Latest news with #SIUEdwardsville
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No. 12 seed McNeese holds off Clemson to earn first March Madness victory
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Friday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament. Brando Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time. With its first NCAA Tournament victory, McNeese earned a second-round matchup on Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue, a 75-63 winner over High Point. Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job — at NC State. PURDUE 75, HIGH POINT 63 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Trey Kaufman-Renn had 21 points and eight rebounds, and fourth-seeded Purdue held off High Point for a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Big Ten player of the year Braden Smith added 20 points and six assists as Purdue (23-11) avoided a first-round exit after reaching the championship game last season. The Boilermakers will meet the winner of Clemson and McNeese State in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday. D'Maurian Williams had 12 points for No. 13 seed High Point (29-6), which had won 14 straight. Trae Benham added 11 points. HOUSTON 78, SIU-EDWARDSVILLE 40 WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville in the first round of the Midwest Region. Ja'Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga or No. 9 seed Georgia. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of its last 27 overall. Ray'Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance. GONZAGA 89, GEORGIA 68 WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Khalif Battle scored 24 points, Nolan Hickman had 18 and eighth-seeded Gonzaga routed Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Braden Huff added 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting as Gonzaga (26-8) advanced to an intriguing second-round matchup with top-seeded Houston. The Cougars rolled to a 78-40 victory over SIU Edwardsville. The Zags used a sharp, focused performance to move into the second round for the 22nd time since Mark Few took over as coach in 1999. They went 12 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 55% from the field overall. EAST REGION WISCONSIN 85, MONTANA 66 DENVER (AP) — Wisconsin grinded its way back into the March Madness win column, getting 19 points from John Blackwell and double-digit scoring from four others on the way to a victory over Montana. The third-seeded Badgers won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. Last year, they were a first-round upset victim to James Madison. Next, coach Greg Gard's team will try to make the Sweet 16 for the first time in eight years with a game against either VCU or BYU in the East Region. BYU 80, VCU 71 DENVER (AP) — Igor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one. The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against third-seeded Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day in the East Region. Zeb Jackson scored a season-high 23 points for the Rams (28-7), who reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years but still haven't had any March Madness success since 2016. SOUTH REGION AUBURN 83, ALABAMA ST. 63 LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Mike Kelly made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, All-American Johni Broome added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Auburn beat 16th-seeded Alabama State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Coach Bruce Pearl's Tigers (29-5) lasted one game in 2024, losing to Yale days after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament. This time, Auburn came in having lost three of four inside the power-packed SEC with a resume still strong enough to earn the top overall seed among the four No. 1 teams. Auburn will play No. 9 seed Creighton, an 89-75 winner over eighth-seeded Louisville, in the second round of the South Region on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta. CREIGHTON 89, LOUISVILLE 75 LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Coach Greg McDermott's Bluejays (25-10) won their fifth consecutive March Madness opener and beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the second time this season. Louisville (27-8), despite its unimpressive seeding, entered at No. 10 in the AP Top 25. Seeking its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years, Creighton will play either No. 1 overall seed Auburn or 16th-seeded Alabama State in the second round of the South Region on Saturday. _____ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: The Associated Press
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor broke down in tears after NCAA loss. The chance to play meant that much
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The best assist that Brian Taylor II made on Thursday after SIU Edwardsville had been routed by Houston in the school's first trip to the NCAA Tournament came long after the teams had walked off the floor. His buddy, Ray'Sean Taylor, was asked about the memories he'd take away from the day, and for him it had been the culmination of a dream. Ray'Sean grew up 20 minutes away from campus in Collinsville, Illinois, and he overcame two torn ACLs to shepherd the unheralded Cougars to an Ohio Valley Conference championship and a No. 16 seed in the March Madness field. The score of the game — a 78-40 loss that was never really close — hardly mattered to him. 'We won a championship, at the end of the day. I think that's going to cement everything I worked for and everything I went through,' Ray'Sean Taylor said, before his words began to stumble, tears began to flow, and the senior guard broke down in sobs. His coach, Brian Barone, put his arm around him. Tears were forming in Barone's eyes, too. That's when Brian Taylor stepped in to help his friend out. 'It's about bouncing back, having the attitude to fight adversity,' he said, while Ray'Sean Taylor tried to compose himself. 'This dude right here, he's been through a lot. It's a testament to his character, his work ethic, his community.' 'It's one team,' Brian Taylor said, 'and it really is one family.' It was the kind of raw, endearing moment that underscores exactly what the NCAA Tournament means to those who play in it, and the kind that Houston coach Kelvin Sampson hopes is always a part of it. As power leagues continue to push for NCAA Tournament expansion, perhaps to 72 or 76 teams in the near future, small schools from low- and mid-major conferences are concerned they might be further marginalized. The extra at-large bids will be handed out to the Big 12, Big Ten, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences, while smaller schools will be relegated to First Four-type games, and perhaps even have the automatic berths that are given to all conference champions eliminated altogether. 'This game is bigger than any individuals,' Sampson said matter-of-factly. 'The people who sit in these back rooms and try to make decisions on kids' experiences, sometimes those people forget where they came from.' Sampson certainly hasn't forgotten. He played at Pembroke State, a Division II school in North Carolina, and his first real coaching job came at Montana Tech, an NAIA school, because nobody else was willing to give him a chance. 'Having conference tournaments and having a chance to play for this tournament is great incentives for teams. It keeps teams in it,' he said. 'Most of these low- to mid-major conferences are one-bid leagues, and you never know if you can catch lightning in a bottle. Win three games and you're in. And once you're in, you never know. 'I hope we never get to a point where we don't allow everybody a chance to be involved in this and make memories for them.' Barone had hoped for a better showing Thursday. Everyone from SIUE did, including the thousands of fans who made the drive across Missouri to watch their team. If they didn't outnumber fans from Houston, Georgia or Gonzaga, they certainly were louder, even when their team was trailing by 30 and hope had long been extinguished. 'We won a championship,' said Barone, whose father, Tony Barone, was a longtime college coach. 'We earned the right to be seeded where we were seeded. That's how it works. ... That's what we did. That's what we earned.' While top-seeded Houston was putting the finishing touches on its seventh straight first-round NCAA Tournament win Thursday, the 69-year-old Sampson did something curious: He began to watch SIUE players rather than his own. 'I got tired of looking at us,' he said later, 'so I was really focused on their kids, and I was thinking, 'What a great memory for them.' They'll have this tape to show to their kids one day. 'We played in the greatest event in the world, March Madness.'' ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
Associated Press
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor broke down in tears after NCAA loss. The chance to play meant that much
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The best assist that Brian Taylor II made on Thursday after SIU Edwardsville had been routed by Houston in the school's first trip to the NCAA Tournament came long after the teams had walked off the floor. His buddy, Ray'Sean Taylor, was asked about the memories he'd take away from the day, and for him it had been the culmination of a dream. Ray'Sean grew up 20 minutes away from campus in Collinsville, Illinois, and he overcame two torn ACLs to shepherd the unheralded Cougars to an Ohio Valley Conference championship and a No. 16 seed in the March Madness field. The score of the game — a 78-40 loss that was never really close — hardly mattered to him. 'We won a championship, at the end of the day. I think that's going to cement everything I worked for and everything I went through,' Ray'Sean Taylor said, before his words began to stumble, tears began to flow, and the senior guard broke down in sobs. His coach, Brian Barone, put his arm around him. Tears were forming in Barone's eyes, too. That's when Brian Taylor stepped in to help his friend out. 'It's about bouncing back, having the attitude to fight adversity,' he said, while Ray'Sean Taylor tried to compose himself. 'This dude right here, he's been through a lot. It's a testament to his character, his work ethic, his community.' 'It's one team,' Brian Taylor said, 'and it really is one family.' It was the kind of raw, endearing moment that underscores exactly what the NCAA Tournament means to those who play in it, and the kind that Houston coach Kelvin Sampson hopes is always a part of it. As power leagues continue to push for NCAA Tournament expansion, perhaps to 72 or 76 teams in the near future, small schools from low- and mid-major conferences are concerned they might be further marginalized. The extra at-large bids will be handed out to the Big 12, Big Ten, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences, while smaller schools will be relegated to First Four-type games, and perhaps even have the automatic berths that are given to all conference champions eliminated altogether. 'This game is bigger than any individuals,' Sampson said matter-of-factly. 'The people who sit in these back rooms and try to make decisions on kids' experiences, sometimes those people forget where they came from.' Sampson certainly hasn't forgotten. He played at Pembroke State, a Division II school in North Carolina, and his first real coaching job came at Montana Tech, an NAIA school, because nobody else was willing to give him a chance. 'Having conference tournaments and having a chance to play for this tournament is great incentives for teams. It keeps teams in it,' he said. 'Most of these low- to mid-major conferences are one-bid leagues, and you never know if you can catch lightning in a bottle. Win three games and you're in. And once you're in, you never know. 'I hope we never get to a point where we don't allow everybody a chance to be involved in this and make memories for them.' Barone had hoped for a better showing Thursday. Everyone from SIUE did, including the thousands of fans who made the drive across Missouri to watch their team. If they didn't outnumber fans from Houston, Georgia or Gonzaga, they certainly were louder, even when their team was trailing by 30 and hope had long been extinguished. 'We won a championship,' said Barone, whose father, Tony Barone, was a longtime college coach. 'We earned the right to be seeded where we were seeded. That's how it works. ... That's what we did. That's what we earned.' While top-seeded Houston was putting the finishing touches on its seventh straight first-round NCAA Tournament win Thursday, the 69-year-old Sampson did something curious: He began to watch SIUE players rather than his own. 'I got tired of looking at us,' he said later, 'so I was really focused on their kids, and I was thinking, 'What a great memory for them.' They'll have this tape to show to their kids one day. 'We played in the greatest event in the world, March Madness.''
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No. 1 seed Houston romps past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40 in NCAA Tournament opener
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40 on Thursday in the first round of the Midwest Region. Ja'Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga or No. 9 seed Georgia. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of 27 overall. 'I thought our defense and our rebounding, two of the things we really emphasize, was good today,' Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. 'Shot selection was really good to start the game — knocked some shots down, got off to a good start.' Ray'Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance. 'It's definitely a gut-punch because I feel like we had more to give for sure,' said Taylor, breaking down in tears. "When I look back at it, I'm not going to be mad about the game. I don't like to lose, but I'm never going to hold my head down ever. I never let anyone see me with my head down. They played better than us today. 'Good luck to them. They have a team to win it all.' It's never a good formula for springing an NCAA upset to let what is arguably the best defensive team in the country also shoot better than 60% from the field and only turn it over twice during the first 20 minutes of a game. That's exactly what SIUE did against Houston. The Cougars probably knew they were in for a tough afternoon against a bigger, more athletic bunch of Cougars in the first few minutes, when Houston scored on nine straight offensive possessions. At the other end, SIUE struggled just to get shots off — at one point, guard Brian Taylor II was trapped so quickly that he genuinely looked perplexed. The whole affair may have been summed up by the last 3 seconds of the first half: SIUE forward Myles Thompson was trapped near midcourt, turned the ball over, and Cryer promptly drilled a 3 from the wing to give Houston a 52-24 lead. Sampson's bunch kept extending the lead all the way to the finish. 'They were physical, made some shots early when we had a couple breakdowns, and then they hit some really hard shots as well,' SIUE coach Brian Barone said. 'We weren't able to dig out of that hole.' Key Takeaways SIU Edwardsville may have had more fans — or at least louder ones — than Houston for its NCAA tourney debut. They cheered all the way to the finish, too, when Barone took his starters out of the game. Houston was no doubt pleased to see J'Wan Roberts moving around fine on the ankle he sprained in the Big 12 Tournament. He was able to spend much of the second half resting with the rest of the Cougars' starters on the bench. Up Next Houston advanced to the second round for the seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament. ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. Dave Skretta, The Associated Press
Chicago Tribune
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville — in its first NCAA Tournament — loses 78-40 to No. 1 Houston
WICHITA, Kan. — Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40 on Thursday in the first round of the Midwest Region. Ja'Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Big 12 champs, who will carry a 14-game winning streak into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Gonzaga or No. 9 seed Georgia. Houston (31-4) has won 26 of its last 27 overall. Ray'Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance. The Cougars probably knew they were in for a tough afternoon against a bigger, more athletic bunch of Cougars in the first few minutes, when Houston scored on nine straight offensive possessions. At the other end, SIUE struggled just to get shots off — at one point, guard Brian Taylor II was trapped so quickly that he genuinely looked perplexed. The whole affair may have been summed up by the last 3 seconds of the first half: SIUE forward Myles Thompson was trapped near midcourt, turned the ball over, and Cryer promptly drilled a 3 from the wing to give Houston a 52-24 lead. Kelvin Sampson's bunch kept extending the lead all the way to the finish. Key takeaways SIU Edwardsville may have had more fans — or at least louder ones — than Houston for its NCAA tourney debut. They cheered all the way to the finish, too, when coach Brian Barone took his starters out of the game. Houston was no doubt pleased to see J'Wan Roberts moving around fine on the ankle he sprained in the Big 12 Tournament. He was able to spend much of the second half resting with the rest of the Cougars' starters on the bench.
