2024 March Madness Tournament Round of 64 Day Two: Midwest Region
March Madness continues to surprise everyone with how insane it is. The best post-season event strives to become as unpredictable as possible. With most of the Midwest region teams playing yesterday (3/21), there were only two games left to be played. Purdue shut down the gossip talk that they can’t beat a #16 seed as they rolled over Grambling St. The Mountain West has underperformed all tournament, but Utah St made sure not to follow suit. They got a massive win over TCU.
#1 Purdue vs #16 Grambling St
Indianapolis - Purdue made sure to change the narrative that they can’t escape the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They advanced easily over Grambling St with the final score of 78-50. Zach Edey proved again why he is the ultimate mismatch in all of college basketball. The 7 '4 300-pounder is practically unguardable once he gets the ball inside the paint. Grambling St resorted to fouling the big man early and often, not letting him finish anything easy. The Boilermakers were living at the foul line all night. The Tigers were content with making them earn the hard way as they were converting on the offensive end to keep it relatively close.
Braden Smith flushed down three three-pointers within the first ten minutes of the game as he and Edey were doing everything for the Boilermakers early in the game. Edey had a first-half double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Kintavious Dozier was doing as much as he could for Grambling St to keep them within single digits. He had 12 points as they trailed 36-27 at the end of one. At halftime, Grambling St surprisingly led in blocks with four, while Purdue failed to record a single block.
The Boilermakers left zero doubt in the second half. Edey continued to force his way to the basket and took a beating doing it. The Tigers were getting into foul trouble trying to guard Edey, which most teams often do. Edey’s stat line of the night was sensational as he scored 30 points and brought down 21 rebounds. After losing in the first round to FDU last year, they made sure to take no chances and finish until the end.
#8 Utah State vs #9 TCU
Indianapolis - Every nine seed had won up until this game. Utah State pulled away in the second half to advance to the Round of 32 with the final score of, 88-72. These teams like to play quick so it is no surprise the pace of this game was similar to a track meet. It was non-stop action as it seemed the only points scored were during the transition into the fast-break. This benefits TCU’s style of play more so than Utah St which allowed the Horned Frogs to capture an early lead. Great Osobor, Mountain West Player of the Year, led the Aggies on offense as his size and strength proved difficult to defend. He also has one of the best names in college basketball, right up there with Dain Dainja of Illinois.
The last 10 minutes of the half was a spectacle. Both teams were trading buckets back and forth until the time ran out. Some great offense was being played and defense was an afterthought. Utah St switched to a zone defense in the final minutes of the first half which limited TCU’s pace of scoring and the Aggies took the lead back at the end of the break, 43-37. Emmanuel Miller led all scorers at the half with 11 points but needed more offensive help from his fellow Horned Frogs.
The Aggies picked up where they left off as they continued their hot shooting. Isaac Johnson led the offensive charge, his ability to shoot from the three-point line or drive to the lane was key for the Aggies. The seven-footer put up a career-high, 19 points in a winning effort over TCU. Jacoby Coles was the only ingredient the Horned Frogs had for a comeback, but one player scoring was not enough. TCU couldn’t do anything to stop the Aggies offense and the final score showed it. This was Utah State's first NCAA Tournament win since 2001.
