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Robert Franklin / Associated Press
The NCAA Tournament for 2021 Men is officially underway.
While the first Thursday of March Madness was not the usual abundance of basketball action, with everything being driven back in a day, it was some entertaining play action to kick off this year’s festivities.
Texas Southern finished the night with a 60-52 victory over Mount St. Mary’s started, and it ended up being the most skewed game.
In a No. 11 seed match, Drake beat Wichita State 53-52he followed the second game of the evening, followed by another one-point game when Norfolk State held a 54-53 victory over Appalachian State.
The final game of the evening between Michigan State and UCLA went to overtime, and after trailing 11 points at halftime, the Bruins started with an 86-80 victory to tackle the Spartans.
Let’s take a look at the action Thursday with a brief overview of some notable winners and losers.
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John Walker lllDoug McSchooler / Associated Press
It must have been an exciting speech by Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones during the break after the Tigers put together a disappointing first half and trailed 30-20 in the opening game of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers looked like another team when they got on the floor again.
In a little over three minutes, they turned the backlog into an advantage with an 11-0 run and in the process exercised the command of the match.
John Walker will score six consecutive points during the run and after the break 13 of his game highlight 19 points, which ends above his season average of 12 points per game.
That gave the Tigers a 40-22 lead in the second half and paved the way for them to advance to a No. 1 seeded Michigan game on Saturday.
With a non-conference schedule that includes games against Oklahoma State, BYU, Auburn and Saint Mary’s and a 15-1 record in their last 16 games, the Tigers will not be overwhelmed by the stage or the quality of the opponent.
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Robert Franklin / Associated Press
A 9:26 dunk by Dexter Dennis to play in the second half gave Wichita State a 41-31 lead over Drake, and the Shockers apparently had the game well in hand.
Or so it seemed.
After almost four minutes without a goal field goal in which they settled with three shots from outside the arc and a fourth jumper, their lead evaporated to a narrow lead of 43-42 when Trey Wade finally returned to the bottom of the net with 5 found: 28 to play.
It put up a back-and-forth finish that saw three lead changes before Drake finally took the lead with 2:23 to play, while retaining the win, despite the Shockers getting a pretty clean look for three who would have won it. at the buzzer.
Wichita State has won 11 consecutive games between the two teams and has a 104-48 lead in the all-time series, but it was the Bulldogs who came out on top this time.
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Jeff Roberson / Associated Press
With leading scorer ShanQuan Hemphill returning from a broken foot to ten minutes, and point guard Roman Penn, who was not yet on the sidelines, someone had to carry the attacking burden for the Drake Bulldogs.
Joseph Yesufu answered the call.
The sixth man of the year at the Missouri Valley Conference had some great games on his resume during the regular season, including 36 and 32 points on rugby games against Evansville and three other 20-point performances.
He added another 20-point night to the ledger on Thursday and added a team-high of 21 points, despite an 8-of-21 shooting night off the floor.
The 6’0 “guard made them when it was the most important and scored 12 points in the last ten minutes as the Bulldogs narrowed the gap and took the lead.
He hit some free throws with 22 seconds to make it a four-point game, and that was ultimately the difference after Wichita State made a late try.
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Doug McSchooler / Associated Press
Jalen Hawkins played just 16.9 minutes per game for the Norfolk State Spartans during the regular season, but he took 9.4 points per game off the bench.
He chose the perfect time for the best match of his career.
The 6’2 “junior threw 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 4-of-5 from outside the arc, and he already had a career high of 20 points at halftime when the Spartans had a lead of Building 36-20, Appalachian State shot up to 19 percent off the field.
The Mountaineers stormed back in the second half before Norfolk State won 54-53 after scoring just 18 points in the second half, but the story of the night was still Hawkins’ big performance from the bench turned down.
Norfolk State now has the privilege of playing the No. 1 overall seeded Gonzaga on Saturday.
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Michael Conroy / Associated Press
Even when things were going well on their way to an 11-point halftime lead, it looked like the Michigan Spartans were never quite on the same page on Thursday night.
The lead disappeared as the second half progressed and eventually disappeared, but the Spartans still had a chance to win it with the score tied at 77-77.
With 17 seconds to play, Tom Izzo called a time-out to set up a play for the final line.
It was nine seconds of dribbling and a long two-point shot from Aaron Henry that was nowhere near the edge. The shot was partially blocked, but out of bounds for Henry during the pursuit of the shot, and the game went to overtime after UCLA missed a semifinal.
Was it really the best play the Spartans could put together?
The Bruins scored the first four points of overtime and scored an 86-80 victory, and a Spartans team that finished with a heyday in the Big Ten game sees its tournament end before it even begins.
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Robert Franklin / Associated Press
The UCLA Bruins took 67 shots on Thursday night en route to an 86-80 overtime victory, and 40 of them were by forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s forward. and Johnny Juzang nodded.
They committed 50 percent of these efforts and both had offensive big nights.
- Jaquez: 45 minutes, 11-of-20 shooting, 27 points
- Juzang: 41 minutes, 9-of-20 shooting, 23 points
It was a career high for second-year Jaquez, who had 25 points against Arizona earlier this year, while Kentucky transfer Juzang had four season performances this season and a career high of 32 against Washington in February.
Unfortunately, that was not just good news for that duo.
Juzang rolled an ankle in overtime and had to be helped off the track. With a quick turnaround on Saturday against the No. 6 BYU, the recovery time is limited.
Nevertheless, it was an excellent return for UCLA.
All statistics taking into account Sports Reference.