NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 67 NCAA Tournament games for 2020-21 season

67. #7 Oregon 1, #10 VCU 0 (Round of 64)

There may have been no greater crime in this year’s tournament than the college basketball world being denied the right to see VCU’s Bones Hyland and his young teammates on the national stage against an exceptional Oregon team in the Round of 64.  The Rams were, by all intents and purposes, robbed of their NCAA Tournament bid after multiple positive COVID-19 tests forced VCU to be sent home.  There isn’t much to say about this game, obviously, considering it never happened – but March Madness fans missed out on not getting to see this duel.

66. #1 Gonzaga 98, #16 Norfolk State 55 (Round of 64)

This game was competitive for about seven minutes, with the Bulldogs enduring another one of their slow starts and Norfolk State clinging onto an 11-10 edge – before Gonzaga revved up the engines and embarked on a 33-12 run to take an insurmountable lead that grew to as large as 49.  Few things went well for the Spartans, outside of the fact that they got away with this memorable play on Joel Ayayi, but they had no answer for Corey Kispert, who was unconscious en route to draining six long-range bombs and finishing with 23 points.

65. #2 Houston 87, #15 Cleveland State 56 (Round of 64)

A tale of two halves, things could not have gone better for Cleveland State in the opening stanza, maintaining a better shooting clip than Houston and remaining within striking distance, trailing by just nine at the intermission.  But the Cougars’ staunch defense had different plans, holding the Vikings to just six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half – all the while producing 27 points to take a 64-35 lead.

Six different Houston players reached double-figures, the Cougars’ lead grew to as dominant as 39 points, and 29 trips to the free-throw line were enough to put the game out of reach.

64. #1 Illinois 78, #16 Drexel 49 (Round of 64)

Drexel’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years did not pan out the way the Dragons would have hoped for.  After trailing by just six with six and a half minutes left in the first half, the Dragons were eviscerated by jumper after jumper, facing an 18-point deficit at halftime to Illinois.  Despite a double-double from James Butler, Drexel never had an answer for the tandem of Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu, which combined for 35 points on 16-25 shooting from the floor – along with 16 boards and seven assists – to help the Illini finish with a 57.1% clip.

63. #5 Villanova 84, #13 North Texas 61 (Round of 32)

If the halves in this game were reversed, this game would be higher – but North Texas’ sluggish ending to the opening stanza, paired with the Mean Green’s inability to get a stop in the second half, prevented this game from being competitive.  After claiming their biggest lead of eight with 11 and a half minutes left in the first at 21-13, North Texas could not muster any offense, as Villanova embarked on a 34-6 run to head into the break.

25 points from Javion Hamlet allowed the Mean Green to play fairly even in the second, but they could not overcome Villanova’s 15 three-pointers and 18-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist performance from Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

62. #9 Wisconsin 85, #8 North Carolina 62 (Round of 64)

The college basketball world went from anticipating a second-round duel where UNC’s highly-touted frontcourt could capitalize on Baylor’s weakness inside the paint – to watching Wisconsin blow out the Tar Heels in what would ultimately be Roy Williams’ final game at the helm.

This tilt was never in doubt after the Badgers crossed into double-digit lead territory with three and a half minutes in the first half, as Brad Davison and D’Mitrik Trice combined for 40 points on 18-30 shooting to prevent the Tar Heels from climbing back into single-digits.

61. #1 Baylor 79, #16 Hartford 55 (Round of 64)

All the credit to the Hawks, who made their first-ever Div. I tournament after romping through the America East as the 4-seed – and proceeded to play with Baylor for nearly the entirety of the first half.  But it was short-lived, to say the least – a 24-20 Hartford deficit with four minutes to play in the opening stanza was quickly blown open by a 13-1 run by the Bears to end the half.

The Hawks were never able to recover, and this game was never competitive afterward – but if there were any positives, Baylor’s trio of guards was dominant, per usual, with MaCio Teague, Jared Butler, and Davion Mitchell combining for 47 points.

60. #11 UCLA 66, #14 Abilene Christian 46 (Round of 32)

This game was the definition of ugly.  It appeared as if there would be a battle between two staunch defenses, with both teams in a 12-12 deadlock six and a half minutes in – and then Abilene Christian proceeded to go scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, allowing UCLA to build a double-digit lead that was only furthered after the Bruins began the second half on a 17-4 run.

Just one Wildcat notched double-digits en route to the team shooting 29.8%, and Abilene’s defense had no answer for the hot hand of Johnny Juzang, who went 7-15 from the floor to finish with 17 points.