March madness kickoff was this past week, and the madness has already been served on the court..
Kicking off the first four games off with both sixteenth seed in the east going against each other. Fairleigh Dickson knights vs. Florida gulf coast eagles, the eagles got off to a good start by scoring 40 points in the first half. The eagles dominated the whole by outplaying them and out rebounding them.
The Eagles rebound stats against the knights were 52 rebounds and 33 rebounds for the Knights. There were 18 turnovers for the knights and only 9 for the eagles, with both teams shooting the 3 pointer with 34.4 percent that night, 61.1 percent free-throws for the Eagles and 58.8 percent for the Knights.
With great defense and offense, including great players like Marc-Eddy Norelia scoring 20 points and guards Julian Debose and Christian Terrell each scoring 14, FGCU rolled to an impressive 96-65 win over the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in a First Four matchup at University of Dayton Arena.
Next game both eleventh seed in the south, Wichita State shockers vs. Vanderbilt Commodores. A very good game that kicked off with both teams scoring 30 points in the first half; the competition was tough. But the Shockers came back in the second half and used their team name to shock the viewers by outscoring the Commodores 40 to 20 in the second half.
The Shockers rebounded 43 to 38 rebounds by the Commodores. Turnovers were 7 for the Shockers and 12 for the Commodores, along with 3-point percentages: 36.8 percent for the Shockers and 15.8 percent for the Commodores. With Ron baker (Shocker), who played an outstanding 14 points, along with crazy blocks, the Shockers took the win, 70 to 50.
The third game of the week was the sixteenth seed of the west Holy Cross Crusaders vs Southern Jaguars; a game that was so close. Anyone could have won. The game first starts off with the Holy Cross scoring with a good first half of 27. The Southern were playing hard just behind in the first with 22 point in the half. Scoring 32 for Holy Cross; the Jaguars scored 33 in the second half. But Robert Champion of the Holy Cross scored 19 points and beat the Southern, 59-55.
Final game was the eleventh seed of the east Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs Michigan Wolverines, which was interesting to watch with Michigan outscoring the Hurricanes 28 – 20 in the first half with great defensive and offensive connecting on the court. In the second half, the Hurricanes came out hot, outscoring Michigan 42-39. Michigan came back with 38 rebounds, turnovers 8 and shooting free-throws at 81.3 percent, which gave them a win, 67-62.
All winning team move on to face teams in the first round. The madness has begun.
De’Andre Stringer
Reporter