The second day of the NCAA tournament was an even bigger stage of some incredible upsets, including the shocking win by Florida Gulf Coast, appearing in the tournament for the first time ever, beating a number 2 seed and Big East champions, Georgetown, stealing most of the spotlight from others like Ole Miss and La Salle.
These weren’t the only bottom seed wins on the night, by Temple beating North Carolina State, Iowa State sending Notre Dame home and Minnesota beating a UCLA side without one of its biggest stars aren’t exactly huge upsets.
Ole Miss 57 Wisconsin 46
After winning the SEC tournament, beating Wisconsin in the first round isn’t such a big surprise and still, we hardly see the Rebels making it past the first round in the tournament. Meanwhile, the scoring droughts that have plagued Wisconsin all season couldn’t be saved by the home advantage they no longer have.
Marshall Henderson started 4-for-19, and still came up with 19 points, pretty much hitting everything he put in the air during the second half. For the Badgers, it was the complete opposite, including going the last 7 minutes with only one field goal.
Temple 76 North Carolina State 72
Inconsistent defense has been the Wolfpack’s problem all season, despite all of their young talent. It plagued them once again, this time against a very good Atlantic 10 side, led by Khalif Wyatt, scoring 31 points, the most scored by an Owls player in the tournament since 1991.
It’s also the nine win for Temple as a 9 seed or lower, tied with Gonzaga for the most since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
La Salle 67 Kansas State 63
A second win for the explorers, beginning the tournament as one of the first four. Their two wins are tied for the amount of games it won in the previous 57 combined years of the Men’s Basketball Championship.
Jerrell Wright had a big night with 21 points and 8 rebounds, including 6-6 from the field. Kansas State woke up in the second half, keeping La Salle at only 19 points, but it was a little bit too late for the Wildcats, who finished the season on a bit of a downer, losing too many times to their state rivals.
Florida Gulf Coast 78 Georgetown 68
Undoubtedly the upset of the tournament, and a second straight year in which we have a number 2 seed, Georgetown, shared champions of the Big East, fall to a team making its first appearance in the big dance. The game became wild, and somehow very offensive in the second half, as both teams combined for 100 points after only 46 in the first half.
Georgetown is the 4th school with 2 losses to a double-digit seed as a 1 or 2 seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Otto Porter Jr. was terrible with 5-17 from the field and 13 points, while the Eagles enjoyed 24 points from Sherwood Brown and 23 from Bernard Thompson.
Iowa State 76 Notre Dame 58
Not really a shocker, but maybe Notre Dame were a bit rash to bring out those ugly new uniforms, not really helping them on the win count. Iowa State, a #10 seed, felt robbed a couple of times in their games this season, and were probably deserving of a higher rank if it was for better officiating.
Georges Niang had a big day with 19 points, going 9-13 from the field. Meanwhile, the Irish made only 4-17 from beyond the arc. Iowa State played a different style to what everyone expected them to, but their speed was a bit too much for Notre Dame, who couldn’t get things to slow down like they like it to be.
Minnesota 83 UCLA 63
A huge game from Andre Hollins in another Big Ten statement was too much for UCLA, who did win the regular season title in the Pac-12, but couldn’t do much more with just Shabazz Muhammad showing up, scoring 20 points.
Hollins finished with 28 points on the day, as UCLA got knocked out in the second round for the second time in the last four years, while not making it into it at all the other two. Ben Howland’s days of grace thanks to final four appearances seem to be closer than ever to being over.