University of North Carolina Athletics
A Quick Look At What Happened In the First Round Of the NCAA Tournament
March 19, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2004
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
A look at some of the interesting things that happened Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament:
OPPOSITES MEET
Something had to give in the North Carolina-Air Force matchup. The Tar Heels entered the game fourth in scoring at 83.1 points per game, while Air Force led the nation in defense, allowing 50.4. North Carolina prevailed 63-52.
WHAT UPSET?
Manhattan's 75-60 victory over Florida shouldn't have been that big a surprise, at least according to recent history. Over the last three years at least one of the No. 5 seeds lost, and for the second time in two years the Gators fit the bill. Last year, 12th-seeded Butler beat Mississippi State. In 2002, three No. 5s went down, Miami to Missouri, Marquette to Tulsa and the Gators to Creighton. In 2001, No. 12 seeds Gonzaga and Utah State beat Virginia and Ohio State, respectively. And the committee says there's not much difference between being seeded fourth and fifth.
NEAR UPSETS
Two of the No. 4 seeds - both from the Atlantic Coast Conference - were given an early scare. Maryland, with four sophomore starters, beat Texas-El Paso 86-83, and Wake Forest, led by freshman Chris Paul, defeated Virginia Commonwealth 79-78.
WINNING COACH
Bob Knight moved into fourth place on the coaches' all-time NCAA victory list with Texas Tech's 76-73 win over Charlotte. It was Knight's 43rd tournament victory - all but this one were with Indiana - breaking a tie with Louisville's Denny Crum and Arizona's Lute Olson.
LOSING IGUODALAS
The Iguodala brothers had a rough first round. Senior Frank Iguodala had four points and six rebounds in Dayton's 76-69 double-overtime loss to DePaul. Sophomore Andre Iguodala had 19 points in Arizona's 80-76 loss to Seton Hall.
SCORING STAR
Syracuse's Gerry McNamara had 43 points in the Orangemen's 80-75 victory over Brigham Young. He had 28 in the first half, four off his career high for a game. The sophomore went 9-for-13 from 3-point range. Combine that with last year's championship game when he went 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, he is 15-for-23 from 3-point range in his last two NCAA tournament games. The NCAA record for 3s in a game is 11 by Jeff Fryrer of Loyola Marymount against Michigan in 1990. McNamara is tied with four others for third place on the list.
OTHER STARS
Jameer Nelson had 33 points in 30 minutes and Saint Joseph's beat Liberty 82-63. ... Luis Flores had 26 points and Manhattan beat Florida 75-60. ... Freshman Chris Paul had 22 points, including four free throws over the final 11 seconds, and seven assists for Wake Forest in a 79-78 victory over Virginia Commonwealth. ... Josh Childress had 26 points and nine rebounds for Stanford in its 71-45 victory over Texas-San Antonio. ... Kelly Whitney had 24 points and 14 rebounds for Seton Hall in an 80-76 victory over Arizona. ... Drake Deiner played 47 minutes and had 28 points for DePaul in a 76-69 double-overtime win over Dayton.
CAREER GAME
Darryl Dora had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Texas Tech in the 76-73 win over Charlotte. The 6-foot-9 freshman entered the game with averages of 2.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists.
LONGHORN RALLY
Texas outscored Princeton 44-24 in the second half of its 66-49 victory. The Longhorns shot 60 percent in the second half.
NEVADA RUN
Nevada closed its 72-66 victory over Michigan State with a 16-3 run over the final 6:53. It was the Wolf Pack's first win in three NCAA tournament games. They also made the tournament in 1984 and 1985.
BUDDIES MEET
DePaul's 76-69 victory over Dayton in double overtime sends Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao into a second-round matchup against Connecticut. Huskies coach Jim Calhoun coached Leitao at Northeastern and hired him as an assistant at both Northeastern and Connecticut.
ANOTHER SCARE
Maryland went right down to the wire to beat Texas-El Paso 86-83 and it was the second straight year that happened. In last season's tournament, the Terrapins, playing for the first time as defending national champions, needed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer by Drew Nicholas to beat North Carolina-Wilmington 75-73.
HEALTHY RETURNS
Connecticut center Emeka Okafor missed the first two games of the Big East tournament because of back spasms but he had 15 points and 14 rebounds - his nation-leading 21st double-double - in the Huskies' 70-53 win over Vermont. ... Duke guard Chris Duhon injured his ribs in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game and it was a game-time decision for him to play in the first round. He started but was 0-for-2 from the field and did not score in 16 minutes in the Blue Devils' 96-61 victory over Alabama State.
OH FOR 16s
It's all up to Florida A&M. Saint Joseph's victory over Liberty, Stanford's win over Texas-San Antonio and Duke's crushing of Alabama State left the No. 16 seeds 0-79 against the top seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last chance to end the 0-for falls to the Rattlers against Kentucky on Friday.
CHAMPIONS MATCHUP
First-round wins by Maryland and Syracuse set up Saturday's second-round game in Denver between the last two national champions.
SPEAKING HONESTLY
"I know America's going to look at it as an upset, but behind closed doors we don't. We know we can play with any team on any night," Manhattan forward Dave Holmes said of the Jaspers' win over fifth-seeded Florida.
"Gerry was just in another world today. I don't think you'll see the likes of that kind of game too many times ever," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said of his sophomore guard.
