Early Friday NCAA Tournament action produces another 12-seed upset

• Friday action in the NCAA Tournament’s afternoon session saw 12-seed Colorado State busting brackets. The Rams knocked off 5-seed Memphis 78-70.
• The rest of the early games produced just one more small upset, as 9-seed Baylor beat 8-seed Mississippi State.
• The first round of the tournament concludes with eight more games in the evening session, including one of the favorites, South Region top seed Florida.

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Perhaps the gap between the haves and have-nots is growing in the NIL era of college basketball. The 2025 NCAA Tournament has produced just four double-digit upsets in the first 24 games. The early action Friday, March 21, mainly went as expected, with the exception of 12-seed Colorado State knocking off 5-seed Memphis.

What was the biggest upset early Friday?

Kyan Evans made a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 23 points as the Rams overcame a five-point deficit in the second half to win their 11th straight game. They may have been underdogs on the seeding line, but Las Vegas had the Rams as slight favorites to win.

“Just a phenomenal effort, you know, all the way around,” said Colorado head coach Niko Medved. “Just when I don’t think this group can give us more, they just find another gear, and guys step up, and just, you know, tremendous performance, and man, survive and advance.”

Meanwhile, in the West Region Friday, high-scoring Maryland—which has proven to be a big dark horse—made a statement by taking care of the 13-seed Grand Canyon with a final score of 81-49.

In the late session, Florida, the top seed in the West, will take on Norfolk State, and UConn will play Oklahoma in the 8-9 game.

What went down in the East Region?

In the East region early Friday, the 9-seed Baylor pulled a mild upset over the 8-seed Mississippi State, holding the Bulldogs off in the final minutes with some clutch free throws. Freshman VJ Edgecombe hit 16 of his 20 points in the second half.

Duke had no such drama in their matchup with 16-seed Mount St. Mary’s. Anyone worried freshman sensation Cooper Flagg would be hampered by the ankle injury suffered last week should worry no longer. The Blue Devils won by 44 as Flagg finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

“After watching the whole ACC Tournament, it was more of just, like, a plan to just be ready for this game, and we just put a plan in place,” Flagg said. “We have phases, a strategy of just getting back, getting prepared, and being ready. So, we just followed it step by step. I worked with our medical team well, and they did a great job just getting me ready.”

Who gave Alabama a run for their money?

In the bottom half of the East, 15-seed Robert Morris went bucket for bucket with two-seed Alabama during most of their matchup. The Colonials took a one-point lead with seven minutes left, but Alabama’s Mark Sears scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half to help the Crimson Tide survive.

“As it got down to the wire, you know, it started getting loud in there, and we know we had a lot of experience with that last year. So we, I think, we showed our composure and resiliency of not getting too high, not getting too low, and we just stay levelheaded throughout the whole game,” Sears said.

Alabama will match up with 7-seed St Mary’s on Sunday, March 23. The Gaels came from behind to beat Vanderbilt in the final minutes of what was a great back-and-forth game. The final was 59-56.

In the South bracket Friday, critics of North Carolina have their ammunition back. The Tar Heels won a play-in game Tuesday, March 18, but were dismissed from the tournament three days later. They fell behind 6-seed Ole Miss by 22 points in the first half and couldn’t recover despite a valiant effort. Many fans and pundits didn’t believe the Heels should have been in the tournament.