The inaugural College Basketball Crown continues Tuesday with four more first-round games, which will determine the two second-round matchups on the right side of the bracket.
Cincinnati kicked the day off with a pretty decisive win, taking down DePaul, 83-61. The Oregon State-UCF game was much more competitive, with 17 lead changes throughout the afternoon. In the end, one team had to win and UCF came away with a 76-75 victory. The Bearcats and Knights will play Thursday.
Colorado and Villanova will continue the action later at 8:30 p.m. ET, with the winner of that game facing the victor of the Tulane-USC matchup. The Tulane-USC game tips off at 11:30 p.m. ET. All of Tuesday’s games can be watched on FS1 and the FOX Sports app.
Tuesday is the final day of Round 1 after four first-round games took place on Monday. The second round will be held on Wednesday and Thursday as the tournament continues through Sunday, April 6 on FOX and FS1.
Here are the highlights from Tuesday’s games!
After the Knights and Beavers traded the lead 17 times throughout the game, it was no surprise that this one came down to the final seconds. With UCF holding a slim 76-75 lead, Oregon State had a chance for the winning shot. But OSU coach Wayne Tinkle took a timeout with just 5.4 seconds left, right before his team made what would’ve been the go-ahead basket.
The Beavers got another chance after the timeout, but Liutauras Lelevicius missed the 3-point shot and the Knights held on.
The transfer portal has hit both of these teams hard. Oregon State was missing its top three scorers this season — Michael Rataj, Nate Kingz and Parsa Fallah — while UCF was without Keyshawn Hall, who averaged a team-high 18.8 points per game this season.
But the Knights had Nils Machowski, who has already entered his name in the transfer portal but decided to play in the tournament. He tied a career high with 13 points in the first half alone and finished with 15 points. Machowski was one of four UCF players to hit double figures. Darius Johnson and Tyler Hendricks also had 15 points, while Moustapha Thiam finished with 10 points.
Oregon State jumped out to a 19-12 lead but UCF answered with a 13-4 run. From that point, the two teams went back and forth for most of the first half until the Knights closed out the final two minutes with seven straight points to take a 45-36 advantage into the break.
UCF’s Tyler Hendricks hits a 3-pointer, taking the lead over Oregon State
Lelevicius was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field for nine points at halftime. He ended up with a game-high 20 points. Freshman Maxim Logue averaged 2.1 points per game during the regular season. He came up big for the Beavers with his first double-double: 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Cincinnati uses strong defensive first half to propel its offense in second half and take down DePaul
The Bearcats are moving on to the second round of the College Basketball Crown following a pretty decisive victory.
After both teams went back and forth for the first 10 minutes of Tuesday’s game, Cincinnati outscored DePaul, 23-11, to close out the first half and take a 33-23 lead into the halftime break. Cincinnati used its defense to build a lead, with DePaul shooting just 8-of-25 (32%) from the field and committing eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play.
Cincinnati’s Aziz Bandaogo runs the court and throws down UNREAL alley-oop jam vs. DePaul
Cincinnati’s offense wasn’t great in the first half, either. It shot just 13-of-32 (40.6%) from the field and 2-of-9 (22.2%) from 3-point range, while standout guard Jizzle James only had five points on 2-of-8 (25%) shooting in the first half. But it turned things around offensively in the second half, with James finding more of a rhythm as he scored eight points and dished out a pair of assists in the second half.
James was just one of a handful of contributors, though, to Cincinnati’s balanced attack. He was one of six Bearcats to finish Tuesday’s game in double figures. An 8-0 run spearheaded by bench guard Dan Skillings helped Cincinnati expand its lead to 20 early in the second half, while another run later on helped Cincinnati go up by as much as 27.
Those runs led to a 50-point second half for Cincinnati, which shot 20-of-35 (57.1%) from the field and 7-of-12 from deep (58.3%) in that span. Forward Dillon Mitchell led the Bearcats in scoring with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, but his biggest impact might have come defensively. He had three steals as Cincinnati’s defense continued to play strong in the game’s final 20 minutes.
Day Day Thomas was also a part of the Bearcats’ second-half offensive outburst and lockdown defensive performance. He had seven steals, giving him a new career high. DePaul committed 10 more turnovers in the second half, allowing Cincinnati to cruise to victory.
DePaul Blue Demons vs. Cincinnati Bearcats The Crown Highlights | CBB on FOX
Related Stories:
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Get more from College Basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Read the full article here
