Upsets rule second morning of NCAA tournament
The Midwest Region’s 14-seed Mercer upset 3rd-seeded Duke 78-71 in NCAA tournament.
This is the second consecutive day that a double-digit seed has pulled off an upset in the opening game of the day. Dayton, who was an 11-seed, defeated Ohio State to start the day on Thursday.
Mercer will play 11-seed Tennessee, who came up with an upset of their own against Massachussetts, 86-67. Tennessee competed in the First Four round on Wednesday, advancing past Iowa to earn their game on Friday.
The matchup guarantees that a double-digit seed will enter the Sweet 16 next weekend.
A third upset came out of the South Region, where 10-seed Stanford upset 7-seed and Mountain West tournament champion New Mexico, 58-53.
Stanford will play Kansas next. The second-seeded Jayhawks escaped a tight game against 15-seed Eastern Kentucky, pulling away late to win 80-69.
In the West Region, Baylor pulled away from Nebraska to advance with a 74-60 win. The Bears will play 3-seed Creighton.
The top seed of the West, the Arizona Wildcats, earned a 68-59 win over Weber State. They will face the winner of Oklahoma State’s game with Gonzaga. Weber State was only the 15th 16-seed to lose to a 1-seed by 9 points or fewer.
Arizona will face Gonzaga next. The Bulldogs, who were an 8-seed, beat 9-seed Oklahoma State 85-77 to advance.
The West had another near-miss upset later on, as Creighton had to hold off 14-seed Louisiana Lafayette 76-66.
