Kentucky knocked off by Oakland – 2024

It wouldn’t be March without a little madness.

The NCAA basketball tournament got underway Thursday and like every year, the upsets followed.

Perennial powerhouse Kentucky went down to Oakland in Pittsburgh, Pa., 80-76. The Wildcats went in with a 3 seed but couldn’t get past No. 14 Oakland University, which hails from Oakland County, Michigan.

Oakland’s Jack Gohlke was on fire from the arc. He sunk 10 3-pointers, falling just one short of a tournament record.

Duquesne 71, BYU 67: Earlier in the day, Duquesne busted some brackets when it outscored BYU. The 11th-seeded Dukes from Pittsburgh and their retiring coach, Keith Dambrot, sent BYU back to Utah with a 71-67 win in the East Region.

Oregon 87, South Carolina 73: In another 6-11 matchup, the underdog again came out victorious, with Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard putting up a career-high of 40 points against his former team, South Carolina. The Ducks are cruising to the second round after beating the Gamecocks 87-73 in Pittsburgh.

Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51: A matchup between an 8 and 9 seed could go either way, but technically Mississippi State with its higher seeding had a slight advantage over Michigan State. But the Spartans didn’t let that stop them from doing what they went to do in Charlotte, North Carolina: get to the second round. They live to see another game with a 69-51 win over Mississippi State.

Moving on to Round 2: No surprises here, these teams came in as the favorite and will be playing again this weekend: Creighton, Arizona, North Carolina, Illinois, Dayton, Texas, Gonzaga, Iowa State.

Coming up: Day 1 is not quite over yet. Still to be determined is whether the No. 15 Saint Peter’s peacocks will once again make it to the Elite Eight against all odds. It’s not looking likely, as No. 2 Tennessee is up by double digits in the first half.

And later Thursday, No. 4 Kansas will face off against No. 13 Samford, No. 6 Texas Tech will meet No. 11 NC State on the court, and No. 7 Washington State will see if they can hold out against No. 10 Drake.