NCAA Tournament roundup: Underdog Oregon State stays hot, upsets Tennessee

INDIANAPOLIS — Oregon State opened the season picked to finish 12th in its conference but instead won its first Pac-12 Tournament title. The Beavers faced another No. 12 hurdle in the NCAA Tournament and pulled off the upset.

They’re certainly enjoying this underdog role.

Roman Silva scored 16 points, and Oregon State took advantage of Tennessee’s icy perimeter shooting to become the latest No. 12 seed to win its opening NCAA Tournament game, beating the fifth-seeded Vols, 70-56, in the Midwest Region on Friday night.

“In the preseason, when we saw we were picked 12, it really lit a fire under us,” said Silva, who made all eight of his shots.

Oregon State (18-12) was the first Pac-12 school to win the conference tournament after being picked to finish last. After another upset, the Beavers are the 51st 12th seed to take down a fifth seed since the NCAA Tournament bracket expanded in 1985.

The 7-foot-1 Silva bulled his way through the Vols after struggling in the Pac-12 Tournament to help Oregon State build a 14-point halftime lead. The Beavers then hit seven 3s in the second half to hold off a late charge and win their first NCAA Tournament game since reaching the 1982 Elite Eight.

Illinois 78, Drexel 49

Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points, and Illinois cruised past 16th-seeded Drexel in the Illini’s first NCAA Tournament game as a No. 1 seed in 16 years.

Illinois (23-6) will face eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago or ninth-seeded Georgia Tech in the second round of the Midwest Regional on Sunday.

Maybe that will be more of a test for the Big Ten champions. Drexel (12-8) never really had chance at containing the 7-foot, 285-pound Cockburn, who was 8-for-11 from the field.

James Butler (6-8, 242 pounds) drew the daunting task of trying to handle Cockburn, without much success. The senior did have 10 points and 10 rebounds for Drexel.

The Dragons closed the season with four straight victories, including three during a surprising run through the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, to earn a bid to the NCAAs for the first time since 1996. They managed to stay competitive for about seven minutes, taking an 8-7 lead.

Arkansas 85, Colgate 68

Justin Smith had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 10 Arkansas shut down high-scoring Colgate to open the NCAA Tournament .

The 14th-seeded Raiders (14-2) had upset pickers out of their seats early in the South Region opener with a slew of 3-pointers and a 16-2 run to go up 14. The No. 3 Razorbacks (23-6) restored some bracket order with a 19-0 run spanning halftime and scored 10 straight points late to pull away.

Arkansas’ defense became the deciding factor.

The Razorbacks, at times, snatched the ball right out of the Raiders’ hands to set up shots in transition, scoring 34 points off Colgate’s 22 turnovers. Arkansas forced five turnovers during the decisive run, holding Colgate without a field goal for more than six minutes to turn a close game into a 13-point lead.

Nelly Cummings, a Lincoln Park graduate, led Colgate with 14 points.

Texas Tech 65, Utah State 53

Mac McClung scored 16 points in his first career NCAA Tournament game, and Kyler Edwards added 12 to help sixth-seeded Texas Tech pull away from 11th-seeded Utah State.

The Red Raiders snapped a two-game losing streak and made new memories in the tournament after their most recent appearance, a loss to Virginia in the 2019 national championship game. Texas Tech (18-10) can reach its third consecutive Sweet 16 with a win over third-seeded Arkansas on Sunday.

Texas Tech faced a daunting challenge against Utah State center Neemias Queta. He finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, and tied the school’s single-game school record with seven blocks. Justin Bean had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Aggies (20-9), who lost their final two games.

Baylor 79, Hartford 55

After MaCio Teague and the Baylor Bears got comfortable in the spacious confines of Lucas Oil Stadium, they looked like a team that could be playing there for bigger stakes in a few weeks.

Teague scored 22 points and the top-seeded Bears shook off a slow-as-molasses start to roll to a victory over No. 16 Hartford.

Baylor (23-2) opened its March Madness run at the same stadium the Final Four will take place in during the first week of April.

Loyola Chicago 71, Georgia Tech 60

Lucas Williamson scored 21 points in a dynamic performance, All-America forward Cameron Krutwig added 10 and eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago beat No. 9 seed Georgia Tech.

The surprise national semifinalist in 2018, the Ramblers (25-4) were relegated to the NIT the following year and missed out on the tournament — along with everyone else — when it was canceled due to COVID-19 last season.

After trailing 43-40 midway through the second half, Loyola heated up from beyond the arc and clamped down on defense, forcing Georgia Tech (17-9) into a series of missed shots and ugly turnovers during the decisive final five minutes.

Buddy Norris also had 16 points for the Ramblers, who went 11 of 27 from beyond the arc and shot 47% from the field overall.

Jordan Usher scored 15 points, Michael Devoe had 14 and Jose Alvarado 13 for the Yellow Jackets, who were forced to play without ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright after the big man tested positive for covid-19.

Wisconsin 85, North Carolina 62

North Carolina coach Roy Williams lost his first opening-round NCAA Tournament game in 30 tries as ninth-seeded Wisconsin blew out his eighth-seeded Tar Heels.

Brad Davison scored 29 points for the Badgers, who negated North Carolina’s size advantage by draining 13 of 27 3-pointers. The Badgers (18-12) had lost four of five entering the tournament.

Davison made 5 of 7 3-pointers and 10 of 15 shots overall. D’Mitrik Trice scored 21 points for Wisconsin.

Although Williams had won all 14 of his first-round games with Kansas and his first 15 with UNC, the loss by this uneven Tar Heels team was hardly a shock. North Carolina came in on a three-game winning streak but did not win four in a row all season.

Armando Bacot scored 15 points for UNC (18-11).

Oklahoma State 69, Liberty 60

Cade Cunningham didn’t have an explosive debut, but he did just enough to lead Oklahoma State past Liberty.

Cunningham scored 15 points — nine straight in the final minutes — as No. 4 seed Oklahoma State won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2009. Avery Anderson III led the Cowboys with 21 points.

Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, struggled for most his debut until his late surge gave OSU (21-8) breathing room against the stubborn Flames (23-6).

Elijah Cuffee had 16 points and Darius McGhee scored 12 for Atlantic Sun champion Liberty, which had won its previous 12 games.

Houston 87, Cleveland State 56

Quentin Grimes scored 18 points, and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tied John Wooden on the career victories list as the Cougars beat 15th-seeded Cleveland State.

Sampson earned his 664th win, No. 38 all-time, in his first game at Assembly Hall since resigning as Indiana’s coach in February 2008.

No. 2-seed Houston has won eight straight and will face seventh-seeded Clemson or 10th-seeded Rutgers in the second round Sunday. It’s unclear if starting guard DeJon Jarreau will be available after he missed all but 41 seconds with what appeared to be a right hip injury.

Tramon Mark added 15 points in place of Jarreau and Marcus Sasser finished with 14 for Houston (25-3).

D’Moi Hodge scored 11 points and Torrey Patton had eight points and eight rebounds for the Vikings (19-9).