NCAA MEN'S TOURNAMENT: Princeton storms back to shock No. 2 seed Arizona

Ryan Langborg banked in a driving layup with two minutes to go to give Princeton its first lead and Arizona missed its final seven shots as the 15th-seeded Tigers shocked the No. 2 Wildcats 59-55 in a South region first-round game on Thursday in Sacramento, Calif.

Princeton (22-8) finished on a 9-0 run and overcame a 12-point second-half deficit, posting an upset reminiscent of its 1996 first-round victory over defending champion UCLA. Pac-12 tournament champion Arizona (28-7) bowed out after scoring only four points in the final 8:05 to finish with a season-low point total.

Langborg gave Princeton a 56-55 lead at the 2:03 mark, and the score was still the same when Arizona called timeout with 50.4 seconds left. Azuolas Tubelis missed a shot in the lane, and Princeton's Caden Pierce was fouled with 21.7 seconds left, making both free throws.

The Wildcats' last gasp ended with two missed 3-point attempts before Tosan Evbuomwan sealed the victory with a free throw with 3.0 seconds to go.

Evbuomwan led Princeton with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Tubelis had 22 points, while Oumar Ballo posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Arizona.

JP Pegues' 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left lifted Furman to the victory over fourth-seeded Virginia in Orlando, Fla.

Pegues' historic shot from the right wing gave the Paladins their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1974 after rallying from a four-point deficit in the final 19 seconds.

The Paladins (28-7), who are playing in their first NCAA Tournament since 1980, will face fifth-seeded San Diego State in the second round on Saturday.

Jalen Slawson had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Marcus Foster added 14 points. Pegues and Mike Bothwell finished with 11 points apiece for Furman, which won for the 15th time in its past 16 games.

Kadin Shedrick had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Beekman had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists for Virginia, which led by as many as 12 in the second half.

D'Moi Hodge scored 23 points and had four steals as Missouri defeated Utah State in Sacramento, Calif.

Kobe Brown scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Tigers (25-9), who won their first NCAA tournament game since 2010.

DeAndre Gholston scored 11 points and Noah Carter added 10 for Missouri. Taylor Funk led the Aggies (26-9) with 16 points and seven rebounds. Dan Akin and Steve Ashworth scored 12 points each and Sean Bairstow added 10.

Missouri held Utah State to 4-for-24 shooting from 3-point range and forced the Aggies into 15 turnovers.

Matt Bradley scored 17 points and San Diego State held off Charleston in Orlando, Fla.

Keshad Johnson, Jaedon LeDee and Aguek Arop scored eight points apiece for San Diego State (28-6), which will face 13th-seeded Furman in the second round Saturday.

Ante Brzovic had 12 points and eight rebounds, Ryan Larson had 11 points and Dalton Bolon finished with 10 points for Charleston (31-4).

San Diego State held Charleston to 37% from the floor in the first half, but committed 11 turnovers of its 14 turnovers.

Nick Pringle posted a double-double Thursday as top-seeded Alabama overcame a poor performance from Brandon Miller to score the first-round victory in Birmingham, Ala.

Pringle totaled 19 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting in just 21 minutes of action for the Crimson Tide (30-5), who will face eighth-seeded Maryland in the second round on Saturday. Mark Sears added 15 points and Jahvon Quinerly went for 13. Miller, the Southeastern Conference Player and Freshman of the Year, went scoreless for the first time this season.

He is being flanked by armed security during the NCAA Tournament due to "threats" received, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Wednesday. Miller became the focus of heightened scrutiny and media attention when police revealed details of their murder investigation involving former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man, who are charged in the fatal shooting on Jan. 15. Investigators testified it was Miller who delivered Miles' gun to him, leading to the homicide.

Trevian Tennyson scored a game-high 20 points Thursday for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-11).

Julian Reese led Maryland with 17 points and nine rebounds in the win in Birmingham, Ala.

Hakim Hart had 15 points with four assists and scored the go-ahead basket as the Terrapins (22-12) ended the game on an 11-6 run.

Erik Stevenson put West Virginia (19-15) ahead 59-56 with a 3-pointer with 5:45 left, but Donta Scott answered with his own 72 seconds later.

West Virginia went for a steal and the ball was batted in the air volleyball-style six times before Reese recovered and fed Hart for a wide-open layup to move Maryland ahead 61-59 with 3:41 to go.

Reese added a fast-break dunk before West Virginia pulled within 66-65 on free throws and Tre Mitchell's layup. Jahmir Young went to the line with 4.7 seconds left and went 1-for-2, and Kedrian Johnson's running 3-pointer at the buzzer didn't go.

The Mountaineers lost despite Johnson's career-high 27 points. Mitchell added 13 points and six rebounds.

Johni Broome recorded a double-double, and No. 9 seed Auburn held off a late comeback bid to pull off the victory over No. 8 Iowa in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday night.

Broome finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks for the Tigers (21-12). Wendell Green Jr. chipped in 15 points, while Tre Donaldson, K.D. Johnson and Jaylin Williams tallied 11 apiece.

The Tigers opened up a 12-point advantage at the 12:24 mark of the second half after a 3-point barrage that featured five treys during a 3:41 span. The lead soon grew to 17 when Donaldson drained a triple and Allen Flanigan made a layup.

Iowa didn't waver, though, and Kris Murray knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and had a ferocious dunk during a 19-6 run to make it a four-point game, 64-60, with 5:07 remaining.

But Auburn went back up 10 with 1:19 remaining thanks to a Williams fastbreak dunk, and it held on from there.

Payton Sandfort finished with a game-high 21 points for the Hawkeyes (19-14). Murray contributed 15 points and nine rebounds, and Filip Rebraca notched 14 points.

Transition offense made the difference, as Iowa was outscored 26-8 on the fastbreak.

The Hawkeyes pulled within three on four occasions to close the period before the Tigers settled for a 31-26 edge at the break.

Both teams struggled mightily from beyond the arc, combining to go just 1-for-18 (5.6%).

Sir'Jabari Rice shot Texas into the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a career-high seven 3-pointers, pushing the No. 2-seeded Longhorns past 15-seed Colgate on Thursday night.

Rice had 23 points and six rebounds and the Longhorns shot 56.5% from 3-point range while clamping Colgate's prodigious perimeter offense. The Raiders missed 12 of 15 tries behind the 3-point line; Texas was 13 of 23.

Marcus Carr and Dylan Disu had 17 points apiece for Texas (27-8). The Longhorns are looking for their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2008.

The Raiders trailed 66-51 before a 6-0 run cut the lead to nine points at the under-8 media timeout. But the Longhorns surged ahead with a jumper from Carr and a three-point play from Disu to extend the Texas lead to 73-59 with 3:44 to play.

Texas ended the game with a 13-2 run.

Ryan Moffatt and Keegan Records each had 13 points for Colgate, while Patriot League Player of the Year Tucker Richardson was held to nine points on 4-of-11 shooting.

The Raiders (26-9) exited in the first round of the tournament for the sixth time in six appearances, including four since 2019.

Colgate, first in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (40.8) entering the tournament, failed to stay connected to Rice in a scintillating shooting display in the first half. Rice made five 3-pointers in a nine-possession stretch to bump the Texas lead from 18-12 to 35-18.

Texas connected on 8 of 15 from 3-point range in the first half.

Richardson, a fifth-year senior playing in his 155th career game, became Colgate's all-time leader in 3-pointers in the first half with 268. He's also the all-time leader in steals and assists.

Defending national champion Kansas shifted into high gear in the second half to smother Howard, 96-68, in the NCAA Tournament first-round matchup on Thursday afternoon.

All-American Jalen Wilson collected 20 points and seven rebounds, freshman Gradey Dick had 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals and the top-seeded Jayhawks (28-7) had five players with 10 or more points.

The Jayhawks advanced to play eighth seed Arkansas on Saturday. Arkansas eliminated ninth seed Illinois 73-63 on Thursday.

"Howard has a good team, they're good, they can shoot, they have length. They played faster than I think even we thought they would," KU assistant coach Norm Roberts said. "In that second half, there wasn't a foul called for about five minutes and it was up and down, and our guys were begging to come out, and I think their guys were just as tired."

Dick skipped a pass from the left wing to the opposite corner for Wilson's 3 with 3:28 remaining to kick-start the KU celebration with the Jayhawks up 89-63.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year Shy Odom had 15 points and eight rebounds for the 16th-seeded Bison (22-13), who went 5 of 20 from 3-point range in the second half.

Despite head coach Bill Self missing his fourth consecutive game since undergoing a heart procedure last week, the Jayhawks won their opening NCAA Tournament game for the 16th consecutive season.

KU claimed control in the second half with a focused effort on pounding the ball inside and capitalizing on Howard's lack of size. The Jayhawks scored 54 points in the paint and tallied 20 second-chance points thanks to 15 offensive rebounds.

Dajuan Harris' uncontested lefty layup gave Kansas a 21-point advantage with 9:40 left, catching Howard flat-footed for the first time in the game. The Bison went 1 of 6 with four turnovers during a three-minute stretch capped by Dick's follow-up slam.

Howard didn't flinch in the opening 12 minutes against Kansas. The Bison weren't bashful about punching back even with three underclassmen in the starting lineup.

Howard led 32-31 at the six-minute mark in the first half with Wilson on the bench, but Kansas went to the halftime locker room with a 50-37 edge thanks to 23 combined points from Wilson and Dick.

Arkansas survived a second-half slump to put away Illinois on Thursday and advance to the second round.

Ricky Council IV scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the eighth-seeded Razorbacks (21-13), who trailed for only one minute, 20 seconds and led by as many as 17 in the second half.

Ninth-seeded Illinois committed 17 turnovers but threatened late in the second half before another Arkansas surge.

Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr. had 20 points and RJ Melendez added 10, as did Coleman Hawkins, who had a game-high six turnovers.

Arkansas advances to a second-round matchup Saturday with No. 1 seed Kansas. The Jayhawks handled Howard 96-68 in the opening game of the day.

The Razorbacks nearly fumbled the game away in the final minutes during a four-minute dry spell marked by repeated turnovers, before Davonte Davis ripped a pass at midcourt and found Council zipping through the lane for his only basket of the second half with 1:36 remaining. Council hit two free throws after a defensive stop to put Arkansas up 66-57.

Arkansas harassed Illinois' perimeter-based scorers with suffocating on-ball defense and limited the Fighting Illini to single-shot possessions.

The Razorbacks led by 10 at halftime, holding Illinois to 26 points, which included seven made free throws. Illinois was 3-of-11 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes with a 23.7 turnover percentage.

Boo Buie recorded 22 points, five rebounds and five assists for Northwestern, which never trailed while knocking off Boise State on Thursday in Sacramento, California.

Chase Audige added 20 points, six rebounds and four steals for the seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11), who improved to 2-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.

Ty Berry had 13 points and six rebounds and Brooks Barnhizer added 10 points for Northwestern.

Max Rice scored 17 points and Naje Smith had 14 points and 11 rebounds for 10th-seeded Boise State (24-10). Marcus Shaver Jr. had 12 points and nine rebounds despite turning his right ankle late in the first half, and Chibuzo Agbo also had 12 points and nine boards.

Boise State dropped to 0-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with the past four losses coming under current coach Leon Rice.

Northwestern shot 49.1% from the field, including 8 of 21 (38.1%) from 3-point range.

Boise State made 40% of its shots and was just 6 of 23 (26.1%) from behind the arc.

A 3-pointer by Max Rice — the coach's son — knotted the score at 40 with 17:34 left, the first time Boise State hadn't trailed since 0-0.

However, the Broncos couldn't grab the lead. Berry scored five points during an 8-2 run as Northwestern pushed the lead back to six with 14:36 remaining.

Boise State moved within 52-50 on Shaver's basket with 9:56 left, but Buie answered with a trey 18 seconds later.

Later, Buie and Berry converted layups and Barnhizer tapped in a rebound to give the Wildcats a 66-56 lead with 3:15 remaining.

Barnhizer drove for a basket to make it 74-62 with 37.8 seconds left as Northwestern closed it out.

Jeremy Roach scored a career-high-tying 23 points as fifth-seeded Duke ran away from No. 12 Oral Roberts for a wire-to-wire 74-51 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Orlando, Florida.

It's the 10th straight win for the Blue Devils (27-8), who are moving on under first-year coach Jon Scheyer.

Roach shot 9 of 17 from the floor and had just one turnover in 37 minutes of action. The veteran guard also had three assists and two rebounds. Duke was also helped by 13 points from Dariq Whitehead, who shot 3-for-3 from 3-point land.

Dereck Lively provided the Blue Devils with a game-high 12 rebounds, and ACC Rookie of the Year Kyle Filipowski chipped in six points and nine boards. In all, 10 different Duke players scored.

Upset-minded Oral Roberts (30-5) was led by 12 points from Max Abmas. He also had five assists and three rebounds and was the lone player to score in double-digits for ORU.

Duke opened the game with a bang, jumping out to a 15-0 lead. Roach scored seven points during that opening stretch.

The Blue Devils opened the second half on a 10-0 run to push their lead to 27 points. Mark Mitchell had four points and four rebounds for Duke in that span.

Oral Roberts broke off an 11-0 run, but never threatened to cut the deficit to single digits.

Key for Duke was its ability to dominate inside. The Blue Devils won the rebounding battle 47-32 and outscored the Golden Eagles 40-22 in the paint.

Oral Roberts entered the game averaging 84.2 points per-game. The 51 points the Golden Eagles scored was their second lowest of the season.

The contest marked the first time Duke played an NCAA Tournament game without former longtime coach Mike Krzyzewski on the sidelines since March 15, 1980.