The NCAA tournament gets its first buzzer-beater moment as Friday’s madness takes hold. Here’s what you need to know

By Kyle Feldscher, Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — The first day of March Madness got us accustomed to close games and upsets, setting the bar pretty high for Friday.

It’s already living up to expectations.

The first buzzer-beater in the game of the tournament (so far)

Friday’s men’s opener will go down as arguably the game of the weekend, if not the entire tournament.

Santa Clara and Kentucky were locked in a tight game basically the whole way, with neither team grabbing a lead bigger than seven. As it went into the final two minutes, the Wildcats and Broncos were tied before Allen Graves collected an airball and put it back up for a go-ahead bucket and the 17th lead change of the game.

The teams traded defensive stops, with Kentucky missing a 3-pointer, Graves missing a bunny of a layup with 25 seconds remaining and Kentucky grabbing the defensive rebound.

On the ensuing possession, Otega Oweh made a layup to tie the contest at 70 with just 9 seconds to play in regulation, setting off an incredible ending sequence. Santa Clara stormed back down the court and Graves, once again, was the crucial player for the Broncos, nailing the clutch 3-pointer to give Santa Clara the lead with just 2.4 seconds to play.

But Oweh wasn’t done. He got the ball on the inbound, ran three steps past the half-court line and launched a shot as time expired. With the horn blaring, the ball banked in off the backboard and gave us the first buzzer-beater game of this year’s tournament.

In overtime, the lead bounced back and forth as neither team could truly take control. It was once again tied as the extra session neared the final minute. The game’s 20th lead change saw Kentucky take the lead with 1:12 remaining on two free throws by Oweh.

The Wildcats got a crucial stop on the next possession with UK’s Brandon Garrison blocking Sash Gavalyugov’s 3-point attempt and then sprinting down court for a dunk, opening up a four-point lead with 48 seconds to play. On the next Bronco possession, Garrison blocked Gavalyugov’s shot again on another 3-point attempt and the upset attempt seemed to be withering away.

Christian Hammond of the Broncos sank a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to go to cut the lead back down to three, but Santa Clara still needed Kentucky to slip up to have a chance. They didn’t, sealing the 89-84 win in the final seconds.

Iowa State crushes Tennessee State, but loses star to injury

The Midwest No. 2 seed Iowa State Cyclones looked like Final Four contenders as they eclipsed the century mark with a resounding 108-74 win over the Tennessee State Tigers.

But the joy was tempered by an injury to the Cyclones’ second-team All-American Joshua Jefferson. The senior forward landed awkwardly after a layup and rolled his ankle. Jefferson left the court with assistance from athletic trainers, and later returned with a boot on his injured left leg.

The 22-year-old was taken for an x-ray, which came back negative, and was diagnosed with a left ankle sprain, team head coach TJ Otzelberger told reporters after the game.

“We will continue to reevaluate over the next day or two and just see where things are when we get to Sunday and we figure out what time we play,” Otzelberger added.

Iowa State will face the No. 7 seed Kentucky Wildcats in St. Louis, Missouri, in the second round.

ACC looks shaky as Virginia escapes

The ACC is officially on notice in this tournament.

No. 3 Virginia, which finished second in the conference this season to Duke, eventually escaped a stern challenge from Wright State after trailing for much of the game. A technical foul called on UVA’s Sam Lewis with about five-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation seemed to wake up the Hoos as they went on an 8-0 run to take a 78-70 lead into the final 90 seconds, which proved to be too much for the Raiders to overcome.

The Cavaliers’ 15-3 run to close the game slammed the door shut on Wright State’s upset bid to win 82-73.

But it was another close call for a conference that used to be the most dominant force in the college game.

On Thursday, the ACC’s representatives in the tournament – Louisville, Duke and UNC – either barely escaped an upset or, in the case of the Tar Heels, crashed out of the tournament at the first moment. The Cardinals and Blue Devils held off upset charges from South Florida and Siena, respectively.

First banger in the women’s tournament

The first few games of Friday’s action in the NCAA women’s tournament went as expected, but Baylor and Nebraska had something cooking in Cameron Indoor Stadium in the afternoon.

The tight contest between No. 6 Bears and No. 11 Cornhuskers featured eight lead changes, with both teams taking sizable leads in different halves of the game. But when it came down to crunch time, with a minute to go, it was Baylor holding a three-point lead.

But then a potentially critical error occurred when Baylor turned the ball over on the inbounds pass with 57 seconds to go, failing to get the ball in play with a chance to take a bigger lead. Nebraska’s Logan Nissley then turned it over on the ensuing possession, giving Baylor a reprieve.

With 21 seconds left in regulation and the Bears up three, Taliah Scott drove the lane and laid it up to give Baylor a five-point lead and seemed to shut down Nebraska’s upset hopes. Britt Prince, the Cornhuskers’ star guard, got her 27th point of the night to cut the lead back to three and it became a free throw shooting contest.

Baylor made the shots they needed to make, winning 67-62, coming all the way back from being down nine points at one point.

Men’s games scheduled for Friday

• Kentucky 89, Santa Clara 84
• Texas Tech 91, Akron 71
• Arizona 92, Long Island 58
• Virginia 82, Wright State 73
• Iowa State 108, Tennessee State 74
• Alabama 90, Hofstra 70
• No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 9 Utah State at 4:10 p.m. ET on Friday in San Diego (TNT)
• No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 11 Miami (Ohio)at 4:25 p.m. ET Friday in Philadelphia (TBS).
• No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 9 Iowa 6:50 p.m. ET on Friday in Tampa (TNT)
• No. 5 St. John’s vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa 7:10 p.m. ET on Friday in San Diego, California (CBS)
• No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 University of Central Florida 7:25 p.m. ET on Friday in Philadelphia (TBS)
• No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 15 Queens at 7:35 p.m. ET on Friday in St. Louis (truTV)
• No. 1 Florida vs. No. 16 Prairie View A&M at 9:25 p.m. ET Friday in Tampa (TNT).
• No. 4 Kansas vs. No. 13 California Baptist University 9:45 p.m. ET on Friday in San Diego (CBS)
• No. 2 UConn vs. No. 15 Furman 10 p.m. ET on Friday in Philadelphia (TBS)
• No. 7 Miami (Florida) vs. No. 10 Missouri 10:10 p.m. ET on Friday in St. Louis (truTV)

Women’s games scheduled for Friday

• Duke 81, Charleston 64
• TCU 86, UC-San Diego 40
• Oregon 70, Virginia Tech 60
• Baylor 67, Nebraksa 62
• Washington 72, South Dakota State 54
• Maryland 99, Murray State 67
• Ole Miss 81, Gonzaga 66
• Texas 87, Missouri State 45
• No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 15 Holy Cross at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2
• No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 13 Western Illinois at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS
• No. 2 LSU vs. No. 15 Jacksonville at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN
• No. 4 Minnesota vs. No. 13 Green Bay at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU
• No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 12 Colorado State at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS
• No. 7 NC State vs. No. 10 Tennessee at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN
• No. 7 Texas Tech vs. No. 10 Villanova at 8:30 p.m. ET ESPNU
• No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 13 Idaho at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.