PAC-12 Men’s Basketball – Thursday NCAA Tournament Day One Recap

Thursday the NCAA started with the PAC-12 making the loudest statement outside of Southern’s near scare and Harvard taking down New Mexico. Arizona, California and Oregon were all in action on the opening day of Madness.

Oski the Bear was pleasantly surprised with Cal getting payback on UNLV. Photo Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday’s PAC-12 results from day one –

Midwest Region: HP Pavilion/San Jose, California
12 Oregon Ducks (27-8) 68 v. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys (24-9/Big XII) 55

Recap – The “underseeded” Ducks controlled the action all game, keeping the ‘Pokes playing from behind for 40 minutes. Damyean Dotson led Oregon with 17 points while Arsalan Kazemi had 11 points, grabbed 17 points with two assists. Dana Altman got another win as a 12 seed after leading 12 Creighton to an OT win over 5 Florida in 2002. Next up for Oregon is Saint Louis on Saturday.

West Region: EnergySolutions Arena/Salt Lake City, Utah
11 Belmont Bruins (26-7/Ohio Valley) 64 v. 6 Arizona Wildcats (26-7) 81

Recap – Arizona built a 12-point lead at half against Belmont and held on in the second half outscoring the Bruins 49-44. Mark Lyons provided a team high 23 points with three other Wildcat starters scoring 12 points.  Next up for Arizona will be Harvard on Saturday.

East Region: HP Pavilion/San Jose, California
12 California Golden Bears (21-11) 64 v. 5 UNLV Running Rebels (25-10/MWC) 61

Recap – Life’s all about second chances and the Bears took advantage of suck opportunity. Earlier in the season Mike Montgomery’s team lost by a point to UNLV at Haas Pavilion but flipped the script in front of a most “pro-Bears” crowd in San Jose. Allen Crabbe scored 19, grabbed nine rebounds and had four assists, Justin Cobbs provided 13 points in the win. Next up for Cal is Syracuse on Saturday.

Friday’s NCAA games involving PAC-12 teams –

East Region: Frank Erwin Center/Austin, Texas/Gametime Friday March 22 at 1:40 pm on TNT
10 Colorado Buffaloes (21-11) v. 7 Illinois Fighting Illini (22-12/B1G)

South Region: Frank Erwin Center/Austin, Texas/Gametime Friday March 22 at 6:57 pm on TruTV
11 Minnesota Golden Gophers (20-12/B1G) v. 6 UCLA Bruins (25-9)

Oregon Ducks This Week:

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