The unquestioned star of the second half for Oregon has been sophomore forward Kenny Wooten, who has three dunks in the second half and a block of Wisconsin star Ethan Happ — followed by a little trash talk — that finally made Ducks fans get loud here in the SAP Center. Wooten's high-wire act has easily been the most entertaining thing about an otherwise low-wattage affair.
Makai Mason is one of the best stories in this Tournament. He played one game in two years for Yale because of issues with his feet, then transferred to Baylor for the 2018-19 season — two years after dropping 31 on Baylor to eliminate them in the Round of 64. King McClure's reaction when he found out Mason was transferring: "Why did we get this guy?"
Gonzaga coach Mark Few called Baylor's Scott Drew "vastly underrated as a basketball coach," calling this "arguably one of the best years he's had" given the injuries Baylor has overcome. Few said Baylor is very physical and probably the best offensive rebounding team in the country.
As predicted, Oregon and Wisconsin are struggling to score in their first-round matchup here in San Jose. The Ducks are shooting 40.7 percent from the floor (22.2 from 3) while the Badgers are doing even worse at 37.5 percent (18.2 from 3). The only player who's shown any semblance of offensive explosiveness so far is Oregon guard Payton Pritchard, who's scored 12 points and continuing the kind of play that earned him Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Meanwhile, Wisconsin's Ethan Happ — a second-team All-American who averages 17.5 points and 10.1 rebounds — has only 4 points and 3 rebounds at the half.
Baylor is a tough, physical team, but Gonzaga is as good as it gets offensively. Brandon Clarke: "I'm not sure how they're going to guard us."
Had a brief tussle over a loose ball at mid court between Oregon's Ehab Amin and Wisconsin's Will Richardson that had to be separated by the refs. It ended up being Wisconsin's ball but Amin gave it a good fight. Pretty much symptomatic of a game fought more between the tackles than the baselines, so far.
GW turnovers in the first half: 4‬ ‪GW turnovers through 10 min in second half: 8‬ ‪UVA offensive boards in first half: 3‬ ‪UVA offensive boards through 10 min second half: 7
Kansas is relatively young and inexperienced. Yesterday, all five of their starters made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Bill Self was asked if he has more gray hairs because he has to do more coaching. He smiled. "I'm not going to say I haven't purchased Just For Men in the last few months."
Bobby Hurley's Sun Devils have no answer for his former team right now. Buffalo is controlling the glass and exploding into transition. After a quick start fresh off the flight from Dayton, Arizona State is teetering on the edge of getting blown out.
How do you shut down an upset bid? Virginia is on a 22-5 run to open the second half, while Gardner Webb has 8 turnovers through 8 minutes after just 4 in the first half. Hoos seem to have pried a 10,000-pound gorilla off their backs at halftime.
Kansas big man Dedric Lawson described Auburn as an athletic team that relies heavily on 3s, whereas Kansas' offense plays more inside out. "We're more like an old-school team."
No. 1 Virginia seems to have found an answer against No. 16 Gardner-Webb: attack the paint. The length of Diakite and Hunter are too much for the undersized underdogs.
UC Irvine's victory over Kansas State today was the first for the Big West conference in the round of 64 since Hawai'i beat California as a 13 seed in 2016. The Anteaters, in only their second-ever NCAA tournament, also extended their winning streak to 17 games and their school record for wins in a season to 31.
Kansas State star Barry Brown is going to want to forget the final game of his college career for a number of reasons, but he suffered through an absolutely disastrous stretch in the final 1:38 of this upset loss to UC Irvine. Brown first clanged a long 3 early in the shot clock, threw the ball away on another possession, and then missed another 3 with 14 seconds left, capping an afternoon where he finished with 5 points on 2-of-9 shooting. His struggles typified the Wildcats' poor offensive performance (37.3 percent shooting overall, 29.6 from 3) in their defeat.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl liked the way his team responded after nearly blowing a 7-point lead against New Mexico State in the final minute. "We weren't very happy. We were accountable for the fact that we had a meltdown."
Heading into the half, No. 1 Virginia trails No. 16 Gardner-Webb, 36-30. But it could have been worse for the program that lost in historic fashion to UMBC a year ago. If the lackluster defense and turnovers had continued for Virginia, the Gardner-Webb lead would be much more.
It feels as if No. 1 Virginia is starting to gain some composure after a rocky start against No. 16 Gardner-Webb, playing better defense and taking care of the ball better on offense. The Cavaliers still trail, 30-23, with less than 4 minutes remaining in the half, but at least there's some optimism for Tony Bennett and his coaching staff to cling to.
Auburn's Anfernee McLemore, on the approach against Kansas: "We're gonna let it fly, all day." He said Dedric Lawson is "probably going to be a problem," but thinks Auburn can force turnovers and expose Kansas in transition.
We've got a little more than 8 minutes left in San Jose and UC Irvine has a 2-point lead, no fear, and a virtual home-court advantage here in the SAP Center. Kansas State simply can't find anyone who can reliably get to the basket, a continuation of a season-long trend. The Wildcats, already one of the nation's worst-shooting (248th) and scoring teams,(321st) is currently shooting 39.1 percent against the 13th-seeded Anteaters.
Jarrett Culver delivered a spectacular tournament opener, scoring 29 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Texas Tech was a plus-21 with the Big 12 Player of the Year on the floor in a game that was tight until the second half.
No. 1 Virginia has no one to blame for its rough start against No. 16 Gardner-Webb, with six turnovers in the first nine minutes of play. The Cavaliers, which became the first one-seed to lose to a 16-seed a year ago, trail 17-10.
It's early, but No. 1 Virginia trails No. 16 Gardner-Webb 6-4 heading into the first stoppage of the game. Virginia wants to put last year's loss to UMBC -- the first ever one-seed to lose in the first round -- behind them, but three early turnovers aren't helping their cause.
Here's how much Kansas State misses injured senior forward Dean Wade so far: The Wildcats scored just 6 points in the paint in the first half and attempted as many threes (14) as twos (14), which isn't a good sign for a team that ranked 224th in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (33.6).
Here's your daily PJ Washington update: He still has the cast on his foot and is still using his scooter.
Not only did Max Hazzard's buzzer-beating 3 tie the game up at halftime for the first time since tipoff, but UC Irvine also held Kansas State without a field goal for the final 6:18 of the first half. It was quite the momentum change for the underdog Anteaters, who trailed throughout despite holding the fourth-seeded Wildcats to 35.7 percent shooting.
