PITTSBURGH — Jack Gohlke has no illusions of going to the NBA.
Guys who spend five years in Division II before transferring to a small D-I basketball program with one NCAA tournament win in its history typically don't head to the highest level of hoops.
Don't mistake that practicality with a lack of belief in his abilities — or those of his teammates. Gohlke and the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies have felt all season they could hang with anybody on any given night.
They did that and more Thursday, when the 6-foot-3 graduate transfer and the commuter school located 30 miles from downtown Detroit showed Kentucky and the rest of the country what it takes to win in March.
Confident at the start and cool at the finish, Gohlke made 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 32 points as the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies, the Horizon League champions, delivered the first true shock of this year's NCAA tourney, beating the third-seeded Wildcats 80-76 in a first-round matchup for the South Region at PPG Paints Arena.
"We've been a solid team all year," said Gohlke, who arrived last fall at Oakland in Auburn Hills after graduating from Hillsdale College, another Michigan school. "We've won close games all year."
Just never on this stage. Yet it was the Grizzlies (24-11), and not the Wildcats (23-10) of the mighty Southeastern Conference, who looked like they were prepared for the pressure of the one-and-done, anything-can-happen setup that makes March Madness what it is.
Oakland will face another Cinderella of sorts in the second round Saturday when it takes on 11th-seeded North Carolina State, which beat sixth-seeded Texas Tech in the fourth and final game in Pittsburgh later Thursday.
Gohlke's shotmaking gave Oakland some swagger early. His teammates picked it up late when Kentucky went to a box-and-one defense in hopes of slowing him down.
Trey Townsend, the Horizon League player of the year, added 17 points for Oakland, while DQ Cole chipped in 12, including a 3 from the corner with 28 seconds left that gave the Grizzlies a four-point lead. Oakland never trailed over the final 14:32 to send the Wildcats and coach John Calipari to another early tournament exit.
Calipari took over at Kentucky in 2009, and his third season brought the program its eight national championship. His tenure also includes an NCAA runner-up finish and two other Final Four trips, but he has lost four of his past five games in the tournament. The Wildcats haven't made it past the first weekend of the event since reaching the Elite Eight in 2019.
"I hate it for these guys that people try to define this season by that game, and it's natural and it's how this business works," he said of Thursday's loss. "But this group was a ball to coach, and we did things to help them and bring them together, and they did it for each other. They've got great hearts, and that's what's devastating about this for me.
"I've lost tough games before, and we've won some buzzer-beater games. I mean, I've been through everything in my career. But this is one that's like, man!"
Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 27 points, Tre Mitchell added 14 and Rob Dillingham scored 10, but the Wildcats and their roster stacked with potential NBA draft picks spent most of the night trying — and failing — to chase down Gohlke.
The Oakland standout made half of his 20 3-point attempts, hitting seven in the first half, to fall one short of Jeff Fryer's NCAA tourney record set in 1990 for Loyola Marymount. Gohlke's only other points came after he was fouled — while attempting a 3.
"It's definitely a special thing, watching him just (make) 3 after 3 after 3," Townsend said. "It gives us momentum and excitement to keep playing hard."
The Wildcats came in as 13 1/2-point favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, but instead lost to a double-digit seed for the second time in three seasons. In 2022, it was 15th-seeded Saint Peter's that sent the Wildcats home. This time it was a team led by the longest-tenured coach in the country.
Greg Kampe has spent 40 years at Oakland. And until the clock hit zero, the 68-year-old thought the biggest victory of his career had come in 2000, when the Grizzlies beat Michigan in the regular season.
There's a new No. 1.
"As soon as that horn went off, I changed my mind immediately," Kampe said with a laugh before turning a little more serious. "We led the whole game, and every time they got the lead, we came right back. If we were pretenders, we would have folded. We're not pretenders. We believe we belong here."
Oakland certainly looked the part. The Wildcats, not so much.
Calipari said his job is to take the pressure off his young players' shoulders and place them on his. It must have felt awfully heavy at times while Gohlke and the Grizzlies kept pace with the second-highest-scoring team in the country.
In the end, Kentucky added to the early disappointment for the SEC, which matched the Big Ten with eight teams in this year's 68-team field but started 0-3 as the Wildcats followed Mississippi State and South Carolina in falling to lower-seeded opponents Thursday.
Tennessee's late-night victory against Saint Peter's prevented the league from being shut out of the win column on the first full day of tourney action, with Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M playing first-round matchups Friday.
AP photo by Matt Freed / Oakland's Jack Gohlke shoots a 3-pointer over Kentucky's Rob Dillingham during an NCAA tournament first-round game Thursday night in Pittsburgh. Oakland, the South Region's No. 14 seed, beat the third-seeded Wildcats 80-76/N.C. State 80, Texas Tech 67
Ben Middlebrooks scored a career-high 21 points as the Wolfpack (23-14) surged past Texas Tech (23-11) to continue their magical March.
The Wolfpack (23-14), who won five games in five days to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last week, secured their first NCAA tourney win in nine years behind Middlebrooks' boost off the bench and another bruising performance by center D.J. Burns Jr.
The 6-foot-9, 275-pound Burns finished with 16 points, Mo Diarra had 17 with 12 rebounds for N.C. State, and D.J. Horne also scored 16.
Joe Toussaint led the Red Raiders (23-11) with 16 points, but Texas Tech shot just 7-of-31 from 3-point range and couldn't keep pace in the second half. N.C. State broke the game open with a 13-2 surge midway through the period, highlighted by a pretty bounce pass from Michael O'Connell that turned into a dunk by Diarra and a soft running hook shot by Burns that made it 65-51.
It's been a remarkable turnaround over the last 10 days for N.C. State, which entered the ACC tourney as the 10th seed and was dealing with questions about coach Kevin Keatts' future. The Wolfpack's run in Washington included wins against rivals Duke, Virginia and North Carolina, the last a decisive victory in the title game.
MIDWEST REGION
Oregon 87, South Carolina 73
Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points to haunt sixth-seeded South Carolina (26-8) — his former school — while leading No. 11 seed Oregon (24-11) to a double-digit victory.
Couisnard, who spent three years in the SEC at South Carolina before transferring in part because of a coaching change after the 2021-22 season, made five 3-pointers and went 14-of-22 from the field to pace the Ducks, who beat the Pac-12's top-seeded Arizona on the way to a surprising league tournament title last weekend.
Oregon, which has been reduced to eight scholarship players due to injuries, advanced to the second round to face No. 3 seed Creighton, which beat No. 14 seed Akron in the first of four games Thursday at PPG Paints Arena. The Ducks and Gamecocks followed.
The Ducks, who improved to 8-0 in NCAA first-round games under coach Dana Altman's direction, got 23 points from N'Faly Dante, some of them coming on backboard-shaking dunks for the 6-11 center who had knee surgery earlier this season.
Meechie Johnson scored 24 and Ta'Lon Cooper added 15 for the Gamecocks, who were in the tournament for the 10th time overall but first time since 2017. After just 11 wins in 2022-23, South Carolina showed substantial progress in its second season under coach Lamont Paris, who took over the Gamecocks after capping his fifth and final season at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a Southern Conference tournament title and the Mocs' first NCAA trip in six years.
South Carolina had too many offensive droughts to keep up with the Ducks, although the Gamecocks did provide the first viral moment of this NCAA tourney when Cooper dropped a shot from beyond half court as the halftime horn sounded.
While that make was memorable, Couisnard's contributions were more meaningful — including consecutive 3-pointers in the second half when Oregon was already leading by nine points.
Creighton 77, Akron 60
Creighton leaned on experience from the program's past trips through March Madness to make sure this one didn't start with a stumble.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points, Trey Alexander added 19 and Baylor Scheierman chipped in 15 with 13 rebounds for a double-double as the Bluejays, who came within seconds of making the Final Four a year ago, tipped off their time in this year's tourney with a double-digit win.
Creighton (24-9), from Omaha, Nebraska, finished the game 10-for-17 from 3-point range but got all it could handle in the first half from Akron (24-11), the Mid-American Conference tourney champion listed as a 10 1/2-point underdog by FanDuel Sportsbook. However, the Bluejays flexed their Big East muscles after halftime, starting the period with a 20-8 run and pulling away to advance.
Akron's Enrique Freeman, the MAC player of the year and the nation's leading rebounder, finished with 21 points and 14 boards. It was Freeman's 31st double-double, tying him with Navy great David Robinson (1986) for the NCAA single-season record.
A year ago, the Bluejays' season ended with a heartbreaking 57-56 loss to San Diego State — Creighton committed a foul in the closing seconds — in the South Region final. Much of that squad came back for coach Greg McDermott to try and make another deep run, and the Bluejays have taken the first step.
The Zips still don't know what that's like; their program fell to 0-6 in NCAA tournament play.
Texas 56, Colorado State 44
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and No. 7 seed Texas held Colorado State — a No. 10 seed and the winner of a First Four game Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio — to 11 points in the first half en route to a decisive first-round victory at the Spectrum Center.
The Longhorns (21-12) will play again Saturday, facing second-seeded Tennessee (24-8).
Joel Scott and Isaiah Stevens scored 10 apiece for the Rams (25-11), who shot 29% from the field.
Colorado State, which held Virginia to 14 first-half points on Tuesday, jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the wheels came off. The Rams missed 18 of their next 19 shots and scored just three points over the final 15 1/2 minutes of the first half. Texas closed the period on a 25-3 run to take a 27-11 lead into the locker room.
Gonzaga 86, McNeese State 65
SALT LAKE CITY — Graham Ike scored 16 points and Anton Watson added 13 with 13 rebounds and nine assists to power fifth-seeded Gonzaga (26-7) over No. 12 seed McNeese State (30-4), which was in the tourney for the first time in 22 years.
Ike made all six of his shots from the field and all four of his free throws while grabbing 10 rebounds for the hot-shooting Bulldogs, who were 52% from the field and 48% from 3-point range.
Christian Shumate and Shahada Wells each scored 19 points for the Cowboys, who stayed close for a while on sheer grit and hustle, although the Bulldogs' efficiency prevented them from running.
Gonzaga, an NCAA tournament regular with two runner-up finishes but still seeking its first title, moves on to a second-round matchup with Kansas, a four-time national champion.
Kansas 93, Samford 89
Injury-riddled Kansas got a kind whistle at the end, and Nicolas Timberlake made both of his free throws to help the fourth-seeded Jayhawks hold off SoCon champion Samford.
The 13th-seeded Bulldogs were trapping after trimming a 22-point deficit to one when Timberlake took a long pass as he was streaking toward the basket. He went to dunk, and Samford's A.J. Staton-McCray came from behind and blocked the shot, appearing to touch nothing but ball.
The whistle blew, though, and Timberlake calmly made both free throws with 14.7 seconds left to help the Jayhawks push their lead to three. They will play Gonzaga on Saturday in the second round of the Midwest Region.
Hunter Dickinson led the dinged-up Jayhawks with 19 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks.
WEST REGION
North Carolina 90, Wagner 62
Armando Bacot had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Tar Heels, who never trailed while ousting 16th-seeded Wagner with ease.
Jae'Lyn Withers added a season-high 16 points and matched his best rebounding work with 10 boards for North Carolina (28-7). That helped his team shoot 55% while dominating up front against Wagner (17-16), a short-handed upstart aiming to pull off only the third takedown ever of a No. 1 seed in the opening round.
The Seahawks (17-16), who won their first-ever NCAA tournament game by holding off Howard in a First Four matchup Tuesday night, shot 39.7% against North Carolina.
RJ Davis, named this week as a first-team AP All-American, had 17 of his 22 points after halftime for the Tar Heels, who also benefited from the backing of a blue-clad crowd at the Spectrum Center, about 2 1/2 hours from their Chapel Hill campus. They'll have that again for the next step, a marquee matchup with Michigan State on Saturday.
Julian Brown and Melvin Council Jr. scored 18 points apiece for the Seahawks, who had just seven scholarship players available and only one offering any notable size: 6-9, 255-pound Keyontae Lewis, who scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting.
Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51
Tyson Walker scored 19 points and coach Tom Izzo picked up his 20th win in the first round of the NCAA tourney as his ninth-seeded Spartans (20-14) earned a wire-to-wire win against the eighth-seeded Bulldogs (21-14), who haven't won in this phase of the postseason since 2021.
Michigan State improved to 20-6 in March Madness openers under Izzo, who is making his 26th straight appearance in the national championship event — an NCAA Division I record for a coach at one school.
Jaden Akins added 15 points and seven rebounds and Mailk Hall scored 10 points for the Spartans. Mississippi State freshman Josh Hubbard scored 15 points, but just two came in the second half.
Both teams entered the tournament having lost five of seven games, but it was the Spartans who pushed the tempo early and jumped out to a 20-8 lead.
Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65
SALT LAKE CITY — Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch to pull away for a victory at the Delta Center and snuff out Dan Monson's coaching tenure at Long Beach State.
Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (26-8) — who made 13 3-pointers, the program record for NCAA tourney play — as they pushed out the 15th-seeded Beach (21-15) and moved on to face Dayton.
This marked the end of a 17-year stretch at Long Beach State for the 62-year-old Monson. He learned last week that he wouldn't return next season. His team responded by unexpectedly winning the Big West tournament to send the program to March Madness for the first time since 2012.
Arizona trailed by one with 2:34 left in the first half. A few free throws and a 3-pointer by Caleb Love started the Wildcats' onslaught before intermission. By the time the surge was over at the 17:08 mark of the second half, Arizona led 50-35.
Dayton 63, Nevada 60
DaRon Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton (25-7) staged a huge rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat 10th-seeded Nevada (26-8).
Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, finished with 18 points, including a three-point play with 2:01 remaining that gave Dayton its first lead since the first half, which had ended with the Wolf Pack on a 16-0 run.
The Flyers trailed 56-39 with 7:36 remaining but responded with a 17-0 run that included two 3-pointers by Koby Brea, who finished with 15 points.
Enoch Cheeks' layup with 34 seconds left gave Dayton the lead for good, and he made two free throws for the final margin. He scored 12 points as the Flyers picked up their first NCAA tourney win in nine years.
EAST REGION
Illinois 85, Morehead State 69
OMAHA, Neb. — Marcus Domask posted the NCAA tourney's first triple-double since 2019, and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points, helping No. 3 seed Illinois (27-8) pull away from No. 14 Morehead State (26-9).
Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double. It was the first triple-double in the event since Ja Morant accomplished the feat in his final season at Murray State.
Dain Dainja scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Fighting Illini shook off the pesky Eagles. Dainja went 9-for-9 from the field and matched his career high with eight rebounds.
Next up for Illinois is an attempt to get past the tournament's first weekend for the first time in nine appearances when it takes on Duquesne on Saturday.
Duquesne 71, BYU 67
Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and the 11th-seeded Dukes (25-11) kept retiring coach Keith Dambrot working for a little bit longer with a victory against the sixth-seeded Cougars (23-11).
Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the A10 tourney champs, who celebrated their return to the Big Dance after 47 years with their first win in it since 1969.
The Cougars trailed by as many as 14 in the second half before drawing even when Foussyni Traore, who had struggled all game, slammed down the second of back-to-back baskets to knot it at 60-all with 1:45 to go.
In the end, Grant was stoic from the free-throw line in sending the Dukes to the next round.
Iowa State 82, South Dakota State 65
Milan Momcilovic looked nothing like a freshman while pouring in 19 points, Tamin Lipsey added 17 with seven assists, and No. 2 seed Iowa State (28-7) used big runs to start each half to beat No. 15 seed South Dakota State (22-13), which fell to 0-7 all-time in the NCAA tourney.
Keshon Gilbert had 15 points and Hason Ward dunked his way to 10, helping the Cyclones bounce back from an embarrassing first-round loss a year ago.
South Dakota State showed plenty of gumption after allowing Iowa State to race to a 17-3 lead to start the game, cutting the deficit in half by the break. But the Cyclones blitzed the Jackrabbits to start the second half, too, going on a 14-5 run to pull away.
They advanced to face No. 7 seed Washington State.
Washington State 66, Drake 61
Isaac Jones had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Isaiah Watts' first 3-pointer in three games gave Washington State the lead with 1:51 left, and the seventh-seeded Cougars beat No. 10 seed Drake.
The Cougars (25-9) shot just 29.6% while trailing most of the second half, but Drake's season-worst 6-of-14 performance at the foul line allowed them to win in their first NCAA tourney appearance since 2008.
Drake (28-7) had its largest lead at 54-46 when Washington State started its comeback.
Tucker DeVries had a shot swirl in and out, and Andrej Jakimovski made a 3 from the wing to get the Cougars within 54-51. Drake's Darnell Brodie had the ball slip out of his hands as he was making a move to the basket, and Jones snaked in for a layup on the other end to make it 54-53.
Brodie, who controlled much of the second half for Drake offensively, fouled out with 2:26 left before Watts connected for the lead. The Cougars went 5-for-6 on free throws to hold off the Bulldogs.