A long day chock full of NCAA tournament basketball is in the books as the men wrapped up the round of 64 and the women got their tournament started in earnest.
Here are five things to know from Friday’s action in the NCAA basketball tournaments:
Colorado State, New Mexico are the lone big upsets
In a first round bereft of big upsets, it was up to two Mountain West Conference teams to provide the bracket busters.
Trailing by five points at the break, the Rams came out of the interval much-improved and took the game to Memphis, eventually pulling off the 78-70 win. Led by the impressive backcourt duo of Kyan Evans and Nique Clifford, the Rams upped their tempo – leading to wide-open looks aplenty in the second half.
Evans finished the game with 21 points and six three-pointers as he made the Tigers pay when left open.
New Mexico scored the upset over the Marquette Golden Eagles with a 75-66 victory. Donovan Dent poured in 21 points and Nelly Junior Joseph added 19 for the Lobos, who looked comfortable in the limelight and led for much of the game.
David Joplin scored 28 in a losing effort for Marquette.
Florida and Duke look absolutely dominant in the men’s tournament
The No. 1 seeds that played Friday looked every bit the part.
Duke trounced Mount St. Mary’s in Raleigh and moved on to face Baylor in the round of 32. The Blue Devils kept everyone healthy and rolled to an easy win over the Mountaineers, who never really put up a fight. Cooper Flagg led the team with 14 points in his limited minutes, which dramatically decreased in the second half. It’s a statement of intent from Duke, which is thought to be one of the favorites in the tournament.
Florida ran roughshod over Norfolk State on the way to a comfortable first round win to start their national championship pursuit Friday night. The Gators established a huge lead almost immediately, then breezed to a 95-69 win over the Spartans.
Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the Gators attack with 23 points in the game, including four 3-pointers made. Clayton’s backcourt partner Alijah Martin added 17 more points.
Top seeds in the women’s bracket blow away the competition
Woo boy, did South Carolina, Duke, and UCLA handle business.
South Carolina kicked off its 2025 women’s NCAA tournament campaign with a huge win over Tennessee Tech.
Joyce Edwards led the game in scoring with 22 points off the bench for South Carolina. MiLaysia Fulwiley also starred off the bench for the Gamecocks and stuffed the stat sheet in a well-rounded performance. The final score was 108-48.
No. 2 seeded Duke won 86-25 over No. 15 Lehigh at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Blue Devils guard Oluchi Okananwa scored 15 points in the rout.
The Mountain Hawks came awfully close to some not-so-good NCAA history, scoring the second least amount of points in a game in a women’s tournament. The Duke defense did not allow Lehigh to score more than eight points in any quarter.
Kentucky and Michigan avoid upsets in the women’s tournament
The No. 6 seed Wolverines had to battle hard to find a way past No. 11 Iowa State and reach the second round.
Iowa led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but some hot Michigan shooting hauled the Wolverines back into the contest.
With just 20 seconds remaining, a clutch Olivia Olson turnaround jumper extended Michigan’s lead to five points to all but seal the victory.
At the same time, Kentucky was struggling to put away Liberty. The Wildcats progressed to the round of 32 after a nail-biting 79-78 win against the Liberty Flames.
Despite a late scare – thanks to a huge 16-2 Liberty run towards the end of the fourth quarter – the Wildcats were able to hold on to seal the win.
One heartwarming moment to end on
Mount St. Mary’s head coach Donny Lind brought his son Silas to the postgame podium after the Mountaineers’ loss to Duke on Friday. The 9-year-old promptly captured our hearts when he reflected on how this week impacted him.
“These have been the best few weeks of my life,” he said with tears. “And I hope we have many, many more of them.”
His dad, who finished his first season in charge, was thankful for this March Madness experience despite the big loss to the Blue Devils. Mount St. Mary’s beat American University, 83-72, in a First Four matchup earlier in the week, with Lind walking away from this season with nothing but gratefulness.
“These have been the best few weeks of my life and I hope we have many, many more of them.”
– incredible sound from Silas Lind, son of @MountHoops head coach, Donny 🥺 pic.twitter.com/JZIvAwOBSU
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 21, 2025
