the Yalies.

Coach Buzz Williams earned his second March Madness win in six years at College Station. A&M’s next game is Saturday against Michigan or UC San Diego.

John Poulakidas led 13th-seeded Yale with 23 points.

With no NIL money to spend or scholarships to give, Yale (22-8) probably needed something close to a masterpiece to knock off one of the more athletic and stronger rebounding teams in the country.

Midwest Region

McNeese State 69, Clemson 67 — McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager gave March Madness its first bracket buster.

The 12th-seeded Cowboys used a stifling first half to open a 24-point lead, and then held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson for the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory.

“We have broken every record in the book,” said Wade, who led the school to its first back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament and now its first victory. “This was the last one to get. We want to keep this going. We want to keep this going.”

McNeese earned a matchup Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue.

Brandon Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in the first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, La., held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24 in the second, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time.

“We went out there and took the first punch and they didn’t know how to react to that, honestly,” Murray said. “Coach tells us to be ourselves, play with swag. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job — at N.C. State.

The Wolfpack will have to wait at least another 48 hours, because Wade is still needed in Providence.

A 7½-point underdog, McNeese (28-6) held the Tigers to one basket over almost eight minutes during a 17-2 first-half run that turned a tie game into a 23-8 lead. After Clemson (27-7) scored the first three points of the second, the Cowboys ran off nine in a row and led by as many as 24 points.

Purdue 75, High Point 63 — Trey Kaufman-Renn had 21 points and eight rebounds, and fourth-seeded Purdue held off High Point in the first round.

Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith added 20 points and six assists as Purdue (23-11) avoided a first-round exit after reaching the championship game last season.

D’Maurian Williams had 12 points for No. 13 seed High Point (29-6), which had won 14 straight. Trae Benham added 11 points.

The game was tight throughout the first half before Purdue used a 17-7 surge to take a 37-27 halftime lead.

High Point cut a 10-point halftime deficit to 59-56 on a dunk by Juslin Bodo Bodo with 7:47 left. But Kaufman-Renn slowed High Point’s surge with a tough fadeaway jumper — part of a 7-0 spurt for the Boilermakers.

“The game was so back and forth the entire time and I think me and Trey and all these other guys who have been through it, we understand how to keep our composure and stay with the game,” Smith said.

Houston 78, SIU Edwardsville 40 — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the Midwest Region.

Ja’Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of 27 overall.

“I thought our defense and our rebounding, two of the things we really emphasize, was good today,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Shot selection was really good to start the game — knocked some shots down, got off to a good start.”

Ray’Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance.

Gonzaga 89, Georgia 68 — Khalif Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18 and eighth-seeded Gonzaga routed Georgia.

Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting for Gonzaga (26-8).

The Zags used a sharp, focused performance to move into the second round for the 22nd time since Mark Few took over as coach in 1999. They went 12 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 55% from the field overall.

Asa Newell scored 20 points for Georgia (20-13), one of a record 14 SEC teams that made the field for the tournament. Silas Demary Jr. had 15 points.

Georgia got off to a slow start, and Gonzaga took advantage. It was 13-0 by the first media timeout. Ben Gregg’s layup made it 27-3 with 11:44 left.

Gonzaga opened its biggest lead at 76-50 midway through the second half.

The Bulldogs shot 35% (21 for 60) from the field. They were 5 for 26 from 3-point range.

Tennessee 77, Wofford 62 — Chaz Lanier scored 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting, and No. 2 seed Tennessee never trailed in a victory that sent the Volunteers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.

Coach Rick Barnes’ Vols (28-7) will play either No. 7 seed UCLA or 10th-seeded Utah State on Saturday in the Midwest Region as they try to reach a third straight Sweet 16.

Zakai Zeigler had 12 points and 12 assists. He became Tennessee’s career assist leader after setting the single-season record for assists at the SEC Tournament.

No. 15 seed Wofford was making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance as the Southern Conference Tournament champion but ended a run of reaching four straight second rounds. The Terriers’ last first-round loss was in 2010.

Jackson Sivills led the Terriers (19-16) with 15 points.

East Region

Wisconsin 86, Montana 66 — Wisconsin grinded its way back into the March Madness win column, getting 19 points from John Blackwell and double-digit scoring from four others.

The third-seeded Badgers won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. Last year, they were a first-round upset victim to James Madison.

Next, coach Greg Gard’s team will try to make the Sweet 16 for the first time in eight years with a game against either BYU.

Blackwell also had five rebounds and three assists for the Badgers (27-9), but it was backup forward Carter Gilmore’s burst early in the second half that helped them grab breathing room in what had been a tight, single-digit contest to that point.

After the 14th-seeded Grizzlies cut their deficit to 51-47 with a poke-away steal, then an easy layup by Money Williams, Gilmore came back with a quick 3 that he punctuated by putting a finger over his mouth and taunting the Montana crowd to “shhhh.”

Gilmore (eight points) drew a charge on Montana’s next possession, then altered Te’Jon Sawyer’s shot on the next, part of an 8-0 run that gave Wisconsin its biggest lead of the game to that point — one that would expand to 21 points.

Sawyer and Kai Johnson led the Grizzlies (25-10) with 15 points each.

BYU 80, VCU 71 — Igor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one.

The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9).

Zeb Jackson scored a season-high 23 points for the Rams (28-7), who reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years but still haven’t had any March Madness success since 2016.

West Region

Arkansas 79, Kansas 72 — Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points to help 10th-seeded Arkansas beat No. 7 seed Kansas in the latest meeting between two of college basketball’s winningest coaches.

Johnell Davis added 18 points, including some crucial late free throws, to help John Calipari to his first tournament victory as Razorbacks coach. Freshman standout Boogie Fland played for the first time since having right thumb surgery in January and scored six points in 24 minutes.

Arkansas (21-13) will get No. 2 seed St. John’s or No. 15 Omaha in the second round of the West Region on Saturday.

Zeke Mayo had 18 points for Kansas (21-13), which has made 35 straight NCAA Tournaments and hadn’t lost in the first round since 2006. Aj Storr finished with 15 points and Hunter Dickinson added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Thursday’s matchup was the third March Madness meeting between two of the four active win leaders in men’s college basketball. Calipari is second (876), with Bill Self of Kansas fourth (831) on the list. Both previous meetings were in the national championship game, with each winning once.

Kansas erased what was an 11-point, second-half deficit and nudged ahead 65-64 on a follow shot by Storr with less than six minutes remaining.

The Jayhawks kept the lead until Aidoo connected on a pair of free throws to put the Razorbacks back in front. Arkansas got a stop on the other end and then got a 3-pointer by Davis that gave it a 71-67 cushion with less than two minutes on the clock.