Eight teams, four games, one incredible day in the 50th state in the Union. Until further notice, Monday at the Maui Invitational could well be the gold standard for first rounds of a November tournament. To describe 9 hours and 15 minutes of game time drama by the numbers:
Dayton led North Carolina by 21 points with 17 ½ minutes left. And lost.
Iowa State led Auburn by 18 points late in the first half. And lost.
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UConn shot 49.2 percent, 46.7 percent in 3-pointers, committed only 10 turnovers with 22 assists and had a 50-23 gap in bench points over Memphis. And lost.
Memphis led UConn by 12 with three minutes left in regulation. And ended up needing overtime.
Michigan State missed 19 of 21 attempts from 3-point land against Colorado. And won by 16 points.
UConn forced overtime with a Solo Ball 3-pointer with one second left.
Auburn won with a Johni Broome tip-in with one second left.
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Auburn led Iowa State for a total of 2:24, never by more than four points. And won.
North Carolina had to score 59 points in the second half to win by two.
Auburn had to score 50 points in the last 19:16 to win by two.
Memphis and UConn scored 18 points in the last three minutes of regulation and 32 more in the five-minute overtime.
Memphis finished its upset of the Huskies with three players fouled out and two more with four fouls.
Auburn has started the season 5-0 with two wins over top-5 opponents — Houston and Iowa State. The last team to do that was Kansas 35 years ago. It’s only happened four times since 1948 according to ESPN Stats Info.
UConn took its first defeat in 279 days, going back to Feb. 20, and first in November since 2021. “I think we’re going to obviously have to bounce back and mentally regroup,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We’re not used to losing.”
Michigan State built a 20-point lead and had only one player score in double figures — reserve Jase Richardson. The Spartans bench outscored the starters 40-32.
Dayton had six players score in double figures. North Carolina got 57 points from two — RJ Davis and Seth Trimble. Together they took 33 shots. The other nine Tar Heels who played combined for 21.
North Carolina hadn’t seen a winning comeback like this since 1993. The only one bigger was a 22-point rally against Wake Forest in 1992.
It took a historic 21-point comeback, but found a way to knock off Dayton in the quarterfinals 🔥
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB)
Memphis missed 10 of 32 free throws in regulation against UConn. But only one of eight in overtime.
UConn was hit with three technical fouls in the loss, one against the team trainer. Hurley took his with 40 seconds left in overtime and the score tied. Nominations may already be closed for the worst-timed technical of the year.
And then they all went back to the hotels to get ready for another day. The intrigue shouldn’t stop anytime soon.
Memphis, second in the nation in 3-point shooting, against Michigan State, who is 264th and last.
Auburn, 3-1 all-time in its rare visits to this event, against North Carolina, who is as regular a sight on Maui as coconut trees and 23-4.
Iowa State against Dayton, two teams who squandered a combined 39 points of lead and were outscored 109-71 in the second half the previous day.
UConn and Colorado, who have only played once before, each with cause to leave Monday ticked off. “Who’s gonna be angrier, UConn or Colorado?” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “That’s what we’ll find out at 10:30 tomorrow morning.”
They don’t call Maui the place to be in November for nothing.
