No. 15 Princeton completes thrilling upset over Arizona for 1st tournament win in 25 years

Mitch Henderson's victory leap that punctuated Princeton's famed upset over UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There is a picture of the joyous jump at the school's practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what's possible.

Now Henderson's current players have authored one of their own.

Ryan Langborg lifted Princeton to its first lead with 2:03 to play and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.

The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over the final 4:43.

Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton's first tournament victory since beating UNLV in 1998 when Henderson was a player for the Tigers.

Henderson also played on the 1996 team that beat defending champion UCLA in the school's final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. This victory fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.

Princeton advanced to play seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region.

Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven't won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.

The Wildcats seemed in control of this one when Oumar Ballo's basket put them up 10 with eight minutes left.

But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by a second-chance 3-pointer from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes left.

They closed the game with a 9-0 run — just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.

Ramey missed a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from long range after an offensive rebound, sending Princeton into an early celebration.

Bad turnover helps Furman stun Virgina

JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA Tournament loss, 68-67 on Thursday.

Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will play either fifth-seeded San Diego State or 12th-seeded Charleston on Saturday.

Furman earned its first tournament berth since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem itself after losing the league's automatic berth to the Mocs on a 35-foot buzzer-beater in last year's Southern final.

In the aftermath of that loss, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth seasons with the Paladins. Slawson took over the game when Bothwell fouled out, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Kihei Clark, who starred as a freshman on Virginia's 2019 national title-winning team, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hien intercepted at midcourt with 7 seconds to go, setting up Pegues' go-ahead basket, his only 3 of the game.

Reece Beekman's deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the higher-seeded team for the third time in its past four NCAA tournaments — most notably its loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC in 2018. Virginia hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title.

Toronto's Marcus Carr helps Texas top Colgate

Sir'Jabari Rice scored 23 points and No. 2 seed Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

Rice made five of his seven 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Longhorns get off to a fast start. Marcus Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Carr, a sixth-year senior from Toronto, who previously played at Pittsburgh and Minnesota, and had the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Big 12 this season, deftly directed his teammates and fired them up at the right times, too.

After driving hard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top of the key to set up Price's fourth 3-pointer for a 29-17 lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the retreat for defence.

Texas (27-8) shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range while advancing to a second-round matchup against the Penn State-Texas A&M winner on Saturday in the Midwest Region.

In another inspired performance under interim coach Rodney Terry, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against the nation's leading outside shooting team. They matched their season best for 3-pointers made.

The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless and long-armed Longhorns defence. Colgate shot better than 40 per cent before the tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in the country, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50 per cent shooter from long range this season.

Roach helps Duke rout Oral Roberts

Jeremy Roach scored a career-high 23 points, and No. 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 on Thursday in the school's first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as Blue Devils coach.

Dariq Whitehead added 13 points to lead the Blue Devils (27-8), winners of the ACC Tournament.

Scheyer helped Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski win two of five national titles as a former Duke player and assistant. He's now trying to orchestrate some March Madness magic of his own.

In his first NCAA Tournament game as Krzyzewski's replacement, Scheyer led Duke to a 10th consecutive win and a second-round matchup in the East Region against either fourth-seeded Tennessee or No. 13 seed Louisiana-Lafayette.

Oral Roberts (30-5) entered the tournament on a nation-leading 17-game winning streak but was unable to replicate its success of two years ago, when the Golden Eagles upset Ohio State and Florida during a surprising run to the Sweet 16.

Kansas title defence starts strongly

Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas, which allowed absent and recovering coach Bill Self to rest during an easy 96-68 victory over Howard on Thursday in a West Region first round game.

Self is still recovering from a recent heart procedure.

Gradey Dick had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the freshman's first NCAA Tournament game. K.J. Adams Jr. scored 13 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. added 11 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who will play the winner of the Arkansas against Illinois game in the second round on Saturday.

Kansas, which has won 16 consecutive first round games, is trying to become the first repeat NCAA winner in 16 years.

Shy Odom had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Bison (22-13), who were making the program's first tournament appearance since 1992.

Maryland outlasts West Virginia

Maryland overcame a sluggish start and a final heave at the buzzer by Kedrian Johnson, topping West Virginia 67-65.

Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing the Terrapins (22-12) to advance in March Madness.

Maryland, led by Julian Reese with 17 points and nine rebounds, meets the winner of top-seeded Alabama and No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday. Those teams met in the second game of the day at Legacy Arena.

Maryland fell behind by 12 points in the first half before rallying to take a 32-30 lead at the break. Neither team could break away over the final 20 minutes.

A traveling call on Jahmir Young gave West Virginia a chance to tie it with a three-pointer. But the Mountaineers could not find anyone open beyond the arc, forcing Tre Mitchell to bank it in under the basket.

Young was fouled after the inbounds but made only one of two free throws. West Virginia got the ball in the hands of the guy it wanted, only to have Johnson come up short on the buzzer beater.

Missouri moves on

Missouri used a second-half scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State.

Brown hit three 3-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 62-53 lead.

The seventh-seeded Tigers (25-9) held on from there, stopping a six-game tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in the first round in 2010.

The 10th-seeded Aggies (26-9) have dropped their last 10 tournament games since beating Ohio State in the first round in 2001. The loss was also the 11th straight for a Mountain West team in the NCAAs.

The game was close for most of the second half until Brown and D'Moi Hodge took it over midway through the second half by scoring 20 straight points for the Tigers.