BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jacob Gilyard scored 24 points and 12th-seeded Richmond leaned on its experienced lineup to defeat Big Ten champion Iowa 67-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tyler Burton scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds for the Atlantic 10-champion Spiders, who improved their tournament record against fifth-seeded teams to 4-0. Keegan Murray scored 21 points and Patrick McCaffery added 18 for the Hawkeyes. Richmond advances to face the Midwest Region’s No. 4 seed, Providence. Iowa came in with the nation’s fourth-best offense but had its worst scoring output since January.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Logan Johnson scored 20 points and fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s took advantage of No. 12 seed Indiana’s grueling recent schedule, rolling to an 82-53 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tommy Kuhse added 19 points and six assists for the Gaels, the only team to beat Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference this season. Saint Mary’s will play the winner of the East Region’s late game in Portland between No. 4 seed UCLA and 13th-seeded Akron. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 12 points for Indiana, which beat Wyoming in the First Four.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Freshman Frankie Collins provided the spark Michigan needed in a turbulent year for the Wolverines and coach Juwan Howard. He helped the 11th-seeded Wolverines rally from a 15-point deficit to beat sixth-seeded Colorado State 75-63 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Collins was pressed into the starting lineup because starting point guard DeVante’ Jones was out with a concussion. He had season highs of 14 points, six rebounds and 31 minutes. Big man Hunter Dickinson led Michigan with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Dischon Thomas scored 15 points on 5-of-7 3-point shooting for Colorado State.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — It was just a few weeks ago when Iowa wasn’t sure it was going to be a host school for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Since then, the Hawkeyes rallied to win two championships and get a chance to open the tournament in front of a sellout home crowd. Eighth-ranked Iowa (23-7), which shared the Big Ten regular-season championship and won the conference tournament, is the No. 2 seed in the Greensboro Regional, playing 15th-seeded Illinois State (19-13) on Friday. No. 7 seed Colorado (22-8) will play 10th-seeded Creighton (20-9) in the other first-round game.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Fifth-seeded Virginia Tech takes on 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. That’s the first of two games Friday in College Park. Fourth-seeded Maryland meets 13th-seeded Delaware afterward. FGCU brings a distinctive style into this tournament, with nobody taller than 6-foot-1. The Eagles lead the nation in 3-point attempts with 1,120. Second-place New Mexico is 200 behind. Maryland started the season ranked No. 4 in the country, but now the Terps are seeded fourth in their region. They haven’t played since losing in the Big Ten Tournament on March 4, so they’ve had time to refresh.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Loyola Chicago is evolving from Cinderella to a fixture in March Madness. The Ramblers are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons. The program’s 102-year-old chaplain Sister Jean will be in attendance as the 10th-seeded Ramblers face seventh-seed Ohio State in the South Region’s first round. Coach Drew Valentine says Loyola is trying to follow the path of Gonzaga and Butler, both of whom used March success to become national programs. Other South Region games include top-seeded Arizona against Wright State and No. 2 seed Villanova against Delaware.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Former Wisconsin center Al Johnson has left a Division II head coaching position to return to his alma mater as the Badgers’ running backs coach. He replaces Gary Brown, who stepped away from coaching to take an off-field role with Wisconsin’s program. Brown coached Wisconsin’s running backs last season but didn’t accompany the team to the Las Vegas Bowl for medical reasons. Johnson was head coach at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, for the past four seasons. East Central posted a 15-20 record in his tenure. That includes a 9-4 mark over the past two seasons.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — The NCAA Tournament’s South Carolina site for opening-round games is filled with postseason-tested coaches. The list includes five-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski with Duke as well as fellow Hall of Famer Tom Izzo with Michigan State. Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Miami’s Jim Larranaga and Davidson’s Bob McKillop also have their teams in Greenville. Those five coaches in Greenville account for more Final Four appearances and national championships than the rest of the tournament field combined. They also account for more than 3,800 career victories.
