Many of the games on the first day of the Round of 32 continued the trend we saw from the Round of 64, with the favorites largely reigning supreme. However, we did get our first major upset of the tournament on Saturday.
No. 10 seed Arkansas took down No. 2 seed St. John’s in a battle of two Hall of Fame coaches, with John Calipari getting the latest laugh over rival Rick Pitino. That game wasn’t defined by its stars, however. In fact, both teams had commanding defensive performances that caused the opposing stars to struggle to shoot from the field as St. John’s All-American RJ Luis was benched for the final minutes of the game.
[MORE: 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket here]
The other eight games on Saturday, though, featured strong individual efforts. A couple of All-Americans made their presence felt, while a bench player was pivotal to another victory after transferring from that school’s top rival over the offseason.
Let’s take a look at the biggest heroes from Saturday’s games.
The junior continued his impressive season on Saturday, scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field while securing 15 rebounds in Purdue’s 76-62 win over McNeese. Fourteen of those points came in the second half, helping the Boilermakers pull away and not have to worry about any Cinderella magic. As for Kaufman-Renn’s 15 rebounds, that’s a new career high.
When it was time to make a comeback, a former Buckeye stepped up for the Wolverines. Gayle, an Ohio State transfer, went off after Texas A&M took a 60-50 lead with 13:17 remaining. He scored 16 points from that point on, hitting multiple 3-pointers and sinking several other clutch shots. His made free throw with 6:08 remaining gave Michigan a 71-70 lead, one that it wouldn’t relinquish as Gayle finished with a season-high 26 points.
Fresh off being named a second-team All-American, Toppin showed why he was worthy of the spot on Saturday. His 19 first-half points let Texas Tech jump out to an early lead over an upstart Drake squad. He only added six points in the second half, but he shot 11-of-13 from the field to go with 12 rebounds and two mighty blocks.
Williams, meanwhile, took the scoring load in the second half. He put up 14 points in the final 20 minutes, giving him a season-high 28 points to help Texas Tech win with relative ease, 77-64.
The Tigers might have the co-favorite for National Player of the Year, but it was a freshman off the bench who made sure the No. 1 overall seed wouldn’t get upset in the Round of 32. Pettiford scored 16 points in the second half, picking up the slack as Johni Broome struggled from the field (4-of-13) while Chad Baker-Mazara missed much of the second half due to injury.
Pettiford made several jumpers throughout the second half that helped Auburn extend its lead, finishing the day with 23 points as Auburn took down Creighton, 82-70.
Junior forward Richie Saunders scored a team-high 25 points for BYU in its win over Wisconsin, but Mag made the biggest play of the game for the Cougars. As BYU’s 11-point lead with under three minutes left dwindled to two with a minute remaining, Wisconsin star Josh Tonje put Mag in isolation with the game on the line.
Tonje, who scored 11 of his 37 points in the previous three minutes, wasn’t able to beat Mag off the dribble, though. Eventually, Tonje threw up an off-balanced shot over the lanky Mag, which was off the mark and secured a 91-89 win for BYU.
The senior third-team All-American was the lifeblood of the Cougars’ offense on Saturday. As Cryer’s teammates were a bit uneven on that end of the court, he scored 16 points in the first half and added 14 more in the second half in Houston’s 81-76 win over Gonzaga. Eight of those points came during a two-minute stretch in the second half when Gonzaga seemed to finally find a rhythm offensively, allowing Houston to keep its lead in double digits. That wound up being pivotal as Gonzaga made it a one-point game with just over 20 seconds remaining.
The senior was money from deep for Tennessee in its 67-58 win over UCLA on Saturday, scoring 20 points as he went 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
A pair of those 3-pointers came early in the second half, ballooning Tennessee’s lead to double digits after a tight opening 20 minutes. In the process, Lanier set the Volunteers‘ record for most 3-pointers made in a single season with 120, passing Chris Lofton’s previous mark of 118 in 2007-08. Lofton was in attendance to watch Lanier break the record — and to watch the Vols advance to their third straight Sweet 16.
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