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AJ Mast / Associated Press
A wild first full day of the 2021 NCAA tournament on Friday saw 14 different rows of seeds come out with a victory, including No. 15, Oral Roberts, who defeated Ohio No. 2.
The level was high for Saturday, and it was another series of exciting games.
A Colorado three-point dam prevented a bad choice in Georgetown, Michigan’s No. 1 seed took care of business, and brothers Tanner Groves and Jacob Groves of eastern Washington drew the nation’s attention in a failed offer that failed.
And that was just the first wave of games.
Let’s look at some winners and losers from Saturday’s games before the second round action starts on Sunday.
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Tanner GrovesAJ Mast / Associated Press
Every March Madness, a handful of main middle highlights finally get the attention they deserve at the national level with outstanding NCAA tournament performance.
The East Washington Groves brothers will undoubtedly be one of the most enduring stories in this year’s opening round. It is a pity that we only received one game from them.
Tanner Groves was the Eagles’ best player during the regular season, averaging 16.4 points and 8.1 rebounds to win the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year.
The 6’9 “junior scored 35 points from 11 of 18 shots and 5 of 11 from a distance to help scare the Kansas Jayhawks.
His younger brother, Jacob Groves, of the second year, had the record of his career with 23 points, four of three points and nine rebounds, the record of the team.
With the remaining eligibility for both players, Eastern Washington will be a team to watch during the 2021-22 season.
It is a pity that we have not seen them this year.
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Jabari WalkerMichael Conroy / Associated Press
The Colorado Buffaloes would not be on anyone’s list of the most dangerous three-point shooting teams on the NCAA 2021 tournament field.
Despite tossing a respectable 36.7 percent depth during the regular season, they stayed out of the top 100 in three sets per game (7.5, 148) and attempts at three points per game (20.4, 229) .
It just wasn’t a fundamental part of the game – at least until Saturday.
With the strength of an emotional display of 16 of 25 out of three, the Buffaloes crossed for a 96-73 victory over Georgetown Hoyas.
These 16 trios are a record for a Pac-12 team in the NCAA tournament.
Freshman Jabari Walker (24 points, 5/5 3PT) and senior D’Shawn Schwartz (18 points, 5/7 3PT) did the heavy lifting, but seven different players connected from the bottom.
Colorado advances to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2014.
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Christian Bishop of CreightonAssociated Press
The turn was right there, and UC Santa Bárbara was unable to protect it.
The gauchos took the lead 62-61 in a pair of free throws from Amadou Sow with 37 seconds remaining, but they were unable to corner a missed shot by Damien Jefferson from Creighton on the other side of the court, and Christian Bishop hit a pair of free throws after being fouled after his offensive rebound.
With 16 seconds to the end of the game and a one point disadvantage, the gauchos chose not to ask for the final time, placing the ball and the game in the hands of JaQuori McLaughlin.
A former top 100 recruit who played his first two high school seasons at Oregon State, McLaughlin won the Big West Player of the Year with an average of 16.2 points and 5.2 assists per game.
McLaughlin drove the entire length of the track, drew a pair in the corner and found Sow inside with a frantic pass as time passed.
The big 6’9 “man went up with an awkward kick against a smaller defender and failed to make the mistake, missing the shot and ending the threat of turning when Shereef Mitchell of the Bluejays pulled down the defensive rebound.
So close.
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Koprivica FerryDarron Cummings / Associated Press
While the Colorado Buffaloes caught fire on the three-point line in their early-day win, it was just the opposite for the State of Florida.
Despite shooting 0 out of 9 beyond the arc, the Seminoles managed to escape with a victory over UNC Greensboro, becoming the first team since Kentucky in 2018 to win an NCAA tournament without connecting from a long distance.
“We are ACC’s # 1 three-point pitch team and we managed to win a 0-9 game in three,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told reporters. “I thought we recovered and we were able to overcome a little bit of adversity.”
The Seminoles hit 39.0 percent away during the regular season, which was good for the country’s eighth highest rate. They also averaged 8.2 times three per game.
Without the outside kick falling, the 6’8 “striker RaiQuan Gray (17 points, seven rebounds) and the 7’1” Balsa Koprivica pivot (13 points, nine rebounds) worked on the inside of the painting, and the Seminoles still kicked 52.1 percent off the ground in general.
The end result was a 64-54 victory and a second round trip to number 4 in the east.
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VCU’s Nah’Shon Hyland (right)Associated Press
Amid all the usual fun and excitement of the first two days of the NCAA tournament, came a severe reminder of the global pandemic that is still going on around us.
The confrontation between Oregon No. 7 and VCU No. 10, which was supposed to be the last game on Saturday, was considered unchallenged by the NCAA committee due to the COVID-19 protocols.
Oregon will advance to the second round.
It is a disappointing turnaround for the entire VCU Rams program, but an especially devastating development for the second year of Nah’Shon Hyland.
The 6’3 “guard is a legitimate NBA prospect, who may have solidified his position as a first-round pick with a strong showing on college basketball’s biggest stage. He averaged 19.5 points per game during the season regular when reaching 69 trios in a 37.1 percent clip.
We hope this is the first and last time that COVID raises his head during March Madness.
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Evan MobleyPaul Sancya / Associated Press
In Friday’s winners and losers article, Oklahoma state star Cade Cunningham–or, more specifically, the hype around it as the presumed number one general choice–was included among the losers after having fought on his debut in the NCAA tournament.
Another talented freshman with a bright future in the NBA was on display on Saturday when 7’0 “striker Evan Mobley took the floor for the USC Trojans.
How would overall potential # 2 perform in your first March Madness performance?
After averaging 16.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocks to beat Pac-12 Player of the Year during the regular season, Mobley scored 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in 38 minutes of action against Drake. This more than delivered the hype against a good team of Bulldogs who threw their way into the field with a victory of the top four over the state of Wichita.
The Trojans came out with a comfortable 72-56 victory, and Mobley continued to harass NBA scouts with their long-term potential.
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James BouknightRobert Franklin / Associated Press
The Connecticut Huskies were a different team with James Bouknight in the lineup this year.
The highlight of the second year averaged 19.0 points per game, adding up to 40 in a dispute at the start of the season against a good Creighton team, but he lost six weeks in the middle of the season due to an elbow injury. The Huskies were 11-3 in their games and only 4-4 without it.
With the rust removed and UConn posting a 7-2 record in their last nine games entering the tournament, it looked like they might be able to shake things up like the number 7 seed in the Eastern Region.
UConn legend Kemba Walker put the Huskies on his back during his run for the 2011 NCAA tournament title. Could Bouknight–a potential lottery choice in the 2021 NBA draft–do the same?
The answer is a resounding “no” as the Huskies dropped 63-54 to the Maryland Terrapins in the first round on Saturday night.
Bouknight finished with the team’s record of 15 points out of 6 out of 16 shots and 1 out of 6 beyond the arc, and the Huskies lost most of the second half in a game that was more one-sided than the final score indicates.
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Jason PrestonTony Dejak / Associated Press
There was no more obvious choice in the first round of this year than number 13 in Ohio over number 4 in Virginia.
The biggest reason for the lack of confidence in Virginia had nothing to do with the way the two teams faced each other on the court and everything to do with COVID-19.
The Cavaliers were exiled from the ACC tournament last Friday after a positive test, and their subsequent weeklong quarantine made them the last team to reach the NCAA tournament bubble in Indianapolis.
The emotional strain of wondering if they would be allowed to gamble, along with the entire trip so close to the complaint, left Virginia with an appearance susceptible to an upset.
However, not all extrajudicial question marks have made this choice popular and unpleasant.
Anyone who saw the Ohio Bobcats top Illinois in a 77-75 loss on November 27 knew that this team could have anyone.
Point guard Jason Preston averaged 16.6 points, 7.2 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game during the regular season, and he completed the stats sheet again on Saturday with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
Ben Vander Plas scored 10 of his team’s 17 highest points during a crucial 12-2 run for the Bobcats at the end of the game, and they managed to hold themselves in critical time for a 62-58 victory.