March Madness 2026: The Best and Worst from Day 2

Friday gave us an absolute classic, and … well, an absolute classic and some other kind of cool stuff.

Let’s dive in.

The 3 Best March Madness Games Of Day 2

1. (7) Kentucky 89, (10) Santa Clara 84 (OT) (Midwest)

If you’re going to have a full day of first round games where only one of them is super competitive, that one super competitive game had better be an absolute banger. This was an absolute banger.

For 40 minutes, Kentucky and Santa Clara went shot-for-shot before ending regulation with one of the greatest back-and-forth sequences in the history of the tournament.

With three timeouts remaining, Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek frantically tried to use one of them, but was not seen by an official.

“I unequivocally called timeout,” Sendek said after the game. “But they didn’t grant it. I think the video evidence is clear, and anybody’s able to pull it up.”

Kentucky’s momentum from the end of regulation carried over into the extra frame, where the Wildcats ended the game by making their final five shots from the field to polish off the dramatic victory.

Oweh finished the game with a career-high 35 points, in the process establishing himself as an all-time villain for a Santa Clara program that was making its first appearance in March Madness since 1996.

Kentucky will look to make it back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16 in its first two seasons under head coach Mark Pope with an upset of second-seeded Iowa State on Sunday.

2. (9) Utah State 86, (8) Villanova 76 (West)

I’m gonna be honest here: The pickins after UK-Santa Clara are realllll slim.

You’ve got two games (this one and Miami vs. Missouri) where the final score doesn’t accurately reflect how competitive the game was for most of the 40 minutes. You’ve also got two other games (UCLA vs. UCF and Iowa vs. Clemson) where the final score makes the game look more competitive than it actually was.

We’re going with Utah State-Villanova, which was a delightfully entertaining 8/9 matchup before the Wildcats kind of forgot how to play basketball down the stretch and the Aggies refused to stop missing shots.

MJ Collins Jr. — seen dunking in the video above — scored nine points over the game’s final three minutes as Utah State went on a game-defining 14-1 run. Jerrod Calhoun’s team missed just two field goal attempts over the game’s final 12:45, largely because of how often they were able to get to the free-throw line.

The wildest stat from this game: Villanova went 14-for-30 from three and limited Utah State to just 2-of-16 from beyond the arc … and still lost by 10. The only other team to lose like that in tournament history also somehow found a way to lose by exactly 10 points.

A huge upset of top-seeded Arizona on Sunday would sent Utah State to its first Sweet 16 since 1970.

3. (3) Virginia 82, (14) Wright State 73 (Midwest)

For much of the afternoon, it looked like Wright State might give us the “teen seed” stunner this tournament has been lacking for a couple of years now. Instead, Virginia pulled away late to advance in the Big Dance for the first time since its 2019 national championship run.

Jacari White was the hero for the Hoos. The North Dakota State transfer hit 6-of-8 three-pointers on his way to a season-high 26 points. The performance thrilled the UVA fans in the crowd who dress in green fatigues and refer to themselves as “The Jacarmy.”

The win snapped an embarrassing stretch for the Virginia program that had seen them lose first round contests to 13th-seeded Ohio (2021), 13th-seeded Furman (2022) and 10th-seeded Colorado State (2024).

The victory also marked the first in the tournament for new UVA head coach Ryan Odom since his 2017-18 UMBC team became the first 16-seed to ever beat a No. 1 seed when they stunned … I mean, you know who it was. Well-known stories can still be cool stories. Grow up.

The 5 Teams That Won It The Best

1. Tennessee

The Volunteers didn’t just end the season of America’s newest college basketball darling, it crushed Miami University’s spirit in the game’s opening moments and never looked back.

Tennessee hit 12 of its first 19 shots and Jakobi Gillespie made five first half three-pointers as the Volunteers opened up a 20-point first half lead that seemed to put the game out of reach almost as quickly as it got started. Gillespie finished with six three-pointers and a game-high 29 points.

UT head coach Rick Barnes was quick to dismiss the notion that Miami’s second loss of the season being so lopsided was the simple product of the Redhawks finally having to play one of the sport’s better teams.

“It took maybe our best half of the year to beat them today,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “The start of the game beat them today, but any team that wins that many games can really play.”

2. Florida

A No. 1 seed trouncing a 16-seed typically isn’t going to get recognition in this space. When that trouncing is the second-largest victory in the history of the tournament? Well, we can make an exception.

Prairie View A&M actually held an early 18-13 lead before Florida went on a 45-3 run to end the first half. That’s not a typo. FORTY-FIVE to THREE run.

Every national champion since 2014 has won its tourney opener by at least 15 points, a bar the Gators, uh, safely cleared here.

The chase to have back-to-back back-to-back national champions is officially on.

3. Texas Tech

The combination of the Red Raiders struggling at the end of the regular season, losing All-American JT Toppin, and drawing the apparent strongest 12-seed in the field had more than a few people predicting that Grant McCasland’s team wouldn’t be long for this tournament.

Instead, they won their tourney opener by 20.

The game was largely won on the perimeter, where Texas Tech shot 11-of-20 from three and limited Akron to only five makes on 19 attempts from deep. The Red Raiders are now one win away from their fifth Sweet 16 appearance since 2018. Not bad for a program that had graced the tournament’s second weekend just five times in its existence before this run of success.

4. St. John’s

From the opening tip, Rick Pitino’s team had the look of a squad that was furious about the fact that winning back-to-back Big East regular season and tournament titles didn’t earn them more than a 5-seed in the Big Dance.

St. John’s made its first five shots and scored the game’s first 13 points, quickly building an 18 point advantage before the game was eight minutes old. Missouri Valley champion Northern Iowa, meanwhile, missed nine of its first 10 shots and never really seemed to find its footing on offense.

The fast start and terrific defense had the typically fuming Pitino displaying more of a stoic demeanor on the sidelines.

Just kidding, he was mother effing his team up and down before the game’s second TV timeout.

The Johnnies will face Bill Self and Kansas in what figures to be the glamor game of Sunday.

5. Iowa State

We’re all proud of Purdue for not giving Boilermaker fans an unnecessary scare in the first round, but it was Iowa State which was the day’s most dominant 2-seed.

Even with Second Team All-American forward Joshua Jefferson going down with an ankle injury in the game’s opening minutes, the Cyclones never blinked. They ripped off a 23-0 run immediately following Jefferson’s injury, and rolled to a 108-74 thrashing of 15th-seeded Tennessee State.

“I think it’s just an ankle sprain right now, but that’s all I got,” Jefferson said after the game. “It was a good feeling, knowing it wasn’t nothing serious and that it’s just sprained. So, I can deal with a sprain. I can get that back going so I can try to play.”

Iowa State set three different NCAA Tournament game school records on Friday: Assists (24), points in a half (55) and points in a game (108). They get Kentucky on Sunday.

The 5 Biggest Disappointments

1. Akron

The only single-digit seeds that lost on Friday lost to other single-digit seeds, so we’re going to have to be a little creative (read: mean) in this section today.

Akron already made history this March by becoming the first Mid-American Conference team to ever claim the league’s auto-bid in three consecutive seasons. The history the Zips really wanted — the school’s first ever win in the Big Dance — will have to wait for another year.

After a 20-point beatdown at the hands of Texas Tech, Akron is now 0-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Their three first round losses over the last three years have come by a combined 65 points.

2. Hofstra

I think I speak for all of us when I say that I really thought we had something here.

The Pride were playing right with an Aden Holloway-less Alabama team that missed 13 of its first 16 three-point attempts. leading by as many as eight in the first half and trailing by just two at the break. Then Labaron Philon got going, the flood gates opened up a little bit, and the last eight minutes or so of the game weren’t even mildly interesting.

The loss dropped Hofstra to 0-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament games.

3. Prairie View A&M

You lost by 59.

I’m sorry. Don’t lose by 59.

At least this happened:

Between this and a First Four win that netted $2 million for the SWAC, still a pretty damn good March for the Panthers.

4. UConn

Sure, the Huskies were playing without both Silas Demary Jr. and Jaylin Stewart, but they still seemed to be going through the motions for stretches of time during their 82-71 win over 15-seed Furman.

This isn’t the time to be playing with your food, something Dan Hurley — the engineer of two of the most dominant runs to the national championship that we’ve ever seen — knows better than anyone.

5. Clemson/Villanova

You guys were the only two teams that lost to worse-seeded opponents, soooo … we kinda have to put you on here.

Don’t lose to worse-seeded opponents.

5 Day 2 Cheers

1. Every angle of the Otega Oweh shot

You simply cannot see it enough.

We’ve rarely seen a better end-of-game sequence in this tournament.

2. Dudes makin’ shots

Scoring has been booming across college basketball all year, with more teams breaching the 100-point mark in games than in any season since 1989-90.

Naturally, the first two days of the tournament have followed suit.

If you despised the clutch-and-grab, first to 55 wins style of the aughts, it seems like your time has come.

3. Favorites

Friday featured only two seed-line upsets: 9-seeds Utah State and Iowa taking down 8-seeds Villanova and Clemson.

From a betting perspective, there were no upsets.

Point spread favorites were a perfect 16-0 on Friday, also going a stellar 12-4 against the spread.

If you bet on boring reigning supreme for a second straight year, your bracket is probably still in pretty good shape through round one.

4. Eddie Munyak

Long Island sophomore walk-on Eddie Munyak didn’t appear in a single game as a freshman in 2024-25. He had appeared in just one game before Friday, and he had never attempted a shot.

Now, for the rest of his life, he’ll be able to tell every stranger he meets that he scored in an NCAA Tournament game.

Odds of a “One Shining Moment” appearance are currently set at 1/2.

5. Kentucky fans across the state reacting to Otega Oweh’s miracle

I don’t care that we’re drinking from the same well twice in one section. It’s the moment of the tournament so far and easily the biggest thing to come out of Friday’s 16 contests.

Plus, just look at this …

That’s what it’s all about.

BONUS CHEER: 9-Seeds

How about a clean sweep for round one?

See? That’s fun. Those are some upsets.

DOUBLE BONUS CHEER: Braden Smith

In Purdue’s 104-71 route of 15-seed Queens, point guard Braden Smith became the NCAA’s all-time assist record, breaking the longstanding record set by Duke great Bobby Hurley (who has had better months).

Smith now has 1,077 assists and counting for his career, a record that it’s hard to see being broken any time soon … if ever.

TRIPLE BONUS CHEER: This interaction

If you think you would handle standing next to a 7’9 dude with more poise, you’re kidding yourself.

5 Day 2 Jeers

1. The lack major first round upsets … again

The notion that last year was not a one-off and that the ever-growing gap between the halves and the have-nots in the NIL era was going to make tournaments with a slew of crazy first round upsets a thing of the past is … well, it might be spot on.

Zero double-digit seeds won on Friday (just the second time that’s ever happened), and outside of 10-seed Santa Clara, none of them even really threatened to win.

Fans who follow this tournament primarily for the chaos may need to start adopting the “at least these second round games look awesome” philosophy.

2. The ending of UCLA-UCF

If you were wondering why UCLA-UCF, a 75-71 game that actually wound up with the most narrow margin of separation of any game on Friday, didn’t make the “best games” list earlier, here’s the primary reason why:

This was a BRUTAL watch, made even more frustrating by the fact that none of the other games going on at that time were even remotely competitive.

College basketball has taken some necessary steps over the last year to prevent the rash of seemingly interminable end of game situations, and for the most part, they’ve improved the issue. It’s still far from perfect though, and this was a prime example.

3. Skyy Clark’s tooth

Yuck.

Eric Dailey – Great teammate

Trent Perry – The teammate you can’t trust

Jack Seidler – Also a great teammate

Clark finished the game with eight points, two assists, a pair of steals and an extra $2-5 (if the going rate for a tooth at my house is any indication).

4. Clemson and Iowa’s complete unwillingness to push pace

Neither team should be allowed to advance if this happens.

Just kidding, I would never turn down the opportunity to watch Bennett Stirtz play more basketball.

5. The over-inflated tournament basketballs

I’ll stop putting it on the jeers list when it stops being a problem.

It also seemed like there were even more improbably high dribbles on Friday than there were on Thursday.

Ridiculous.

All Day-2 Team

Tarris Reed, UConn

Reed was outrageously good in UConn’s win over Furman, scoring 31 points and grabbing 27 rebounds, the most of any player in an NCAA Tournament game since 1973. He also became the first player to post at least 31 and 27 in any college basketball game since 2015.

Labaron Philon, Alabama

Philon proved that ‘Bama is threat to play deep in this tournament with or without Aden Holloway by producing 29 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the Tide’s 20-point win over Hofstra.

Otega Oweh, Kentucky

Oweh finds himself on the All Day-2 team for a second straight year, and not just because he hit the shot of the tournament. Oweh became the first player to post a stat line of 35 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in an NCAA Tournament since Larry Bird did it for Indiana State in 1979.

Killyan Toure, Iowa State

Speaking of stat-stuffing record performances, Toure became just the second freshman ever to notch 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in an NCAA Tournament game.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee

There were some absurdly good indiivdual performances that got left off this list, but Gillespie has to be included after torching Miami University to the tune of 29 points, nine assists, three steals and three rebounds.

5 Best Day 2 Dunks

There’s a super weird and consistent thing with this tournament where the dunks on day one are always way better than the dunks on day two. This year, unfortunately, is no different.

1. Dewayne Brown, Tennessee

2. Blake Buchanan, Iowa State

3. Brandon Garrison, Kentucky

4. Olivier Rioux, Florida

Only because he’s 7’9,

5. Drake Allen, Utah State

5 Best Day 2 Images

1. Cardiac Cats

2. Sometimes the branding is almost too perfect

3. Dream crushers

4. King for just a moment

5. Dominique Daniels’ last dance

5 Notable Quotes From Day 2

1. “Well, we need some help from the Lord.” —Prairie View A&M head coach Byron Smith on how he hoped to slow down Florida

2. “I was just praying for him to make the shot, because I knew I was going to cry if it didn’t go in.” —Kentucky forward Mo Dioubate on teammate Otega Oweh’s overtime-forcing shot

3. “Sports is a tremendous vessel to enjoy relationships. My father was able to be in the stands with other family members, the relationships you have with your staff. The game is a vessel to accomplish that, and that’s what you take away. Any season, even ones where you don’t win as many, they have the same outcome ultimately.” —Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek

4. “Miami should have been the darlings, the talk of the tournament. You win 32 basketball games—I don’t care what league you play in, what anybody says. They would win some games in our league. Make no bones about it.” —Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes

5. “My name is David, but my nickname is David.” —Illinois forward David Mirkovic talking about the difference pronunciations of his name (Dah-veed versus Day-vid)

Full Saturday schedule for 2026 men’s NCAA tournament

We’re still just getting started.

• (1) Michigan vs. (9) Saint Louis | 12:10 p.m. | CBS
• (3) Michigan State vs. (6) Louisville | 2:45 p.m. | CBS
• (1) Duke vs. (9) TCU | 5:15 p.m. | CBS
• (2) Houston vs. (10) Texas A&M | 6:10 p.m. | TNT
• (3) Gonzaga  (11) Texas | 7:10 p.m. | TBS
• (3) Illinois vs. (11) VCU | 7:50 p.m. | CBS
• (4) Nebraska vs. (5) Vanderbilt | 8:45 p.m. | TNT
• (4) Arkansas vs. (12) High Point | 9:45 p.m. | TBS