The first round of the NCAA tournament has come to an end, and it included highlight plays and exciting upsets. 12 seed Colorado State was a popular pick to upset No.5 seed Memphis in the first round. The game took place in Seattle, Washington, and it was a close contest throughout the game, with the largest lead being 9. When Colorado State took their 9 point lead, they never looked back, winning the game 78-70 over the Tigers.
Another popular upset pick was the McNeese Cowboys over the Clemson Tigers, and the Cowboys delivered. One of the big stories in the tournament is McNeese student manager Amir “Aura” Khan who is the only manager in college basketball to receive NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals. He walks the team out onto the court holding a big speaker that plays music to get the team ready to play.
“Everybody likes McNeese and their manager,” sophomore Jonathan Anderson said. “Watching them in the first round was exciting for me.”
McNeese controlled the pace of a very talented Clemson team the whole game, which resulted in a 31-13 lead at halftime for the Cowboys. McNeese had extreme ball pressure and stellar defense, which caused the Tigers to shoot 5 for 24 from the field and 1 for 15 from three in the first half. In the second half, Clemson started to step things up as they pulled closer to McNeese, but in the end, the Tigers ultimately fell 69-67 and McNeese advanced to play 4th seeded Purdue.
On Thursday night, the Drake Bulldogs took on the Missouri Tigers out of the Southeastern Conference in a highly anticipated matchup. First year head coach of the Bulldogs, Ben McCollum, has had a disadvantage all year. His entire roster is under 6’6 and playing a team out of the SEC brings an even greater challenge. Drake led for almost the entire game, keeping a comfortable lead that got up to as much as 15, but the Tigers would not go down without a fight. Missouri pulled within 1 point with 4 minutes left to play, but it wasn’t enough as Drake picked up the pace again and pulled away for a 67-57 win.
Another notable performance in the first round was Duke’s 93-49 blowout win over 16 seeded Mount Saint Mary’s. Junior guard Tyrese Proctor led all scorers with 19 points and went 6 of 8 from three-point range. The Blue Devils are currently on a 12 game winning streak and look to follow expectations and make a run to the national title game.
“Duke’s first round performance was nice and they still look really good,” senior George Albertson said. “I think they’re going all the way.”
