A look around the sights and sounds of the NCAA Tournament from reporters at the games and surrounding events:
WHO NEEDS 3’S? NOT KENTUCKY: Hitting a 3-pointer is as routine for a college basketball player as rolling out of bed in the morning. So imagine an entire team — one with Final Four ambitions, no less — going an entire game without making a single one.
And winning anyway.
Fifth-seeded Kentucky all but ignored the arc Thursday night and failed to make a 3 for the first time in nearly 30 years in its 78-73 victory over Davidson in the NCAA Tournament.
The 0-for-6 effort snapped the program’s nation-best streak of 1,047 games with a 3 that began Nov. 26, 1988.
It’s such an overlooked piece of history that not even Wildcats coach John Calipari knew about it until it was pointed out in the postgame news conference.
Reporter: “It’s been 30 years since Kentucky didn’t make a 3.”
Calipari: “Thirty? I was 9 years old.”
Actually, he was 29.
But all kidding aside, Calipari insists his team is not that bad at outside shooting, even if the effort on this night added a few more gray hairs.
“We only took six,” he said. “If we’d taken six more, we would’ve been 6 for 12.”
The last time Kentucky didn’t make a 3-pointer was at the Great Alaska Shootout against Seton Hall in the fall of 1988 — when Eddie Sutton was in his last year with the Wildcats, LeRon Ellis was the team’s leading scorer and the 3-point arc was only in its third year in the college game.
UNLV now holds the longest streak, at 1,040 games.
Kevin Knox on UK’s 3-point streak coming to an end: “I didn’t know that at all. We just shoot the shots that are open.”
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 16, 2018
YEAH, IT WAS THE TOWEL: Point guard Justin Robinson led the eighth-seeded Hokies with 19 points but fouled out after being whistled for a charge with 48 seconds remaining in Virginia Tech’s 86-83 loss to Alabama.
Hokies coach Buzz Williams got a technical foul after erupting in frustration over Robinson’s foul. Alabama made one of two free throws and then added two more in its ensuing possession to give the Crimson Tide just enough of a cushion.
“I shouldn’t have had a towel in my hand,” Williams said after the game. “That made it look worse.”
Buzz Williams explains outburst that led to technical foul late in Alabama win over Virginia Tech
OHIO STATE SAYS IT WON TO PROVE DOUBTERS WRONG: Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann gave a special shoutout after his fifth-seeded Buckeyes beat No. 12 seed South Dakota State 81-73, saying his players were motivated by bracketeers saying they would lose.
Holtmann said in a postgame TV interview Thursday that he gets the hoopla over upsets and his team may have fed into it with some mixed results.
But fans weren’t fading the Buckeyes nearly as much as he thinks — more than three-fourths picked Ohio State to win in the first round, better backing than fellow No. 5 seed Clemson.
The upset many fans called was Loyola of Chicago, which beat Miami on a last-second 3-pointer to reward 36 percent of the brackets filled out on ESPN and Yahoo.
KANSAS 7-FOOTER GETS RESTED AFTER INJURY: Kansas expects to have injured big man Udoka Azubuike for more regular minutes when the top-seeded Jayhawks plays Seton Hall in the second round on Saturday.
The 7-footer played only three minutes, pulling down one rebound without taking a shot, in their 76-60 victory over Penn in the Midwest Region’s opening round. He played wearing a hefty brace on his left knee, where he strained a ligament in practice last week.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self said he could have played “max five or six minutes,” but that he held him out in the second half as Kansas pulled away. The hope is to have him 80 percent for practice Friday.
“At first I was kind of getting used to my legs but after that I was fine,” Azubuike said. “I’m going to practice tomorrow and hopefully play much more on Saturday.”
PAC-12 SENT PACKING: Arizona’s surprise 89-68 loss to Buffalo on Thursday means the Pac-12 is now Pac-done
It’s the first time since 1986 that the conference went winless in the NCAA Tournament. Arizona, Utah and Washington all lost their opening games that year.
It’s a disappointing end for the conference that only put three teams in the field and lost UCLA and Arizona State in the First Four in Dayton.
Less than 10 percent of fans with brackets in ESPN and Yahoo games selected Buffalo to win. About 5 percent picked Arizona as the national champion.
UNBELIEVABLE!
The Buffalo Bulls (13) keep their #MarchMadness dreams alive and pull off the upset in Boise! pic.twitter.com/Rph0xu4a63
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 16, 2018
CHEERING FOR THE FANS: After losing 87-61 Thursday to No. 1 seed Villanova, Radford University Coach Mike Jones brought his team toward his school’s cheering section and waved and pointed toward the fans in appreciation.
“They didn’t get a chance to cheer victory but at least they got a chance to cheer these young men,” Jones said. “They got a great group of young men. Through the tournament, people got to learn a little bit more about them, but we got to be with them every day.”
Nice moment for #Radford with its fans after the game. pic.twitter.com/VqoXw7fOje
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) March 16, 2018
SHOT CLOCK WOES BRIEFLY HALT GAME: In Michigan’s 61-47 victory over Montana Thursday night, the second half was delayed for about 10 minutes with 17:53 to go when the power running the shot clocks went out.
The control board was swapped out and the game eventually resumed.
Michigan overcomes slow start to beat Montana in NCAA Tournament opener
HE ROLLS WITH KID ROCK: Xavier head coach Chris Mack told reporters Thursday he has no apologizes for claiming Kid Rock as his favorite artist.
“People make fun of me for loving Kid Rock,” Mack Said. “Do you know how much I care? Zero.”
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