Overview
- Kentucky outlasted Santa Clara 89-84 in overtime after a wild exchange of late 3-pointers and will face Iowa State next.
- Iowa State routed Tennessee State 108-74, but All-American Joshua Jefferson exited early with a left ankle injury, left on crutches and in a boot with his status uncertain.
- Friday’s early results also included Virginia over Wright State 82-73, Alabama past Hofstra 90-70, Texas Tech defeating Akron 91-71, and Arizona rolling by LIU 92-58.
- Opening day delivered bracket-shifting outcomes as No. 12 High Point edged No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82, VCU erased a 19-point deficit to beat North Carolina in OT, Nebraska earned its first NCAA Tournament win, Saint Louis routed Georgia, and Texas topped BYU behind Matas Vokietaitis with BYU’s AJ Dybantsa scoring 35.
- Second-round matchups set so far include Duke vs TCU, Arkansas vs High Point, Gonzaga vs Texas, Houston vs Texas A&M, Michigan vs Saint Louis, Illinois vs VCU, and Nebraska vs Vanderbilt, with analysts such as Jay Bilas publicly predicting more potential upsets on Friday.