- Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament was mostly chalk, but there were a couple of major upsets to check out.
- McNeese State held Clemson to 13 first-half points, and staved them off for a 69-67 win in a 12-5 upset.
- Drake used hot shooting to send Missouri home with a 67-57 win in an 11-6 March Madness upsets.
The first day of the round of 64 in March Madness went as planned, as many of the top seeds won their matchups, although some were given a tough game.
But there were a couple of upsets worth mentioning as two double-digit seeds were victorious to move on to the round of 32 on Saturday.
McNeese State Locks Down Clemson for 13 First-Half Points in 69-67 Victory
12th-seeded McNeese State were March Madness underdogs of between 7-7.5 points going into their matchup with fifth-seeded Clemson, and some thought the number should have been higher. But the Cowboys didn’t listen to the bookies, and roared out to a 31-13 halftime lead over the Tigers.
The Cowboys had to sweat it out, but they held on for a 69-67 win for their first-ever NCAA Tournament win. McNeese State came out with a 2-3 zone that caught Clemson off-guard, and the Tigers couldn’t figure it out, shooting 20.8% from the field in the first half. Their 13 points almost broke the record for fewest points in the first half of a March Madness game in the shot-clock era. That record of ten points was set by Wake Forest in 2001 against Butler, and equaled by Kent State in 2008 against UNLV.
Brandon Murray scored 21 points off the bench for the Cowboys, who were also 11-of-22 from the foul line. Quadir Copeland added 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists for McNeese State, who had to hold off after a late barrage of three-pointers by the Tigers.
Clemson were led by 24 points from Jaeden Zackery, and 21 points from Chase Hunter. But ultimately, they couldn’t come back from a truly dreadful first half.
McNeese State will go on to face #4 Purdue in the Midwest Region on Saturday. March Madness odds have the Cowboys as 5.5-point underdogs against the Boilermakers, who beat High Point 75-63. But High Point hung with Purdue for most of the game, so the Boilermakers will have to be on upset watch.
Drake Shoots 54.3% from the Floor in 67-57 Upset of Missouri
In the West Region, 11th-seeded Drake were underdogs against #6 Missouri, but that didn’t matter. The Bulldogs play at an extremely slow pace, while the Tigers enjoy playing uptempo basketball. In the battle of wills, Drake won as they led 30-23 by halftime.
Missouri improved in the second half, but not enough as Drake pulled out a 67-57 victory to send the Tigers home. It was a fantastic performance from the Bulldogs, who shot 54.3% from the field, and made half of their ten three-point attempts. That helped them overcome a bad night at the foul line, where Drake was 12-of-24. Bennett Stirz was mentioned ahead of the NCAA Tournament, but people know his name now after a 21-pointeffort, shooting 8-of-11 from the field, including perfect on his trio of three-point attempts.
Caleb Grill had 14 points to lead the way for Missouri, who shot 33.3% from the field, and 25% from three-point land. They also turned the ball over 17 times as they kept trying to pick up the pace against the Bulldogs, but often rushed themselves into bad decisions.
Drake will advance to face #3 Texas Tech, who defeated #14 NC-Wilmington 82-72. The Red Raiders don’t play as fast as Missouri, so Drake might have to tweak their game plan to make to the Sweet 16 for the first time in the expanded-field era. Will you include Drake in your Saturday March Madness parlays?
