2024 March Madness Tournament Round of 32 Day One: Midwest Region
12 underdogs won outright during the Round of 64. Today, all Vegas favorites won outright as we did not see a single upset. We witnessed possibly one of the greatest March Madness games ever with Creighton and Oregon going into a double overtime thriller. Tennessee vs Texas and Kansas vs Gonzaga offered some great viewing experiences as well.
#2 Tennessee vs #7 Texas
Charlotte, NC - Rick Barnes and his Volunteers defeated his former team, the Texas Longhorns. Barnes spent 17 seasons coaching at Texas, developing players like Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, and D.J Augustine. As expected, this was an extremely gritty type of game. Neither team was giving up any easy shots as defense was the name of the game tonight.
It was not exactly a thrilling first half. It was higher scoring than what we saw in the UVA vs CSU game but not nearly as high scoring as Alabama vs Charleston. Every shot was being contested, defenders were all in your face, and bricks were being thrown up. Tennessee’s defense was just a little bit better. Zakai Zeigler was an absolute menace of defense, not allowing Max Asmus or any of the Texas guards to build a rhythm. He had three steals and multiple forced turnovers.
Brock Cunningham of Texas received a Flagrant One foul for shoving Tennessee guard Jordan Gainey to the floor. He received a Flagrant Two foul in the first round against Colorado State, so it is apparent that he struggles with his frustrated emotions. Even with Tennessee struggling to score consistently, they went into the break leading 28-19. Dalton Knecht only scored four points in those beginning 20 minutes if that summarizes how difficult it was to score.
The second half was just more of the same. More missed layups, botched dunks, and bricked jump shots. At the end of the game, Tennessee and Texas had combined for 28 turnovers. An insane amount. March Madness lives up to its reputation as being as unpredictable as they come. Speaking of Texas, they narrowed the lead to a one-possession game with less than seven minutes remaining by continuing their great defense and hitting some clutch three-pointers.
Dylan Disu came out of nowhere to come up with a big-time block on Jonas Aidoo. It gave Texas the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead. The ball rolled around the rim and fell off and Josiah Jordan-James came down with the rebound with only a minute to play. Texas began fouling with 24.3 seconds left on the clock, forcing Tennessee to win the game by shooting free throws. Max Asmus had a chance to tie the game, shooting a fade-away corner three. He missed and Knecht came down with the board with 8.8 seconds remaining. He sank them both to give Tennessee a five-point lead, but Tyrese Hunter raced down the court and sunk his own three-point shot with 4.2 left on the clock. Knecht got fouled again and swished both free throws to extend the lead to four and that would be all she wrote. Tennessee survived and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the ninth time in school history.
#3 Creighton vs #11 Oregon
Pittsburgh, PA - This was also another homecoming game as Dana Altman faced his former team, the Creighton Bluejays. He spent 16 seasons coaching Creighton, racking up a 327-176 record and seven NCAA tournament appearances. An instant classic of a game was left on the floor past midnight. Everyone who viewed the game will never forget this game.
Trey Alexander and Ryan Kalkbrenner got the night started for the Bluejays, combining to score their first nine points of the game. Bad news for the Ducks struck early as Jermaine Couisnard picked up his second foul of the game with 14 minutes left in the first half. He just scored 40 points in their win over South Carolina, so he was an important piece missing from their offense. N’Faly Dante picked up the slack by dominating the paint, outworking Kalkbrenner. Couisnard subbed back in after sitting on the bench for a short period as he was too important to be off the floor. He led all scorers at the break with 15 points.
Baylor Schiermann loves to show out in the month of March, going back to his days at South Dakota State. He filled up the box score in the first half, finishing with eight points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Some players are just born for the big games, and he is one of them. He is made for games like these.
Couisnard was playing free as if he had no fouls to his name. The combination of him and Dante was incredibly efficient. Between the two of them, they combined for 60 of Oregon’s total 73 points. There were many lead changes in the second half as Dante or Couisnard would score for Oregon and then one of the many dangerous shooters for Creighton would score immediately after. On offense, Cousinard and Dante were quite literally playing 2-5 as the two of them were the only ones taking shots.
The Ducks went on a 9-0 run that lasted over four minutes to take a small lead heading into the final stretch of the game. Right after a timeout, Creighton scored to tie the lead. Dante then slammed home a two-handed alley-oop jam to regain the lead. Guess who had the assist? You guessed it, none other than Jermaine Couisnard. On the very next possession, the same thing. Dante finished off another two-handed slam off an offensive rebound. With 26.4 seconds left and with a two-point lead, Creighton was going to force them to win from the free throw line. He missed the front end of the one and one and Schiermann went down and converted a step-back midrange jumper to tie the game. Cousisnard had an opportunity to win the game for the Ducks, but his floater bricked off the side of the rim.
Couisnard and Dante scored all but two points for the Ducks in the second half and overtime period. Steven Ashworth regained the lead for the Bluejays by knocking down a huge three-pointer. He then fouled Dante on the immediate possession, sending the Ducks to the free-throw line for the only second time of the night. He sank both free throws but then was late switching off a screen, letting Kalkbreener score on an alley-oop. Trey Alexander hit a clutch midrange jumper after the Ducks turned the ball over to give Creighton a three-point advantage with less than one minute remaining in the overtime period. Jadrian Tracy found the offensive rebound on the next possession and converted his layup attempt. Ashworth was fouled immediately and made both of his free throws. Couisnard with stones, sunk a deep and contested three-pointer to tie the game up. Alexander then drove down the court with just a few seconds left and got up a fadeaway jumper that grazed off the rim as time expired. The two teams were then forced into a second overtime period.
Ashworth continued to be clutch as he sank his fifth three of the game. Kalkbreener was left open on the next possession, and he flushed it home giving Creighton a six-point lead. Jasen Green slammed home an offensive rebound off an Alexander missed shot as the Ducks were running out of energy. The Bluejays had secured an eight-point lead with less than two minutes left and that would be the final run of the game. The final score doesn’t do justice to how the game played out, but Creighton went on to win 86-73.
#4 Kansas vs #5 Gonzaga
Salt Lake City - Anytime we can witness a coaching battle between Mark Few and Bill Self, it becomes an automatic must-watch. It lived up to the expectations, to say the least. It was non-stop scoring as each team's respective star players were making spectacular plays. In the end, the combination of missing Kevin McCullar Jr and Gonzaga’s explosive offense led to a Zags win 89-68.
Coach Few got his Zags ready to play as they grabbed an immediate 6-0 lead which forced Coach Self to call a timeout at the 17:54 mark. Anton Watson converted on a reverse alley-oop dunk to get the crowd on their feet. The Jayhawks shook off their jitters as they roared back. Johnny Furphy, freshman guard, got the run started by knocking down a three-pointer and then converting an and-one opportunity in back-to-back possessions.
The clash between big men Graham Ike, and Hunter Dickinson was the most important matchup all game. Both of them picked up an early foul as the referee was shutting down the physical play between the two of them before it could escalate further. From this moment on, the Zags and Jayhawks were trading buckets the rest of the half, with neither team able to stop the other from scoring. The Gonzaga offense was shredding the Kansas defense with their pick-and-roll action, forcing Coach Self to call his second timeout of the half. To quote game announcer, Brendan Haywood, “Hunter Dickinson is giving up as many points as he is scoring”. That being said, Kansas held a one-point lead heading into halftime, 44-43.
After each team shot over 50% in the first half, Kansas was not able to sustain their hot shooting, unlike Gonzaga. Again, the Zags entered the second half with a spark. They took the lead and extended it to seven points, necessitating Coach Self to call another timeout. The Zags’ offense made nine of their first 10 field goals as Dickinson and the rest of the Jayhawks couldn’t guard the pick and roll. Gonzaga outscored Kansas 46-24 in second-half points, a 22-point advantage. Kansas could not buy a basket in the second half as Gonzaga comfortably advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
