The first day of the 2015 NCAA Tournament truly lived up to the March Madness nickname. Two No. 14 seeds pulled off upsets against heavily favored No. 3 seeds, another No. 14 seed, Northeastern, fell barely short of knocking off Notre Dame, and other high seeds saw late leads evaporate but were barely able to hang on.
Here is a wrap-up of all Thursday's wild action.
No. 14 Georgia State def. No. 3 Baylor 57-56
Georgia State was down by 12 with less than three minutes to go when their top scorer R.J. Hunter managed to awaken from an offensive slumber to score nine straight points, then sink an absurdly deep 3-pointer with a man in his face with 2.7 seconds remaining to seal the victory. Hunter's dad Ron is the Panthers' coach so he was on the sidelines for his son's big shot, making the win even sweeter. Ron Hunter tore his Achilles tendon celebrating the team's conference title, so when his son made his huge shot, the head coach toppled to the hardwood because his wheeled chair went out from under him.
No. 14 UAB def. No. 3 Iowa State 60-59
The UAB Dragons never doubted themselves even after falling behind 12-2 right out of the gate against a high-powered Cyclones offense. Guard Robert Brown was the offensive star for UAB, going 7-of-19 from the field for a team-high 21 points, while forward William Lee put up a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
No. 11 UCLA def. No. 6 SMU 60-59
UCLA isn't on the level of UAB or Georgia State because of their rich history and big conference pedigree, but the finish in this game might've been the craziest of them all. The Bruins got a big assist from the referees after Bryce Alford, who dropped 27 points including a 9-for-11 showing from 3-point range, tossed up what seemed to be an airball on a desperation trey. The referees called a controversial goaltending violation, which was enough to give UCLA the victory. You be the judge.
No. 8 North Carolina State def. No. 9 LSU 66-65
This was no upset, but Las Vegas oddsmakers would beg to differ after the LSU Tigers went up by 16 points in the second half. Reserve forward Beejay Anya was the hero of the night, despite scoring just four points. He made the final turnaround, left-handed hook shot with tenths of a second left on the clock for the win.
Check out Anya's huge shot right here
NEAR-MISSES
No. 3 Notre Dame def. No. 14 Northeastern 69-65
No. 4 North Carolina def. No. 13 Harvard 67-65
Watch Siyani Chambers' four-point play briefly stop UNC fans' hears
No. 8 Cincinnati def. No. 9 Purdue 66-65 in OT
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