Boise, Idaho • Wes Clark scored 25 points, Jeremy Harris added 23 and No. 13 seed Buffalo pulled off the biggest upset of the NCAA Tournament's opening round, rolling over No. 4 seed Arizona 89-68 in the South Region on Thursday night.
The smaller Bulls (27-8) used their quickness to zip around the Wildcats (27-8), scoring at the rim and on kickout 3-pointers.
Defensively, Buffalo neutralized Arizona's size inside by collapsing on the paint, forcing the Wildcats to shoot from the perimeter. Arizona went 2 for 18 from beyond the 3-point arc, while the Bulls knocked down 15 of 30.
CJ Massinburg had 19 points and Buffalo shredded Arizona's defense at a 55-percent clip for the program's first NCAA Tournament win.
The Bulls move on to face Kentucky in Saturday's round of 32.
Dusan Ristic had 16 points, and Deandre Ayton finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead Arizona.
Arizona has played through one of the most difficult seasons in program history. The Wildcats were twice entangled in a federal investigation into nefarious recruiting practices and lost one of their best players twice to injury. Allonzo Trier missed two games after testing positive for the same banned substance that cost him 19 games a year ago.
Outside of an 0-for-3 trip to the Bahamas, their focus on the court rarely wavered. Arizona won the Pac-12 regular-season title and routed Southern California in the tournament title game, becoming the second team in conference history to sweep both in consecutive seasons.
The Wildcats were the No. 4 seed in the South, but Buffalo was not an easy opening game for the Wildcats.
The Bulls are fast, play up-tempo and shoot the 3 — areas the Wildcats have struggled against.
Arizona had trouble keeping up with the quicker Bulls early and had trouble getting the ball inside to Ayton. Harris and Clark used their quickness to combine for 27 first-half points, and the Wildcats went 1 for 8 from 3-point range to trail Buffalo 40-38.
Buffalo used a similar blueprint to build a 65-55 lead midway through the second half. Massinburg banked in a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 13 and the Bulls kept building it, racing off to the program's biggest victory.
Tennessee 73, Wright State 47 • At Dallas, Admiral Schofield had 15 points and 12 rebounds as third-seeded Tennessee advanced to the second round by overwhelming Wright State.
Lamonte Turner had 19 points and a career-high nine assists for the Volunteers (26-8), SEC co-champions in the regular season after being picked in the preseason to finish 13th in the 14-team league. They’ll next play Loyola-Chicago on Saturday.
Wright State (25-10) was the Horizon League tournament champ.
Kentucky 78, Davidson 73 • At Boise, Idaho, Kentucky didn’t make a 3-point for the first time in a game since 1988, but still did enough to top Davidson.
Fifth-seeded Kentucky (25-10) went 0 for 6 from behind arc after hitting a 3 in a nation-best streak of 1,047 games.
Kevin Knox scored 25 for Kentucky, which next plays the Arizona-Buffalo winner.
Davidson (21-12) made 11 3-pointers, led by six from Jon Axel Gudmundsson, who finished with 21 points.
Loyola-Chicago 64, Miami 62 • At Dallas, Donte Ingram hit a 3-pointer from the March Madness logo just before the buzzer, lifting Loyola-Chicago over Miami 64-62 in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985.
Ingram’s long shot came from well above the key. The 11th-seeded Ramblers (29-5) matched the school record for wins from their 1963 national championship team.
Loyola was boosted by a pregame prayer from its team chaplain, 98-year-old Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.
The buzzer sounded as Ingram’s shot went in, but officials put 0.3 seconds back on the clock. A desperation pass by Miami (22-10) bounced away harmlessly.