Terrence Hill Jr made a stepback three-pointer with 15 seconds left in overtime and 11th-seeded VCU erased from a 19-point second-half deficit to stun sixth-seeded North Carolina 82-78 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Hill finished 7 for 10 from three-point range and scored 20 of 34 points after halftime as VCU (28-7) won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2016.Nyk Lewis added 16 points, including two clutch free throws, to seal the game for the Rams, who’ll face the winner of No 14 Penn and No 3 Illinois in the second round on Saturday.Henri Veesaar had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels (25-8), who went 0-3 after star Caleb Wilson was ruled out for the season with an injury.In overtime, Seth Trimble made 1 of 2 free throws with 35 seconds left to put the Tar Heels up 78-77.

But Hill made his crucial three-pointer from beyond the top of the key to give VCU an 80-78 lead.Veesar was fouled with 4.2 seconds left, but missed the first of two free throws.He was forced to try to throw the ball off the rim with the second shot, but missed and VCU got the ball underneath the North Carolina basket.Lewis was fouled and hit two free throws to ice the game.

North Carolina built a 19-point lead with 15 minutes remaining before before VCU came storming back to tie it at 75 with 11 seconds left on a driving layup by Hill.After the Tar Heels called a timeout, Veesaar lost the ball out of bounds in the frontcourt with 2.4 seconds left, giving VCU a chance to win.Trimble stole the inbounds pass and had a chance to flip the script, but missed a running three-point try at the buzzer, sending the game into OT.VCU shot 62% from the field in the second half and was 7 of 10 from beyond the arc in the second half to force overtime.

Chase Johnston made his first two-point basket of the season, a fast-break layup with 11.7 seconds remaining that gave No 12 seed High Point an 83-82 victory over fifth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Johnston finished with 14 points, including four three-pointers for the Panthers, who were 10-and-a-half-point underdogs.He came in shooting 64 of 136 (47.1%) from three-point range but 0 of 4 inside the arc.

Rob Martin had 23 points and 10 assists for the Panthers, who will face No 4 seed Arkansas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday,Nick Boyd finished with 27 points for Wisconsin (24-11),John Blackwell added 22 points and 10 rebounds,After Johnston’s bucket gave High Point the lead, Owen Aquino blocked a driving layup by Boyd,The Panthers’ Cam’Ron Fletcher was fouled and missed a free throw, giving the Badgers a chance with one second left, but Andrew Rohde’s long pass was stolen by Terry Anderson and the celebration was on for High Point and first-year coach Flynn Clayman.

High Point earned a spot in the tournament by winning the Big South title for the second straight season,This was the first March Madness win for the Panthers, who lost to Purdue in the first round last year,Clayman took over for Alan Huss, who left to become an assistant at Creighton with the stipulation he’ll be Greg McDermott’s successor,Afterwards, High Point’s flinty coach cut something of a pro wrestling promo in his on-court interview with TBS, lashing out at schools from power conferences like Wisconsin that refuse to schedule mid-major programs like High Point during the regular season due to the risk,“It looks pretty obvious to me that high majors need to play mid-majors during the season, because they said we ain’t played nobody,” Clayman said, his voice rising.

“We played somebody now.”He added: “[It] feels unreal, because I know how good of a team we have.But nobody would play us.Just like they wouldn’t play Miami Ohio.But they gotta play us in this tournament.

”"Looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors early in the season.Because they said we didn't play nobody.We played somebody now."-High Point HC Flynn Clayman pic.twitter.

com/IpObzgJSGmHigh Point were resilient against Wisconsin’s duo of Blackwell and Boyd, taking an early second-half 43-41 lead,Both Badgers guards averaged 19-plus points this season,The Badgers, making their 29th tournament appearance, lost in the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament to Michigan,Duke barely avoided a shocking upset to open the NCAA Tournament, with the No 1 overall seed having to rally from 13 points down and going ahead for good in the final five minutes to beat 16th-seeded Siena 71-65 on Thursday,Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the East Region’s headliner, which hit its first four shots yet need a comeback against a fearless upstart playing just five players right up to the final seconds.

And yet, the Saints took it to the Blue Devils (33-2) at every turn.The No 1 seeds entered the week with a 158-2 record against 16 seeds in the tournament, the outliers being Virginia’s loss to UMBC in 2018 and Purdue’s loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023.And Duke – a blueblood with five NCAA titles – spent much of Thursday in serious danger of being added to that list before finally wrestling away control of the game in the last eight minutes.Gavin Doty scored 21 points to lead the Saints (23-12), with his third three giving Siena a 61-56 lead with 7:53 left.But Duke ran off 11 unanswered points to finally push ahead for good.

Pryce Sandfort scored 23 points and Nebraska rolled to its long-awaited first NCAA Tournament victory, beating Troy 76-47 on Thursday.The Cornhuskers (27-6), the No 4 seed in the South Region, entered March Madness as the only school from a power conference without a tournament win – they were 0-8, with many of the losses coming as the higher seed.Sandfort helped the Huskers end the drought by making seven three-pointers.Braden Frager and Jamarques Lawrence each scored 13 points and Rienk Mast added 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Huskers, who will play No 5 seed Vanderbilt in the second round on Saturday.Victor Valdes scored 14 points for 13th-seeded Troy (22-12), the Sun Belt Tournament champion.

Nebraska opened this season on a 20-game win streak and was ranked as high as No 5 in the AP Top 25, giving fans hope that this would be the year for a breakthrough.Paycom Center, which seats 18,203 for Oklahoma City Thunder games, was filled with boisterous Nebraska fans.The Lincoln campus is a six-hour drive away.David Punch provided some bulletin-board material this week when he told the Columbus Dispatch that TCU would beat Ohio State “nine times out of 10” because of their athleticism.On Thursday, Punch and the Horned Frogs backed up his bold talk.

Punch delivered a textbook entry pass to Xavier Edmonds, who converted a layup to beat the shot clock with 4.3 seconds left as No 9 seed TCU held off a furious second-half rally by eighth-seeded Ohio State for a 66-64 victory to open the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Bruce Thornton’s half-court heave at the buzzer hit all backboard, and the Buckeyes’ standout senior leaned forward and put his hands on his knees in dismay near midcourt as TCU began its celebration.Micah Robinson made four three-pointers and scored 18 points to lead TCU, Edmonds scored 16 and Punch had 16 points and 13 rebounds.The Horned Frogs (23-11) will play Saturday against Duke, the No 1 overall seed in the tournament.

Isaac McKneely scored 23 points, and Louisville hung on to beat South Florida 83-79 on Thursday to win their first NCAA Tournament game since Rick Pitino’s final season as coach.Ryan Conwell scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half and backup forward Sananda Fru had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals.Louisville (24-10) showed signs of struggling without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr, who missed his fifth straight game with back issues.It was evident in the Cardinals’ issues against South Florida’s press in nearly squandering a 22-point lead over the final 11:25.Brown is not expected to return for the second round on Saturday.

That’s when the East Region’s sixth seed Louisville plays the winner of the game between third-seeded Michigan State (25-7) and North Dakota State (27-7).Joseph Pinion scored 27 points for South Florida (25-9) in a game in which the Bulls missed 20 of their first 21 three-point attempts.The Bulls were making just their fourth tournament appearance and first since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012.Tyler Tanner had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Vanderbilt rallied to beat McNeese 78-68 on Thursday for their first victory in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.The Commodores (27-8), the No 5 seed in the South Region, will play No 4 seed Nebraska in the second round on Saturday.

Duke Miles scored 13 points and Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel each added 12 for Vanderbilt, who trailed by 12 points in the first half and then took control after the break,The Commodores shot 51% (26 of 51) from the field and made 17 of 20 free throws,Carson Cooper matched his career-high with 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Michigan State routed North Dakota State 92-67 on Thursday to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd time in 28 consecutive appearances under coach Tom Izzo,Coen Carr added 17 points for the third-seeded Spartans,Cam Ward scored 13 points and Kaxon Kohler had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Leading scorer Jeremy Fears Jr managed only seven points, but had 11 assists, exceeding his season average of 9,2 that ranks first in the country,Michigan State (26-7) advances to play Louisville (24-10) in the second round Saturday after the No 6 seed in the Midwest held on to beat South Florida 83-79,It will be the fifth NCAA Tournament matchup between the schools and first since 2015, when the Spartans beat the Cardinals in overtime to reach the Final Four,Damari Wheeler-Thomas scored 16 points to lead 14th-seeded North Dakota State (27-8).

The Summit League champions qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in 18 seasons and first since the 2020 tournament that was canceled.The Spartans shot 59% against the undersized Bison, scoring 44 points in the paint, with eight dunks.Michigan State shot 10 for 20 from three-point range, while North Dakota State finished 6 for 25 from long distance.Darius Acuff Jr had 24 points and seven assists, and No 4 seed Arkansas continued its strong play after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament, beating No 13 seed Hawaii 97-78 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Arkansas (27-8) moves on to face No 12 High Point in the second round of the West Region.

The Panthers knocked off No 5 Wisconsin 83-82 in the first game in Portland.Meleek Thomas had 21 points and eight rebounds for coach John Calipari’s Razorbacks, Trevon Brazile added 19 points and three blocks, and Malique Ewin had 16 points and 12 rebounds.Dre Bullock finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for Hawaii (24-9), the Big West Conference champion, and Isaac Johnson scored 15.The Razorbacks took an 11-0 lead and never looked back, dominating the Rainbow Warriors inside.Morez Johnson Jr had 21 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect shooting night, and No 1 seed Michigan rode a second-half surge to a 101-81 victory over 16th-seeded Howard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Towering center Aday Mara had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists for a Wolverines team that set the Big Ten regular-season record with 19 conference victories,Johnson shot 8 of 8 from the field as Michigan (32-3) moved within one win of matching a program record set in 2017-18,Top-seeded teams improved to 160-2 against No 16 seeds, with Duke outlasting Siena earlier in the day,Michigan advance to play the winner of the later Midwest Region game between eighth-seeded Georgia (22-10) and ninth-seeded Saint Louis (28-5),Cam Gillus and Bryce Harris scored 21 points each, and Cedrick Taylor had 19 points and six rebounds for Howard (24-11).

The Bison were playing two days after their 86-83 win over UMBC in the First Four at Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday – the program’s first March Madness victory in six appearances.Kingston Flemings scored 18 points, Emanuel Sharpe added 16 and Houston routed Idaho 78-47 Thursday night in their NCAA Tournament opener after losing last year’s championship game.The Cougars (29-6), the second seed in the South Region, will play No 10 seed Texas A&M in the second round on Saturday.Chris Cenac Jr had a career-high 18 rebounds for Houston, which lost to Florida in last year’s final.Kolton Mitchell scored 14 points for 15th-seeded Idaho, a heavy underdog making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990.

The Vandals (21-15) qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning four games in five days to win the Big Sky championship, despite being seeded seventh in the conference tournament.David Mirkovic had 29 points and 17 rebounds, and No 3 seed Illinois dominated No 14 seed Penn 105-70 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Keaton Wagler added 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Fighting Illini (25-8), who moved on to face No 11 VCU in the second round on Saturday.Kylan Boswell had 13 points, while Ben Humrichous and Tomislav Ivisic each chipped in with 12 as Illinois shot 50% from the field and made 15 three-pointers while outrebounding the much smaller Quakers 48-25.Michael Zanoni finished with 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting for Penn (18-12), the Ivy League champion.

TJ Power, who scored 44 points in the Quakers’ overtime win over Yale that got them into the tournament, finished with six points on 2-of-8 shooting in 30 minutes after missing the previous two practices with an illness that left his status for the game uncertain.Matas Vokietaitis had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and No 11 seed Texas knocked off sixth-seeded BYU 79-71 on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, overcoming 35 points from Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa.Dybantsa played every minute of the game but it wasn’t enough as BYU (23-12) had its season – and perhaps his college career – come to an end.Dybantsa was two points shy of tying BYU‘s NCAA Tournament record for points in a game, held by Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette.The freshman who led the nation in scoring with 25.

3 points per game will be a candidate for the No 1 pick in the NBA draft if he leaves school.Texas (19-14) will face third-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday in the second round of the West Regional.Texas won their First Four matchup with NC State on Tuesday night.Tramon Mark hit a fadeaway jumper from just inside the three-point line with 1.1 seconds left for a 68-66 victory