NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 67 NCAA Tournament games for 2020-21 season
52. #2 Houston 62, #11 Syracuse 46 (Sweet Sixteen)
If Michigan/Florida State was not the biggest letdown of the Sweet 16, then this one is the next game up. In a superstitious sense, history was on the Orange’s side entering this game – the last time Syracuse was an 11 seed, they nearly reached the Elite Eight in 2018, and two years prior, the Orange made a run to the Final Four as a 10-seed. But in a literal sense, Syracuse featured the then-hottest shooter in the tournament in Buddy Boeheim, who had lit up both San Diego State and West Virginia.
Houston, however, had different plans, limiting Boeheim to just 3-13 shooting while not allowing Syracuse to take a single lead. After Houston claimed a double-digit lead at halftime, Syracuse trimmed it to four – but could not breakthrough in a game that saw both teams combine for a woeful 37-110 (33.6%) from the floor.
51. #1 Michigan 82, #16 Texas Southern 66 (Round of 64)
The lone 16-1 matchup that was below a 20-point margin, Michigan/Texas Southern began just as any other 16-1 game would – competitive early, with Michigan up just six a few minutes in, before pulling away to take an 18-point lead heading into the break. Predictably, the second stanza yielded much of the same, as the Wolverines floated between leads of 19 to 24 points. But the Tigers had other plans after trailing by 19 with five minutes left to play, rallying for a quick 7-0 spurt that genuinely put a scare in Michigan.
The Wolverines were predicted to be the most vulnerable of the top-seeds, and Texas Southern’s late-game run helped further that narrative. The Tigers’ Michael Weathers provided one of the best first-round performances, pouring in 24 points and giving a Texas Southern team that shot just 35.9% from the floor and 8.3% from three a fighting chance.
50. #1 Gonzaga 85, #6 USC 66 (Elite Eight)
Any anticipation surrounding this game heading into it was how Gonzaga would deal with the physicality of USC – and, in particular, Evan Mobley. After the Trojans’ domination of Kansas and Oregon in the prior rounds, those concerns were understandable – but quickly proved to be ill-advised. Two quick turnovers and three easy layups put the Bulldogs ahead 7-0 to start, and the Zags never looked back, racing out to a double-digit lead just five minutes in that was never trimmed to single-figures.
Despite holding the Zags to their fifth-worst shooting performance all season – which was still 50% – the Trojans never stood a chance, and instead allowed for Drew Timme to go off for a stat-line of 23 points, five boards, four assists, and three steals. Above all else, the game itself was not even the most memorable part of this matchup – it was the sudden collapse by official Bert Smith that, understandably, captured the headlines.
49. #5 Creighton 72, #13 Ohio 58 (Round of 32)
There were few double-digit seeds as trendy as Ohio, who were spearheaded by Jason Preston, one of the best mid-major guards this past season. And, after the Bobcats’ opening-round win over Virginia, the expectations for Ohio were even furthered – and for a while, they were met. The Bluejays struggled to put away Ohio initially, trailing for a majority of the opening 12 minutes – but the Bobcats’ dreams were short-lived after Creighton embarked on a 20-4 run to take a 15-point lead at halftime.
Little went well for Ohio after that, despite trimming the lead to nine with a few minutes to play – Preston was held to just four points while allowing all five of Creighton’s starters to notch double-figures. At the very least, it did give us our one and only shoe explosion of the tournament.
48. #1 Gonzaga 83, #5 Creighton 65 (Sweet Sixteen)
Gonzaga’s win over Creighton was never really in doubt, especially after the Zags turned a narrow two-point lead into a 10-2 run and double-digit advantage that the Bluejays would never recover from – but it is hard to deny that the up-and-down pace of this game was enjoyable to watch. Featuring two of the more offensively-minded coaches in the tournament, this game saw Gonzaga record one of its best shooting performances of the year behind a 59.6% shooting clip and a lead that ballooned to as large as 27 in the second stanza.
Creighton struggled shooting the ball, particularly in the latter half, finishing the game at just 40.6% – but the trio of Marcus Zegarowski, Denzel Mahoney, and Christian Bishop – combining for 44 points on 50.0% shooting – delivered in trying to combat Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Andrew Nembhard, who were nearly perfect from the field behind 39 points on a 17-23 clip.
47. #6 Texas Tech 65, #11 Utah State 53 (Round of 64)
This game went from being a competitive, defensive clinic to an ugly, unexciting blowout, in a tale of two halves. Neither team held an advantage greater than six points outside of a 21-second span when Texas Tech went up seven – before Utah State went on a 14-4 run to claim a 26-23 halftime lead. It looked like the Aggies had all the momentum, after bringing their lead to six within the opening minutes of the second stanza – but their upset-fueled aspirations were shortlived, as the Red Raiders embarked on a 20-4 run to take a double-digit advantage that Utah State would only cut down to eight.
The Aggies did themselves little favors in making this game exciting, committing an overwhelming 22 turnovers while shooting 21.1% from the arc and 50.0% from the line – but at the very least, it gave the world an opportunity to see Neemias Queta on the national stage, and he delivered, logging 11 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocks, and six assists.
46. #1 Baylor 76, #9 Wisconsin 63 (Round of 32)
The end of a tumultuous season for a Wisconsin squad that was once ranked fourth in the AP Poll in the early goings of the season – and then entered the tournament unranked. The Badgers were not expected to be in this situation, as most people probably assumed UNC would reach this point – but Wisconsin fared decently against the top-ranked Bears, racing out to a quick 7-2 lead and setting the tempo at the start.
But Wisconsin had no counter for Baylor’s Davion Mitchell, who was nearly perfect from the field (6-8 FG, 2-3 3PT) en route to finishing with 16 points and eight assists – as well as Matthew Mayer’s 17 points off the bench.
To Wisconsin’s credit, they prevented this game from getting ugly after Baylor took an 18-point lead out of the gates in the second half, carving the Bears’ advantage down to single-digits on numerous occasions – but despite four double-digit scorers, the Badgers were unable to trim it any further than seven points.
45. #8 LSU 76, #9 St. Bonaventure 61 (Round of 64)
For an overwhelming majority of this tilt, St. Bonaventure could not have played any better on the defensive end – but their offensive woes prevented this game from garnering any traction. The Bonnies were able to keep a high octane LSU offense to just 40.3% shooting for the game – but could not capitalize, recording an awful 33.3% mark while getting outrebounded by a glaring 49-30 margin.
If anything, this game delivered one of the worst offensive starts (or best defensive starts) of any tournament game ever, considering the score was just 4-4 with a little over 11 minutes to play in the first half – but it also showcased one of the best team efforts this season, with three of LSU’s starters recording double-doubles all the while Cameron Thomas went off for 27 points.
44. #6 USC 72, #11 Drake 56 (Round of 64)
Playing without their two best offensive weapons in ShanQuan Hemphill and Roman Penn pained the Bulldogs in the latter half of the season, and it showed between their games against Wichita State and USC. While the Shockers were unable to take advantage, the Trojans did, after a first-half scare that saw an upset-hungry Drake squad trail by just three at halftime behind a blistering 18 points from Joseph Yesufu, who drained four three-pointers to counteract Evan Mobley’s 13 points.
Their success on the offensive end was not to be, however, as a 41.9% FG clip in the first half took a nosedive to 18.9% in the second stanza, including a 2-10 half for Yesufu that ultimately produced just 19 second-half points for Drake. The Bulldogs were able to keep it respectable, cutting USC’s lead to seven after a Yesufu long-range bomb with six minutes left – but a quick 8-0 spurt for the Trojans ended any momentum for Drake.
43. #3 West Virginia 84, #14 Morehead State 67 (Round of 64)
One of the more fun, up-and-down first-round games that were unfortunately marred by a game-altering flagrant foul, Morehead State was a sleeper upset choice – and after a slow start that saw the Eagles fall behind by double-digits, they proved their status as a trendy pick, going on a 14-2 run to take the lead over West Virginia and keep it in single-digits heading into halftime.
An errant flagrant foul on Miles McBride and turnovers in the opening minutes of the second half severed any hope that Morehead State had, however, with a one-point lead for West Virginia quickly turning into 10 in the span of 32 seconds.
The Mountaineers stood firm, not allowing the Eagles to trim their advantage to any worse than eight points – all the while earning one of the best performances from McBride all season, behind 30 points on 11-17 shooting to go with six boards, six assists, and three steals. The best storyline from this game, however, was that it delivered Bob Huggins his 900th career win, making him just the sixth Div. I coach to ever reach that benchmark.