2021 NCAA Tournament Round Two Day One Live Recap

2021 NCAA Tournament
On round two day one of the 2021 NCAA Tournament half the remaining 32 teams will look to advance to the Sweet 16 (Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports)

The first day of the second round in the 2021 NCAA Tournament is upon us as half of the remaining 32 teams look to secure one of the coveted Sweet 16 spots. The first round saw plenty of upsets, especially in round one day one. Now we look to see which of those cinderellas make the second weekend and which teams will enjoy their one game of fame.

I will be updating this post as the day goes on as each game becomes final as we have another day of 10-plus hours of basketball and eight games on the docket today.

No. 8 Loyola-Chicago vs. No. 1 Illinois

Loyola-Chicago 71 – Illinois 58

A matchup that was much-anticipated the day the brackets came out with a potential in-state matchup. These matchups are always interesting with the smaller school wanting to prove a point, and Loyola-Chicago certainly proved their point by storming out of the gates. They jumped Illinois from the gates with a blistering nine to two start and led wire to wire making Illinois the first one seed to fall in this year’s tournament.

Cameron Krutwig put on an absolute clinic down around the block finding cutters, spinning, and pivoting around Kofi Cockburn en route to 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Krutwig was sensational and was the clear best player on the floor even with a first-team All-American in Ayo Dosunmu on the other team. Porter Moser now owns a six and one record in the NCAA Tournament and always seems to have his teams dialed on both ends of the floor. The defensive performance Loyola-Chicago put on was exceptional making life tough for every Illini player but especially so for Dosunmu and making Cockburn work for every single point.

Loyola-Chicago is the first team in the Sweet 16 and will take on the winner of tonight’s Oklahoma State and Oregon State.

No. 9 Wisconsin vs No. 1 Baylor

Baylor 76 – Wisconsin 63

After Illinois became the first one seed to fall, all eyes turned to Baylor to see whether they would fall too. Wisconsin was coming off arguably its best game of the season in an absolute drubbing of North Carolina. Baylor made things clear early that things wouldn’t be as easy today as they were Friday for North Carolina. From the jump, Baylor seemed to play like the Baylor team we saw throughout the season before their covid pause late in the year. The three-point shooting was back and so was the aggressive in-your-shorts defense they have become so known for. Baylor carried a 42 to 29 lead into halftime after a deep three from Flagler before time expired.

Matthew Mayer off the bench was excellent for Baylor and seemed to hit timely buckets every time Wisconsin strung a few buckets together. The Bears extended their lead to 18 points early in the second half and seemed destined to run away from the Badgers. Wisconsin battled back getting the lead under single digits midway through the second half but the combination of Mayer and Davion Mitchell continued to hold off the Badgers. Defensively the Bears then seemed to turn up the defensive intensity holding the Badgers without a point for nearly five minutes down the stretch.

Baylor went on to hold on and advance to the Sweet 16 joining Loyola-Chicago as the second team to accomplish that today.

No. 11 Syracuse vs. No. 3 West Virginia

Syracuse 75 – West Virginia 72

Syracuse joined the upset parade as they used a three-point barrage to upset third-seeded West Virginia. Buddy Boeheim after putting up 30 points in the first round, was cold in the first half before carrying Syracuse across the finish line in the second. He and Joe Girard led a team that went 14 of 31 behind the arc and needed every bit of them as the second half was a back and forth affair. Throughout the 2021 NCAA Tournament we’ve seen teams struggle to shoot the ball well but this game featured a combined 25 three-pointers.

Sean McNeil sank seven threes himself for West Virginia. He was a huge catalyst in West Virginia getting back in the game as they were down 14 early in the first half before cutting it to just six before halftime. Midway through the second half West Virginia actually took the lead but that’s when Buddy Boeheim took over and got hot. He finished with six threes and 25 points giving him 55 points in just two 2021 NCAA Tournament games.

Jim Boeheim always seems to find a way in March with that zone and he’s seemingly done it again as he’s led his team to yet another Sweet 16.

No. 6 Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Arkansas

Arkansas 68 – Texas Tech 66

This game most people came in expecting a knockdown drag-out fight and that is exactly what we got. Both teams throwing haymakers in the first half with threes and physical finishes at the rim. Both teams were flying around and it was shown by the narrow two-point lead Arkansas took into the locker room.

The second half was much of the same to start as both teams seemed to find a bit of a rhythm and then Arkansas got hot. They slowly built a small lead even as Texas Tech relentlessly attacked the offensive glass oftentimes getting two or three shot per possession. Arkansas did it all without the aid of a reliable three-point shot as they only made four all game. After building a nearly double-digit lead with time beginning to wind down Texas Tech took one more swing. The Red Raiders cut the lead down to one with just under two minutes remaining before both teams went cold. As time wound down both teams missed buckets before Arkansas was put at the free throw line with the chance to extend the lead to three.

With JD Notae at the line he made the first and missed the second and allowed Tech a chance to either tie the game or win it with a three. Tech missed a great look at the rim allowing Arkansas to become the fourth team of the day to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.

No. 10 Rutgers vs. No. 2 Houston

Houston 63 – Rutgers 60

Rutgers loses an absolute heartbreaker in the last 30 seconds of this one. Houston was in a rock fight and it took everything they had to get this across the finish line. They were down for the last half of the second half with Rutgers putting distance between the two teams with Houston unable to knock anything down. Outside of their all-conference guard Quentin Grimes who finished with 22 points and was one of just two Houston Cougars with double-digit points. Rutgers was up just five with about two minutes left where they decided to slow things down and run clock before shooting late shot-clock shots. They were unable to capitalize scoring for the last time with two minutes and seven seconds remaining on the clock. Houston scored the and-one in the video above and was able to get two key stops to ultimately seal the game and move them into the Sweet 16 in a region that has seemingly fallen apart. Their one seed and three seed have both lost with the four seed in the regional playing later tonight.

No. 15 Oral Roberts vs. No. 7 Florida

Oral Roberts 81 – Florida 78

Upsets continue to reign supreme as another one hits today marking the third upset in six games so far today and it was nearly four or five. The 2021 NCAA Tournament has been nothing short of fantastic with just about every game being competitive in the last minute. After not receiving a tournament last year this one has more than made up for that and what Oral Roberts is doing is microcosm of this thought. They, with their win over Florida became just the second ever 15-seed to advance to the Sweet 16. With the leading scorer in the entire country in Max Abmas (24.5ppg), Oral Roberts has upset two-seed Ohio State and seven seeded Florida in a matter of two days. Now they’ll advance to the Sweet 16 where they will face Arkansas looking to become the first ever 15-seed to make the Elite Eight. The game will actually be a rematch of a game played in late December that Arkansas won at home by 11. Oral Roberts actually led that game by 10 at halftime before being outscored by 21 in the second half. Oral Roberts has shown they are more than capable of winning that game next week, which is what makes this tournament so beautiful. Oral Roberts has officially made themselves this tournament’s Cinderella, but they most certainly have quite a bit of company on that carriage as the upsets continue to pile up.

No. 13 North Texas vs No. 5 Villanova

Villanova 84 – North Texas 61

Not much to say here as Villanova played like Villanova does. Since Jay Wright got the monkey off his back with a championship in the 2015-2016 season, he has turned his program into a machine. Even now with their leader and steady point guard Collin Gillespie out with a torn MCL, Villanova still finds themself in a Sweet 16. North Texas jumped out to an early lead before Villanova seemed to go scorched earth ending the half on a 34-6 run building a 20 point lead.

North Texas never really got it close in the second half as Villanova kept the pressure and three-point shooting up throughout the game. Nova finished the game 15 for 30 from the three and shot 55 percent from the field overall. It was a dominant performance for a team many thought was dead in the 2021 NCAA Tournament without Gillespie. Now they find themselves in the Sweet 16 and a date with one-seed Baylor with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.

No. 12 Oregon State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma State

Oregon State 80 – Oklahoma State 70

This was an excellent way to end a wild day as yet another upset came through marking the fourth upset of the day in just eight games. This pod of games which also played Friday served up a ton of upsets so I guess it’s no surprise that it continued into today.

Oregon State looked as if they may get the doors blown off them early when they began the game ice cold making just one of their first eleven shots. Once they warmed up, they really warmed up building an eighteen point lead at one point including a 14 point halftime lead. They frustrated Oklahoma State on defense and couldn’t miss on offense and built a lead they would need every bit of as the Cowboys came storming back in the second half.

The Cowboys did all they could to get back into the game but never could quite tie the game back up. They had to settle for getting the game back within two as Cade Cunningham and Avery Anderson led the charge. With the comeback seeming inevitable Oregon State finally caught their second wind and held Oklahoma State scoreless for the next few minutes. That gave the Beavers just enough time to extend their lead again back to a seven to eight point lead. But alas the Cowboys had one more final push after a pair of threes, of which by Cunningham cut the deficit to three but that was as close as they would get. They never could get that key stop or knock down that open shot and so many of their shots rolled in and out this game.

And the story of the 2021 NCAA Tournament continues as upsets continue to reign supreme, especially in the Friday-Sunday pod matchups.

Related Topics

You May Also Like