by Daniel Olsen
While local teams showed mixed results in the opening weekend of March Madness (USU beat TCU while BYU lost to Duquesne), eight teams had the chance to play at least one game on Thursday. Four of them got the chance to play a second game with the opportunity to punch their ticket to their respective regional Sweet 16 game.
On Thursday, Arizona played Long Beach State first. It was a close game in the first half but the Wildcats from Tucson pulled away and won 85-65. Kylan Boswell led the way with 20 points. The Wildcats defeated the Utes in triple overtime the last time they were in Salt Lake City just up the hill in the Huntsman Center.
Ten seed Nevada showed the part as a heavy favorite of the ten seeds to upset Dayton. They took an early 9 point lead at half and a 17 point lead with seven minutes left to go. That disappeared quickly in one of the most exciting games of the day. The Dayton Flyers defeated the Wolfpack 63-60. Kenan Blackshear, who scored 18 in a 14-point win over the Utah State Aggies at Lawlor Events Center last month, made the last points for his team. He had a chance to tie it at the end, but his three-point attempt could not find the bottom of the net.
Gonzaga, who defeated BYU 24 out of 30 times in WCC play, showed why they are one of the best teams not just in their conference, but in the country as well. McNeese State had only lost three games all year, but the Zags defeated them by 21 points. Graham Ike led the way with 16 points.
Rylan Jones, who played for Logan and Olympus High, the University of Utah, and Utah State, returned to the Beehive State for a matchup between his new Samford Bulldogs and the Kansas Jayhawks. They hung around thanks to his late hot shooting and facilitating that had him just an assist and point shy of a double-double. A chase down block led to what could have been a game winning fast break situation had the refs not called a controversial foul. Kansas won 93-89 thanks to an impressive 19 points and 20 rebounds by Hunter Dickinson.
On Saturday, Gonzaga earned a trip to Detroit for the Midwest Regional with their 21 point win over Kansas. They will take on a Purdue Bulldogs team that just defeated the Utah State Aggies by 39 points. That will be a tough matchup.
Arizona defeated Dayton by 10 points to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 as well, but in Los Angeles. They will face the Clemson Tigers in that matchup. The Tigers defeated the Mountain West Tournament Champion New Mexico Lobos by 21 points in the first round, and a solid Baylor team from the Big 12. Fans from Utah teams in those affiliated conferences know those are good teams, but it will be time for the best to prove it by punching their ticket to the Elite 8. Games for the Sweet 16 will start at 5:09 p.m. Mountain Time on both Thursday and Friday.
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