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This Day In Sports…March 15, 2018:
The NCAA Tournament returns to Boise for the first time in nine years (hopefully not the last) and brings down the house with another memorable shocker. It wasn’t a “one shining moment” kind of special, but probably only because it was a rout. The first three games of the first round were all close, with no upsets. In the nightcap, though, 13th-seeded Buffalo ran away from fourth-seeded Arizona 89-68 for its first win ever in the Big Dance.
Early in that game, it was already clear that Buffalo was playing harder than any of the other seven teams playing in the Boise bracket. Crashing the boards, contesting loose balls, and locking down on the Wildcats’ 7-1 star, Deandre Ayton, Buffalo was leaving it all out in the floor. It paid off with a 40-38 lead at halftime. Arizona grabbed the lead 1½ minutes into the second half, but then the Bulls kicked it into another gear and roared away from the Wildcats, leading at one point by 25.
The best game of the day in terms of drama was the first one, with Gonzaga surviving UNC Greensboro 68-64. It was essentially a home game for the Bulldogs—their fans were everywhere—and they looked in control when they led by 12 in the second half. But it was the Spartans who were up 64-62 with less than two minutes left before Zach Norvell Jr. drained a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining to get the Bulldogs over the hump. It was misses from the charity stripe that helped UNC Greensboro get back in it, as the Zags were just 13-for-25 from the line.
Davidson was the team that many had predicted would be in Buffalo’s spot with a possible takedown of Kentucky. But UK weathered the storm, thanks partly to the fact that Davidson didn’t have anyone like alumnus Stephen Curry drilling three-pointers. That would have changed the game. The North Carolina version of the Wildcats made 11 threes, but they attempted 33 of them, and a lot of the misses came at crunch time in a 78-73 loss. Amazingly, Kentucky won this game without even making a three-pointer, the first time UK has gone without one in nearly 30 years.
The other first-rounder saw Ohio State stop South Dakota State and the “Dauminator,” Mike Daum, 81-73. Daum’s drives into the paint were often stifled by big bodies and long arms not seen in the Summit League, but he still scored 27 points. As often happens with first round upsets, the party was short-lived for Buffalo. The Bulls were blitzed 95-75 by Kentucky in the second round, while Gonzaga dropped OSU 90-84. Both UK and the Zags would be eliminated in the Sweet 16.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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