25 best first-round NCAA Tournament games of all time

We begin our list with the game that started Florida Atlantic's magical run to the 2023 Final Four. Though not the best offensive showing for either team (combined 14-of-50 from 3-point range), it was close and a lot of fun for the viewer without a rooting interest. Memphis had a one-point lead and the ball with fewer than 15 seconds remaining in regulation. However, the Tigers turned the ball over with roughly 10 seconds to go. FAU worked for a final shot, and Nick Boyd delivered with a driving left-handed layup to begin its Cinderella run.

From the start, it looked as if Wilmington was going to pull off the upset and record its first NCAA Tournament victory in rather easy fashion. The Seahawks, who led by as many as 19, shot 52 percent during the first half to lead 37-28 at the break. However, USC showed its mettle, and Wilmington also went cold down the stretch, making only one field goal in the final nine minutes of regulation. So, overtime was needed to decided the contest. The Seahawks held USC to just nine points in the extra session, and four straight points from Stewart Hare in the final minute helped Wilmington seal the upset.

One year before the Hoosiers won the national championship in dramatic fashion, they were stunned in the first round by a confident Cleveland State squad. Indiana shot 54.2 percent, but the Vikings were even better, making 59 percent of their shots. Not to mention, they also outrebounded Indiana and forced 15 turnovers thanks to some smothering defense that frustrated Bobby Knight's group. Clinton Ramsey scored 27 points, while Eric Mudd added 16 with 10 boards for Cleveland State, which, at the time, became the lowest seed to beat the mighty Hoosiers in NCAA Tournament play.

Yes, this was a six-loss Duke team, but still a No. 2 seed. Not to mention, this matchup with Lehigh was being played in Greensboro, N.C., roughly 55 miles from the Blue Devils' Durham campus. However, that didn't stop future NBA star and Lehigh standout C.J. McCollum from dropping 30 points on Duke. The Mountain Hawks also frustrated the Blue Devils into shooting 6-of-26 from 3-point range and forced 13 turnovers. It was just the second time during a 16-year stretch that Duke lost its opening NCAA Tournament contest.

The No. 8 vs. No. 9 games tend to provide some of the most intriguing and hard-to-pick NCAA Tournament contests. This 2011 matchup between Butler and ODU proved to be highly entertaining. Now, it wasn't the prettiest game on record (neither team shot better than 41 percent) and combined for 30 turnovers. However, the game featured 10 ties and 22 lead changes, and came right down to the wire. Old Dominion scored six straight points to tie the game at 58-58. Butler held for the last shot, but Shawn Vanzant tripped while driving to the basket, but flung the ball toward the hoop. That's where teammate Andrew Smith tipped it toward the net, but the ball ended up in the hands of Matt Howard to bank off the glass before the final buzzer.

The game that introduced the mainstream college basketball world to Weber State's Harold "The Show" Arceneaux. The Wildcats star scored 36 points, including 20 in the second half, on 14-of-36 shooting, and helped his team not only hang with the mighty Tar Heels, but pull off a tournament shocker behind one of the great individual performances of all time. Weber State trailed by two at the break, and then used a 9-2 run early in the second half to take the lead for good, managing to hold on down the stretch. 

Missouri was a 30-win team in 2011-12, and shot 52.7 percent and made 13 3s in this contest. However, pesky Norfolk State's five starters shot 60 percent, including 10-of-16 from beyond the 3-point arc. Three of them, Kyle O'Quinn, Pendarvis Williams and Chris McEachin combined for 66 points. The Spartans also held an impressive 35-23 advantage on the glass to pull off one of the more complete performances — regardless of seed-to-seed — in NCAA Tournament history.

Sure, this wasn't one of the great Duke teams (it had eight losses entering the NCAA Tournament), however, the brand name tends to intimidate a double digit-seeded first-round opponent. That wasn't the case with upstart Mercer, which forced the Blue Devils to chuck shots from distance all game. Duke made 15 3-pointers on 37 attempts, but shot 35.5 percent overall. Meanwhile, the senior-laden Bears, who won 27 games in 2014, made 55.6 percent of their shots. They tied the game at 63-63 on Anthony White's 3 with fewer than three minutes remaining, and eventually took the lead for good on two free throws by Jakob Gollon (20 points) with 1:54 remaining.

With the beloved Sr. Jean looking on, Loyola began its Cinderella run to the 2018 Final Four in dramatic fashion. In a game where both teams shot better than 47 percent, the Ramblers hung tough by forcing 16 turnovers. Then it was time, perhaps, for a little divine intervention. From well beyond the top of the 3-point arc, Loyola's Donte Ingram canned the go-ahead bucket with .4 seconds remaining to stun the Hurricanes and turn the Ramblers into tournament darlings.

The No. 15 seed over the No. 2 upset is really not surprising these days. And, here we have the most recent upstart to pull off said victory. The Saint Peter's Peacocks entered with 11 losses, but shot 51 percent, including 9-of-17 from 3-point range, to take down a 26-win Kentucky squad. Yet, it was Doug Edert's layup with 24 seconds remaining that forced overtime, then hit a pair of key free throws in overtime to ice the game for Saint Peter's, who became the 10th No. 15 seed to win an NCAA Tournament game.

LSU's seemingly improbable run to the 1986 Final Four began with a true barnburner. In one of the wildest games in NCAA Tournament history, LSU and Purdue each shot better than 48 percent and the contest was tied 15 times in the second half. The game eventually when to overtime, where each team scored four points. Things were much different in the second extra session, where the Tigers scored the first 10 points and outscored the Boilermakers 21-14 to pull off the first-round upset in entertaining fashion.

Out of the Missouri Valley Conference, Drake entered 2008 NCAA Tournament at 28-4 and a team to watch. The Bulldogs drew Western Kentucky in the first round, and many felt good about their chances of moving on. However, the Hilltoppers shot 54.4 percent and wouldn't go away. They forced overtime and eventually pulled off the upset with Ty Rogers' deep three-pointer — with two defenders in his face — as time expired to end Drake's special season in crushing fashion.

This marked the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament that a No. 15 seed beat a second-seeded team. The confident Spiders were pretty much in control the entire game, shooting 49 percent and mixing up various defensive looks that frustrated Syracuse, which shot 5-of-21 from 3-point range. Richmond led by as many as 10 in the second half then held off Jim Boeheim's crew to pull off the historic upset and give the little guy hope going forward.

Little Rock won 29 games during the 2015-16 season, but knew the challenge that awaited against Purdue in the first round, and it appeared an upset was not to be with the Trojans trailed by 13 with 3:33 remaining in regulation. Then they started to surge, and forced overtime on Josh Hagins' last-second 3 from roughly 30 feet. Hagins, who finished with 31 points, wasn't done as his shot off the glass led to a second overtime, where he opened the scoring with a 12-footer, and Little Rock never trailed again.

Deep 3s at the buzzer to win games are exciting, but what about those gritty drives to the basket in traffic? It's that "no fear" approach with the game on the line. After Butler's LaVall Jordan missed two free throws that would have extended its lead to three, that's what Florida's Mike Miller used to get the Gators past the upset-minded Bulldogs in overtime. When the ball finally dropped in the hoop, Miller was on the ground and Florida was victorious. The irony of the contest was that both teams shot poorly — Butler at 36.1 percent, Florida 40.6 percent.  

Paul Jesperson was not known by many college basketball fans before underdog Northern Iowa stunned Texas in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Panthers guard, a career 41.3 percent shooter, drained a half-court shot just before the buzzer for a wild upset. The fact is that UNI was the better team most of the game, shooting 48.8 percent, but Texas rallied from being down by eight points at halftime. Another reason to love the madness of March.

The image of hobbled, yet animated Georgia State coach Ron Hunter rolling around on a wheeled stool, then falling off it, while his Georgia State Panthers stunned Baylor remains one of the lasting all-time images of the NCAA Tournament. Baylor led 56-44, but failed to score in the final 2:54 of the game. Stepped-up defensive pressure by Georgia State, which got nine straight points from the coach's son R.J. Hunter, including the go-ahead deep 3 with 2.6 seconds remaining, paced the closing surge that led to the first-round upset. In the end, the Panthers forced 21 Baylor turnovers.

There are college basketball fans of a certain age who forget that N.C. State's run to that improbable 1983 national title almost ended before it really began. The Wolfpack trailed Pepperdine by six late, but cut that deficit to two with eight seconds remaining in regulation. That happened after Waves star Dane Settle failed to come through from the free-throw line. Cozell McQueen's tip-in forced overtime, and the Wolfpack eventually prevailed after the second extra session to begin their dream run.

Terrell Taylor didn't start for Creighton in this opening round tilt in 2002. However, he played more minutes (40) than any other Bluejays player and finished with 28 points, while going 8-of-15 from 3-point range. Florida was up by two in the second overtime, but whistled for a five-second call on an inbounds play with fewer than 30 seconds remaining. The ball eventually got back into Taylor's hands, and from the top of the key and with Brett Nelson's hand in his face, knocked down the game-winning 3 with .2 seconds remaining in the second OT.

As time has gone on, Princeton's near-miss against Georgetown remains memorable. Notably for the entertainment value, but also because there are many critics and college basketball historians who believed it saved the NCAA Tournament. Until then, very few No. 16 seeds seriously challenged a top dog, and early-round interest apparently began to wane. Coached by the legendary Pete Carril, Princeton and its methodical offense wore down the Hoyas, who trailed 29-21 at halftime. The game remained close in the second half, during which Georgetown didn't take its first lead until there was 10:25 left to play. Hoyas star Alonzo Mourning (21 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocks) hit two free throws to give his team a one-point lead, then recorded back-to-back blocks in the final 15 seconds to preserve the victory. 

There may not be a more well-executed buzzer-beater than the one Valparaiso displayed in stunning Ole Miss in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament — after all, it is immortalized in Tournament history as "The Shot." Here it is: a perfectly thrown inbounds, baseball pass. That was followed by a quick catch and pass and finished with a leaning 3-pointer by Bryce Drew, one of the game's more underrated players at the time and the current head coach at Grand Canyon University. The shot made Drew, who finished with 22 points, something of a tournament legend and paved the way for Valpo's surprise run to the Sweet 16.

This 1990 opening-round thriller is still the only No. 1-vs-No. 16 matchup to be decided in overtime. Murray State star Popeye Jones had 37 points and 11 rebounds, but it was teammate Greg Coble's 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer that forced overtime, and kept alive the prospect of the first 16-vs-1 upset. However, the Spartans were just good enough to prevail, thanks to a Kirk Manns tie-breaking, off-balanced shot with less than a minute remaining in the extra session and followed by Dwayne Stephens' fast-break bucket to clinch the victory.

UCLA was the defending national champion and obviously favored against the aforementioned Pete Carril and his Princeton Tigers. Neither team shot better than 39 percent, but the Tigers' methodical offense and stout defense made life miserable for Toby Bailey and Co. And, in old-school, Hoosiers-like basketball, Princeton scored the game-winning basket off a backdoor cut by Gabe Lewullis with 2.2 remaining in regulation to pull off one of the most memorable upsets in NCAA Tournament history.

Fairleigh Dickinson's starting lineup to open the 2023 NCAA Tournament featured no player taller than 6'7" and two shorter than 5'10". However, that group was good enough to take down 7'4" Zach Edey and the Boilermakers. The Knights held Purdue to 35.8-percent shooting, 5-of-26 from 3-point range and forced the frustrated favorite into 16 turnovers. Edey had 21 points and 15 rebounds, but did not take a shot in the final nine minutes en route to one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. As we'll soon see, this wasn't the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1, but paved the way for more to follow.

Yes, this was not the closest game in NCAA history, but it might be the most notably historic. Led by 28 points from Jarius Lyles, UMBC shot a stellar 54.2 percent, highlighted by going 12-of-24 from 3-point range, to blow out the Cavaliers to become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1. UMBC also owned an impressive 31-21 advantage on the glass. In the annals of the NCAA Tournament, it should be considered the greatest upset in the history of the event, regardless of the round, point spread or any other circumstance.