Category: Basketball

Everyone loves an NCAA Tournament upset, unless you're on the wrong side of the result. For Greg Gard and Wisconsin, they were the latest high-seeded team to get bounced in the first round.

No. 12 High Point defeated No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82 on Thursday, March 19, in Portland, Oregon, to win its first March Madness game. It's a disappointing end to the season for the Badgers, who lost to Michigan on a game-winning 3-pointer in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament after beating No. 3 seed Illinois in the previous round.

'Nobody would play us': High Point coach gives fiery interview after Wisconsin upset

Gard has led Wisconsin to 73 combined wins in three seasons, although it hasn't surpassed the first weekend in any of the past three years. It defeated No. 14 seed Montana State last season in the first round but was upset by No. 6 BYU 91-89 in the second round. The season prior, Wisconsin was upset by No. 12 James Madison in the first round in a similar situation to Thursday's game.

Although Wisconsin won games over Michigan, Illinois (twice), Michigan State and Purdue this season, all it has to show for it is a first-round exit.

While Gard likely isn't on the hot seat following Wisconsin's regular season success in recent seasons, here's a look at what he'd be owed on his contract if the Badgers decide their recent March Madness blunders are enough to move on from their longtime coach:

Greg Gard buyout

Gard would be owed $8 million from Wisconsin if the school were to fire him before May 31, 2026, according to his contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Greg Gard contract

Gard's base salary for 2025-26 is $3.85 million, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. His salary is set to raise to $3.95 million in 2026-27, $4.05 million in 2027-28, $4.15 million in 2028-29 and $4.25 million in 2029-30.

He has a myriad of on-court salary incentives, which ranges from $75,000 for a conference tournament win to $1.7 million for winning a national championship.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Greg Gard buyout: What to know of Wisconsin coach's contract

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team were greeted with a “welcome ceremony” upon their return to the Islamic Republic after several of the players had sought asylum in Australia.

“First of all we are so happy to be in Iran, because Iran is our homeland,” midfielder Fatemeh Shaban said.

People in the crowd waved flags while some of the players held bouquets of flowers and signed what appeared to be mini-soccer balls. Iranian media had reported that the team returned on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t expecting this many people to come to welcome us, and I am happy to be the daughter of Iran,” Shaban said in translated comments.

Two Iranian female players, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, chose to remain in Australia and have been training with the Brisbane Roar club.

Others who initially sought asylum after the team was knocked out of the Women’s Asian Cup later changed their minds and said they would return to Iran.

Iran’s squad arrived in Australia for the tournament shortly before the Iran war began on Feb. 28. The team initially gained global attention after some players stayed silent during Iran’s national anthem before their first game in the Asian Cup. The silence was cast as an act of resistance or protest by some commentators and a show of mourning by others.

The players didn’t publicly disclose their views or explain their actions and sang the anthem before their next two matches.

Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref last week dismissed suggestions the women would be unsafe if they returned home, saying the country “welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their security.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Flynn Clayman has led what is thus far the biggest upset of March Madness on Thursday, March 19, leading No. 12 seed High Point to an 83-82 victory over No. 5 seed Wisconsin.

Mere moments after securing the biggest win of his young coaching career, Clayman let his feelings be known on the sentiment mid-majors "don't play anybody."

Toppmeyer: Miami (Ohio) shows it belongs in March Madness. Pipe down, Bruce Pearl

In a postgame interview with TBS' Jared Greenberg, Clayman gave a fiery interview, saying, "We played somebody now."

"Looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors early in the season. Because they said we didn't play nobody. We played somebody now."

-High Point HC Flynn Clayman pic.twitter.com/IpObzgJSGm

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 19, 2026

"It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors during the season," Clayman said. "Because they said we ain't played nobody? We played somebody now."

Asked how the win feels, Clayman continued, "It feels unreal, because nobody would play us, just like they wouldn't play Miami (Ohio). But they got to play us in this tournament."

REQUIRED READING: Miami (Ohio) shows it belongs in March Madness. Pipe down, Bruce Pearl

Speaking in his postgame news conference, Clayman continued by saying his team deserved the opportunity to be at March Madness — and that they weren't just happy to be here, either.

"High Point and Miami (Ohio) are 2-1 in Quad 1 games. We couldn't get games. They couldn't get games," Clayman said. "Akron, UNC Wilmington, Belmont couldn't get games. We won 22 of our last 23 games and we didn't move up one spot in the metrics. Not one. We won 22 of our 23. We've won 25 games by double-digits.

"That team (Wisconsin) right there is a fantastic team that beat five top-10 teams. If we can get games like this on neutral courts and some home games, I think we'd know who's really the best teams. I'm proud of these dudes. We're not just here to win one game; we're here to get to the Sweet 16."

Clayman's comments come after Miami (Ohio)'s metrics were questioned ahead of Selection Sunday, with former Auburn coach-turned-basketball analyst Bruce Pearl publicly stumping for the Tigers over the RedHawks. Pearl pointed to the RedHawks' poor strength of schedule and early exit in the MAC Tournament as reasons why other teams were more deserving.

As it stands now, High Point and Miami (Ohio) are a combined 2-0 in the 2026 Men's NCAA Tournament and are slated to play No. 4 seed Arkansas and No. 6 seed Tennessee, respectively.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: High Point coach Flynn Clayman viral postgame interview after Wisconsin upset

CHICAGO (AP) — Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell missed the Cavaliers' game Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls because of a bruised left eye.

Mitchell was hurt in a collision in practice with Evan Mobley. The seven-time All-Star played through the injury in Cleveland’s victory at Milwaukee on Tuesday night and finished with 19 points on 4-for-14 shooting. He said after the game that he was having trouble seeing.

Coach Kenny Atkinson said the injury is “nothing serious,” but the Cavaliers need to “let it clear up.”

Mitchell is eighth in the NBA in scoring at 28 points per game while shooting a career-high 47.9%. He’s averaging 5.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

The Cavaliers entered the day fourth in the Eastern Conference at 42-27. They trailed New York by 2 1/2 games and led Toronto by 2 1/2.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

SAN DIEGO – No other freshman class in America has scored more points this season than the five active freshmen on the Arizona men’s basketball team. They have combined for 1,461 points, which leads the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament this week, according to data provided by USA TODAY Sports by Stats Perform.

Which is pretty darn remarkable for two big reasons:

1. This team is on fire. The Wildcats (32-2) have won nine consecutive games and will start the tournament here as a No. 1 seed against Long Island University on Friday, March 20.

2. This kind of youth movement goes against conventional wisdom these days. Isn’t older supposed to be better in the era of wide-open player transfers?

More: John Calipari unleashed Darius Acuff by taking page out of NBA book

More: High Point upset was going to take everything — including a first layup of the season

Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd instead took a different approach than many others last year, veering away from the transfer portal, where more experienced players typically seek to earn more money from their names, images and likenesses (NIL).

“We were able to get involved with some freshmen that we felt could be just big-time impact players in college basketball, no matter what year or what class they were,” Lloyd told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.

He had a strategy for it, as he explained Thursday.

Why Arizona built its roster this way

One reason Lloyd built his roster this way was because didn’t think there were going to be many “quality” transfers available in the portal.

Money was a factor, too.

“I thought it was going to be overpriced,” Lloyd said.

Then there was the Duke factor. Duke beat Arizona twice last year with several freshman players, including future No. 1 NBA draft pick Cooper Flagg. Duke even started three freshmen in the Final Four last year while other Final Four teams started mostly seniors. Lloyd noticed.

By the end of the season, Lloyd said the Blue Devils didn’t seem young.

“I just thought they were really good.”

The risks of a freshman-heavy roster at Arizona

Arizona lists seven total freshman players on its roster of 16, including Bryce James, son of LeBron, who is redshirting this year but still drums up interest in his team by having the fourth-biggest social-media following in Division I basketball as of this month, according to Opendorse.

It’s the kind of roster construction that is reminiscent of a bygone era in college sports — recruiting big freshman classes, developing those players and sometimes even redshirting some of them. The problem for Lloyd is that it comes with risk.

The good ones will leave for the NBA after a year. Others might even transfer away in pursuit of more money.

Such freshman-heavy teams also often don’t work out this well, unless they include superstar NBA prospects like Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer or Arkansas freshman guard Darius Acuff.

Consider the 13 teams that invested eight roster spots or more in freshman players this season, all more than Arizona, according to Stats Perform. Only two of those 13 earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament — SMU and Queens University. New Haven listed the most freshmen on its roster this season with 11 but finished with a 14-17 record.

But there are outliers.

“Age don’t matter,” 19-year-old Arizona freshman guard Dwayne Aristode told USA TODAY Sports. “If you’re good, you’re good.”

How Tommy Lloyd built this roster

Lloyd searches for top players overseas and has eight players from other countries, including freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov from Germany, Aristode from The Netherlands and 6-11 freshman forward Sidi Gueye from Senegal.

Lloyd also has five transfer players, including senior guard Jaden Bradley, who came to Arizona from Alabama in 2023.

But 49.9% of the team’s scoring has come from five freshmen, who were part of a recruiting class that ranked No. 2 nationally behind fellow No. 1-seed Duke. These Arizona freshmen have scored even more than the four freshman contributors at Duke, which ranked second nationally in freshman scoring before the tournament with 1,417 points, more than half of which comes from Boozer.

The difference is Arizona’s freshmen aren’t projected to be high-lottery NBA draft prospects like Boozer. The Wildcats instead spread it around more between freshman guard Brayden Burries (15.9 points per game), freshman forward Koa Peat (13.6) and Kharchenkov (10.1).

Now comes the NCAA Tournament.

How will freshmen handle this environment?

Arizona senior forward Tobe Awaka had simple answer for this.

“Don't try and reinvent the wheel,” he said Thursday at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

Lloyd doesn’t see a problem.

“I haven't sensed that our freshmen don't know what this is about,” Lloyd said. “And I told our freshmen, 'Hey, you guys won a state championship?' Yeah. Then let's go win another state championship. And the way you win a state championship, you win a state championship game by game.  This just happens to have the word 'national' in front of it.  But it's no different approach.

Ranking college basketball teams with most points by freshmen in 2025-26

As of March 17 in Division I, according to Stats Perform:

1. Arizona 1461
2. Duke  1417
3. Arkansas 1334
4. Central Arkansas 1326
5. New Mexico  1275
6. Fairfield 1270
7. North Carolina-Greensboro 1149
8. Colorado 1138
9. Air Force 1123
10. Houston 1119

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arizona basketball enters March Madness with roster led by freshmen

Game 70.

Let’s get to win number 40.

Welcome to the Game Thread. Veterans of the Game Thread know how we do things around here, but for all you newbies we have a few rules. Our community guidelines apply and basically say be cool, no personal attacks, don’t troll and don’t swear too much.

It’s the final stretch of the season, and your intrepid game thread writer has gone on vacation. While I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you people get to watch the Spurs, and talk to each other in the game thread. No worries, I’ll be back before the playoffs. In the meantime: GO SPURS GO!!

[NOTE: while Mark is on vacation, the game prediction will be replaced by a random fact from the archives.]

Random Fact:

You can make a perpetual motion machine with a wad of chewing gum and a paperclip. I leave the details of how to accomplish this as an exercise for the reader

San Antonio Spurs vs Phoenix Suns
March 19, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass
TV: FanDuel Sports Southwest
Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments.

The shorthandedCleveland Cavaliers will take on the more shorthanded Chicago Bulls. We’ll see if the Cavs can even up the season series with a win tonight.

Share your thoughts as the game unfolds. If you aren’t a member of the community, sign up so you can talk to your fellow Cavalier fans and make your voice heard!

Go Cavs!

Celtics center Nikola Vucevic will miss his 7th straight game when the Celtics face the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. But Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics will be available, as the team otherwise fields a clean injury report. Tatum has only missed one game since returning to the lineup almost two weeks ago.

Everyone on the Celtics is cleared to play tomorrow vs the Grizzlies, minus Nikola Vucevic.

Jayson Tatum will play in his 7th game (in two weeks)

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) March 19, 2026

Vucevic fractured his right ring finger on March 6th, and the Celtics announced the next day that he would be re-evaluated in three to four weeks. That means we’ll likely get a Vucevic update between March 27th and April 3rd — and the big man could be cleared to return to the floor with a few regular seasons remaining (the regular season concludes on April 12th).

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have been very injury-riddled and are one of the Western Conference’s worst teams. Several key players have been shut down for the season: Kentavius Caldwell-Pope (right pinky finger), Zach Edey (left ankle), Scotty Pippen Jr. (right big toe), and Santi Aldama (right knee). And, Brandon Clarke (right calf strain), Jahmai (left ankle sprain), and Ja Morant (left elbow UCL sprain) are out.

In addition, Taj Gibson (right foot soreness) and GG Jackson (left knee soreness) are doubtful to play.

How the Celtics, Grizzlies stack up

The Celtics are riding a three-game win streak and enter Friday’s game with a 46-23 record. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have dropped 8 of their last 10 games and currently have the West’s 11th-best record at 24-44.

Last time the two teams faced off was in November, and the Celtics came away with a 131-95 win.

With so many key absences, the Grizzlies have been led by rookie Cedric Coward, who is averaging 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

The Celtics, meanwhile, continue to be led by Jaylen Brown, who is having a career season. Brown is averaging 28.5 points per game on the season, alongside 7 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and a steal.

Tatum, who returned to the lineup on March 6th, has been the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 20.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.

The Celtics and Grizzlies will face off on Friday night at 8pm in Memphis’ FedEx Forum.

UPDATE: Impressively and surprisingly, all three of the Lakers’ stars will play on Thursday. Less than 24 hours after battling the Rockets in Houston, LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves are all available for the Lakers against the Heat in Miami.

Austin Reaves will play tonight too https://t.co/Q82wS26AW4

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) March 19, 2026

Given both the quick turnaround between games and the distance traveled from Texas to Florida overnight, it felt like a foregone conclusion that the Lakers would be shorthanded against the Heat. However, only Maxi Kleber, who has been dealing with a back injury in recent weeks and is not with the team on this road trip, is out in this game.

Original story follows.

---

While the Lakers are currently on a roll, having won seven straight games after downing the Rockets on Wednesday, earning that eighth victory might be their toughest challenge yet.

The team is set to play on the second night of their back-to-back, and they have their three stars, Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, all listed as questionable.

As expected, the Lakers have a longer injury report on the second night of a back-to-back. Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves are all questionable for LA's game tonight against Miami. pic.twitter.com/x54UnwjRKU

— Edwin Garcia (@ECreates88) March 19, 2026

Everything about Thursday’s game screams schedule loss. The tip-off time for the game is 22.5 hours after the Lakers and Rockets started their game on Wednesday. To add to that, the team arrived at the airport after 5 a.m. in Miami on Thursday, roughly 15 hours before the start of the contest.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who play tonight at 8 pm local in Miami, arrived at their hotel South Florida after 5 a.m. folllowing their win Wednesday night in Houston (a game that started at 8:30 pm central).

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) March 19, 2026

When you also consider the fact that the Lakers’ star trio all played at least 34 minutes on Wednesday, it’s no surprise they are questionable for Thursday’s game.

Luka’s absence would be the biggest blow not just for the Lakers but also for his end-of-season awards eligibility.

Currently, Dončić has missed 12 games and can only miss five more and remain eligible. With just 13 games left in the season though, it’s unlikely that will become a factor.

LeBron and Reaves are both out of the running for any NBA awards, so it’s all about maintaining their health. James has been dealing with his left foot arthritis all year long, but Reaves’ right forearm contusion is a new injury. Given that he hasn’t missed any games from this ailment, it’s likely nothing for Lakers fans to be worried about.

Regardless, if any of the big three miss, it will make winning against Miami that much harder. The Heat are a pesky try-hard team and fighting for their spot in the postseason, so don’t expect them to take this game lightly.

Hopefully, enough key players on the Lakers can suit up and LA can avoid this scheduled loss.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

March Madness has already lived up to the hype, not one full day into the 2026 Men's Basketball Tournament.

Indeed, the vast majority of fans who created their brackets, hoping against hope to beat the impossibly long odds of creating a perfect bracket, have already seen their hopes dashed.

The most likely culprit? No. 12 seed High Point, led by Chase Johnston, upending Greg Gard and No. 5 seed Wisconsin. No. 9 TCU technically scored an upset over No. 8 Ohio State, to say nothing of the near-disaster of No. 1 overall Duke eking out a 71-65 win over No. 16 seed Siena.

REQUIRED READING: Who is Chase Johnston? High Point guard is latest March Madness hero

And yet, perfection yet remains — for now, at least.

Here's a look at how many perfect brackets remain in March Madness, with plenty more opportunities for upsets on the horizon:

How many people still have perfect bracket in March Madness?

Last updated 9:45 p.m. ET on March 19

• ESPN: 83,184 perfect brackets remain (beginning with 26,029,409)
• NCAA: 725,000+ perfect brackets remain

As of 7 p.m. ET on March 19, less than a million perfect brackets remain in either the ESPN or NCAA bracket challenges. Though the NCAA does not provide the full number of brackets submitted, ESPN does, providing some insight into just how maddening the NCAA Tournament has been.

Only 83,184 perfect remains out of 26,029,409 brackets submitted — a measly 0.3% of all brackets.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How many brackets are still perfect in March Madness? Tracking brackets

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Sungjae Im, who missed two straight cuts upon his return from a wrist injury, found his form Thursday in the Valspar Championship with two eagles that offset a few late mistakes in his round of 7-under 64 for a one-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker.

The Copperhead course at Innisbrook was the third straight stop on the Florida swing where the conditions were firm and the greens already getting that yellow sheen. Im was up to the task by giving himself ample birdie chances and converting six of them.

He also holed eagle putts of 18 feet on the par-5 11th and 35 feet on the par-5 first after making the turn. Only a pair of bogeys over the last four holes slowed him.

The surprise was the 45-year-old Snedeker, the U.S. captain for the Presidents Cup, who received a sponsor exemption. He had a bogey-free round at Innisbrook for the first time in 14 years, running off three straight birdies to start the back nine in his round of 65.

Snedeker hasn't won in eight years and had only two top 10s in the last year. But he switched to a mallet putter a few weeks ago and is starting to see some putts go in, particularly some long ones.

He started with a 20-foot birdie on No. 1 and had a 45-foot birdie putt drop on No. 12.

“Playing perfect the way we want to see it play, firms and fast,” Snedeker said. “Had a really good game plan — just relied on my putter. I putted great today, made a bunch of footage of putts, and put myself in position off the tee hit a lot of fairways and greens and made it stress-free which was nice. So really excited about how it started, but a long way to go from here.”

Snedeker led the field in putting and made nearly 150 feet of putts, which included a pair of par putts from just outside 10 feet.

Davis Thompson was at 66, with Billy Horschel among those at 67. Horschel, who missed The Players Championship last week, is running out of time to either win or get back inside the top 50 to qualify for the Masters.

Riviera winner Jacob Bridgeman also had a bogey-free round, rare at Innisbrook, by holing a par putt from just inside 10 feet on the 18th. He was at 68 along with another bogey-free effort, this one from Xander Schauffele.

“That was a big one, even more than a normal par save. That one felt good,” Bridgeman said. “To go around here bogey-free, it means you’re playing some good golf. I made a couple nice saves today to keep myself in it.”

Bridgeman and Schauffele were part of a large group that included Matt Fitzpatrick, who was runner-up at The Players Championship last week.

Corey Conners shot 69, an ordinary round except for an extraordinary moment when he made consecutive eagles. He dunked his shot off the pin from the 18th fairway for a eagle, made the turn and holed out from 40 yards in the rough at the par-5 first.

Also at 69 was Jordan Spieth, who had reason to expect more.

Spieth looked as though he might catch Im even while playing in tougher, gusting conditions in the afternoon. He was 5 under on the front nine and had a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th. But he missed that, missed a 3 1/2-foot par putt on the 13th and dropped three shots over the three-hole stretch known as “Snake Pit,” including a double bogey on the 16th by driving into the water.

Defending champion Viktor Hovland was 2 over through six holes and salvaged a 70, while Brooks Koepka made his return to Innisbrook with three birdies, three pars and a 71.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

It is round two for the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards, and things are looking much different than they were 48 hours ago. The Pistons beat the Wizards 130-117 on Tuesday night, but they lost Cade Cunningham after five minutes, and today are coming to grips with the idea he could be out much longer. Cunnigham has a collapsed lung that will keep him sidelined indefinitely. That indefinite timeline could be as little as two weeks or it could stretch deep into a Pistons’ first-round playoff series. There is also the notion of Detroit’s grip on the No. 1 overall seed in the East. They’ve held that spot since Nov. 7. With Cade missing time, that position feels tenuous. There is also the fact that Cunningham needs to play five more games to qualify for the first-team All-NBA spot he so rightly deserves. There is the question of how rusty he will be when he finally does come back. The mind reels. But tonight, the Wizards!

Game Vitals

When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Watch: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons -14

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (49-19)

Daniss Jenkins, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Washington Wizards (16-52)

Bub Carrington, Sharife Cooper, Tre Johnson, Will Reilly, Alex Sarr

PORTLAND, OR – Go figure the biggest moment in High Point basketball history hinged on Chase Johnston doing something he hadn’t done all season.

In the final seconds of the NCAA Tournament first round game against Wisconsin, the Panthers were down by a point when Rob Martin got a loose ball, and up ahead was an open Johnston running toward the bucket. Martin passed it perfectly to Johnston. All that was left was for Johnston to make a 2-point spot.

A shot he hadn’t made all season.

'Nobody would play us': High Point coach gives fiery interview after Wisconsin upset

March Madness heroes, legends: High Point's Chase Johnston can take his place on this list

It sounds unusual, but it’s in fact one of the wildest stats in college basketball. Prior to that moment, Johnston attempted 142 shots on the season; 138 were 3-pointers.

The four 2-point shots? All misses.

No pressure for the sharpshooter.

Luckily, it was a layup. Johnston rolled it into the bucket, and sealed High Point’s first NCAA Tournament win in school history. 

It was unusual territory for Johnston, but it didn’t frighten him at all. Because he knew “we can go shock the world.”

“When Rob threw that off, I was just like, ‘I gotta put this in to win this game,’” he said. “I wasn't really thinking whether it's a 2 or 3. I was just trying to put it in and win this game.”

FIRST 2-POINTER OF THE YEAR FOR CHASE JOHNSTON 😱

HIGH POINT LEADS!!! pic.twitter.com/N2ZWYSb9Dz

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 19, 2026

A moment that held the breath of every fan donning purple inside Moda Center, knowing it was asking someone for something out of their game. But those on the court knew their fortunate fate was sealed the moment it touched his hands.

In fact, the only thing they wondered was if it was going to be a slam.

“Chase got a little bit of bounce. Chase probably dunk a little bit,” Martin said, drawing laughs from his teammates. “But I knew Chase was gonna make a layup. Of course, I believe in him.”

While it was a one-of-a-kind moment for a one-of-a-kind achievement, it wouldn’t have been possible if Johnston hadn’t done what he does best: drill it from deep.

It was an intense battle between the Panthers and Badgers, but it looked like Wisconsin was about to pull away with an eight-point lead with five minutes left. Then Johnston, who had just three points at the moment, finally drained another 3-point shot.

Then another. And another, including one from the midcourt logo.

A nine-point flurry in four minutes made it a one-point game in the final minute, all to set up the game-winning layup.

But Johnston’s heroics weren’t done. After making the shot of his life, he told his coaches to take him out. He is a reliable defender, but he knew what was needed to preserve the win. Put in a bigger guy to defend the last-second attempt.

Wisconsin wasn’t able to retake the lead, and when it got another chance, wasn’t able to get the shot off as the High Point defenders hounded the long pass.

“He should get way more credit,” coach Flynn Clayman said. “That is not just a defender, but an all-around player.”

And just like that, March gets its new darling. The tournament is all about guys that go largely unnoticed all season, just for them to become the breakout star on the biggest stage in college basketball. Johnston wasn’t even the team’s leading scorer, it was Martin with 23 points.

But when you are the glass slipper for Cinderella, that’s all it takes to become the hero. This may just be the rare case of the guy that got thrust in the spotlight for doing something he isn’t known for.

That’s all OK, because Johnston has High Point still dancing.

“To be on this stage with these guys, and be able to hit a couple shots and finish with the layup,” Johnston said. “It's something that I'll never forget.”

High Point vs Wisconsin highlights

Who does High Point play next in March Madness?

The Panthers play the winner of Arkansas/Hawaii.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: High Point's Chase Johnston newest March Madness hero after Wisconsin upset

Duke basketball avoided a scare against No. 16 seed Siena in the first round of the Men's NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 19 as the No. 1 overall seed, overcoming a 13-point deficit in the second half to win 71-65.

Siena became the first No. 16 seed to lead a No. 1 seed at halftime in Men's NCAA Tournament history, leading 43-32 at the break. The Blue Devils outscored the Saints 39-22 in the second half to secure the victory, although fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer said it was the toughest NCAA Tournament moment he has experienced since taking over for Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.

REQUIRED READING: Duke vs Siena score: Blue Devils avoid March Madness upset to 16 seed

"Toughest one," the longtime Duke assistant-turned head coach told reporters after the win. "Not close. Toughest moment, toughest game, toughest position I've ever been in in the tournament, no question about it. You have to credit Siena for that. Look, I remember a lot of our teams, we've had some games like this. 2018-19, North Dakota State, it's a one-possession game there.

"These games are fragile. Unfortunately, you have to lose some, I've been on the other end of some of these in the past where you have great appreciation for it, but it doesn't mean you can avoid it. ... You gotta show what you're made of, and these guys really did that."

Twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer led the way for Duke, scoring 22 and 19 points, respectively, to lead all scorers. The Blue Devils played a seven-man rotation without starting center Patrick Ngongba II and starting guard Caleb Foster, who are both hoping to return sometime during the NCAA Tournament, depending on how far Duke advances.

Duke had no issues with No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary's last season, winning 93-49 in the first round. Scheyer also cited Duke's 85-62 win over No. 16 seed North Dakota State in 2019, when he was an assistant and the Blue Devils only led by four points at halftime.

Only two No. 16 seeds have ever won an NCAA Tournament game: Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Purdue in 2023 and UMBC took down Virginia in 2018. 16 No. 1 seeds have only beaten No. 16s by single digits in NCAA Tournament history, none of which have gone on to win a national championship.

Scheyer said he isn't concerned with Duke's performance but acknowledged the Blue Devils must rebound before taking on No. 9 TCU in the second round on March 21.

"It's not concerning from the standpoint that, unfortunately this is the nature of the tournament," he said. "Look, I wish it could be just smooth sailing. These guys, even though we have returners from last year's team, were all in different spots. You can face a team like Siena; they were incredibly ready to play.

"We made some mistakes early that they made us pay for, and all of a sudden you want to win very badly. So, you want to start making plays to try and get back in the game that are probably uncharacteristic to who we've been."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jon Scheyer says Siena posed 'toughest moment' of NCAA Tournament career