NCAA Tournament

The Xavier Musketeers and Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers finalized the first-round field of the NCAA men's basketball tournament with First Four wins on Wednesday.

Xavier used a second-half comeback to eliminate the Texas Longhorns and set up a first-round showdown with the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Mount St. Mary's put on an offensive show to down the American Eagles in the battle of No. 16 seeds.

The Mountaineers take on one of the toughest first-round tests on Friday against the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils.

Click here to play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge.

Wednesday First Four Scores

No. 11 Xavier 86, No. 11 Texas 80

No. 16 Mount St. Mary's 83, American 72

Updated Schedule

First Four: March 19

First round: March 20-21

Second round: March 22-23

Sweet 16: March 27-28

Elite Eight: March 29-30

Final Four: April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

NCAA championship game: April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

Round 1 Schedule

Thursday, March 20

(8) Louisville vs. (9) Creighton, 12:15 p.m. | CBS

4) Purdue vs. (13) High Point, 12:40 p.m. | truTV

(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Montana, 1:30 p.m. | TNT

(1) Houston vs. (16) SIU Edwardsville, 2 p.m. | TBS

(1) Auburn vs. (16) Alabama St., 2:50 p.m. | CBS

(5) Clemson vs. (12) McNeese, 3:15 p.m. | truTV

(6) BYU vs. (11) VCU, 4:05 p.m. | TNT

(8) Gonzaga vs. (9) Georgia, 4:35 p.m. | TBS

(2) Tennessee vs. (15) Wofford, 6:50 p.m. | TNT

(7) Kansas vs. (10) Arkansas, 7:10 p.m. | CBS

(4) Texas A&M vs. (13) Yale, 7:25 p.m. | TBS

(6) Missouri vs. (11) Drake, 7:35 p.m. | truTV

(7) UCLA vs. (10) Utah State, 9:25 p.m. | TNT

(2) St. John's vs. (15) Omaha, 9:45 p.m. | CBS

(5) Michigan vs. (12) UC San Diego, 10 p.m. | TBS

(3) Texas Tech vs. (14) UNC Wilmington, 10:10 p.m. | truTV

Friday, March 21

(8) Mississippi State vs. (9) Baylor, 12:15 p.m. | CBS

(2) Alabama vs. (15) Robert Morris, 12:40 p.m. | truTV

(3) Iowa State vs. (14) Lipscomb, 1:30 p.m. | TNT

(5) Memphis vs. (12) Colorado State, 2 p.m. | TBS

(1) Duke vs. (16) Mount St. Mary's, 2:50 p.m. | CBS

(7) Saint Mary's vs. (10) Vanderbilt, 3:15 p.m. | truTV

(6) Ole Miss vs. (11) North Carolina, 4:05 p.m. | TNT

(4) Maryland vs. (13) Grand Canyon, 4:35 p.m. | TBS

(1) Florida vs. (16) Norfolk State, 6:50 p.m. | TNT

(3) Kentucky vs. (14) Troy, 7:10 p.m. | CBS

(7) Marquette vs. (10) New Mexico, 7:25 p.m. | TBS

(4) Arizona vs. (13) Akron, 7:35 p.m. | truTV

(8) UConn vs. (9) Oklahoma, 9:25 p.m. | TNT

(6) Illinois vs. (11) Xavier, 9:45 p.m. | TNT

(2) Michigan State vs. (15) Bryant, 10 p.m. | TBS

(5) Oregon vs. (12) Liberty, 10:10 p.m. | truTV

Xavier Uses Comeback to Stay Alive, Face Illinois

Xavier overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to keep its season alive for one more game.

Marcus Foster posted 22 points and eight rebounds, while Zach Freemantle contributed 15 points in the win over fellow No. 11 seed Texas.

Sean Miller's team won eight of its last nine games and it could be in for a high-scoring affair with Illinois.

Both the Musketeers and Illini rank in the top 75 in adjusted tempo on KenPom, Xavier has a top-10 three-point offense and Illinois owns a top-20 two-point offense.

If anything, Friday night's finale in Milwaukee should produce plenty of offensive fireworks.

Mount St. Mary's Moves on To Face Duke

Mount St Mary’s eclipsed the 80-point mark for just the seventh time in a victory this season.

The Mountaineers are going to have to score at that pace to keep up with the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils, even if Cooper Flagg is not at 100 percent.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said on Sunday that the plan is for Flagg to play, starting in the first round, per ESPN.

How often Flagg is on the court is dependent on how quickly Duke dispenses of Mount St. Mary’s in an expected blowout. 

Mount St. Mary’s went 0-3 against teams in the KenPom top 100 this season. The MAAC tournament champion didn’t score more than 56 points in any of those games and they lost two of those contests by more than 25 points. 

Duke has been hard to stop for even the top-tier opponents on its schedule. The Blue Devils were especially tough to slow down for teams beneath 150 in the KenPom rankings. Duke scored over 80 points against six of its last seven opponents that fit that criteria.

The North Carolina Tar Heels delivered a bit of a statement on Tuesday night with a 95-68 win over the San Diego State Aztecs.

North Carolina was controversially added to the 68-team field as the last at-large team, but at least on Tuesday, it looked like a NCAA tournament-caliber team.

UNC set up a showdown with the Ole Miss Rebels on Friday in Milwaukee. The Tar Heels will try to extend the run of First Four winners to win another game in the tournament.

The Alabama State Hornets won in much more dramatic fashion on Tuesday night in Dayton with a last-second shot to take down the Saint Francis Red Flash, 70-68.

Alabama State has a far more tougher assignment ahead on Thursday in Lexington against the No. 1 overall seed Auburn Tigers.

The updated NCAA tournament schedule and bracket can be found here on NCAA.com.

Click here to play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge.

Updated Schedule

First Four: March 19

First round: March 20-21

Second round: March 22-23

Sweet 16: March 27-28

Elite Eight: March 29-30

Final Four: April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

NCAA championship game: April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

Round 1 Schedule

Thursday, March 20

(8) Louisville vs. (9) Creighton, 12:15 p.m. | CBS

4) Purdue vs. (13) High Point, 12:40 p.m. | truTV

(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Montana, 1:30 p.m. | TNT

(1) Houston vs. (16) SIU Edwardsville, 2 p.m. | TBS

(1) Auburn vs. (16) Alabama St., 2:50 p.m. | CBS

(5) Clemson vs. (12) McNeese, 3:15 p.m. | truTV

(6) BYU vs. (11) VCU, 4:05 p.m. | TNT

(8) Gonzaga vs. (9) Georgia, 4:35 p.m. | TBS

(2) Tennessee vs. (15) Wofford, 6:50 p.m. | TNT

(7) Kansas vs. (10) Arkansas, 7:10 p.m. | CBS

(4) Texas A&M vs. (13) Yale, 7:25 p.m. | TBS

(6) Missouri vs. (11) Drake, 7:35 p.m. | truTV

(7) UCLA vs. (10) Utah State, 9:25 p.m. | TNT

(2) St. John's vs. (15) Omaha, 9:45 p.m. | CBS

(5) Michigan vs. (12) UC San Diego, 10 p.m. | TBS

(3) Texas Tech vs. (14) UNC Wilmington, 10:10 p.m. | truTV

Friday, March 21

(8) Mississippi State vs. (9) Baylor, 12:15 p.m. | CBS

(2) Alabama vs. (15) Robert Morris, 12:40 p.m. | truTV

(3) Iowa State vs. (14) Lipscomb, 1:30 p.m. | TNT

(5) Memphis vs. (12) Colorado State, 2 p.m. | TBS

(1) Duke vs. (16) Mount St. Mary's/American, 2:50 p.m. | CBS

(7) Saint Mary's vs. (10) Vanderbilt, 3:15 p.m. | truTV

(6) Ole Miss vs. (11) North Carolina, 4:05 p.m. | TNT

(4) Maryland vs. (13) Grand Canyon, 4:35 p.m. | TBS

(1) Florida vs. (16) Norfolk State, 6:50 p.m. | TNT

(3) Kentucky vs. (14) Troy, 7:10 p.m. | CBS

(7) Marquette vs. (10) New Mexico, 7:25 p.m. | TBS

(4) Arizona vs. (13) Akron, 7:35 p.m. | truTV

(8) UConn vs. (9) Oklahoma, 9:25 p.m. | TNT

(6) Illinois vs. (11) Xavier/Texas, 9:45 p.m. | TNT

(2) Michigan State vs. (15) Bryant, 10 p.m. | TBS

(5) Oregon vs. (12) Liberty, 10:10 p.m. | truTV

North Carolina Cruises Into Matchup with Ole Miss

North Carolina blew out San Diego State in a game that felt over before halftime.

Carolina's offense came out with a point to prove that it belonged to be in the field of 68 and San Diego State, a traditionally strong defensive team, could not contain the ACC side.

UNC will now face the Ole Miss Rebels on Friday with an extra day off, which is not typical for Tuesday First Four winners.

The added rest plus the confidence gained from Tuesday's win could propel the Tar Heels further into the Big Dance.

Ole Miss went 3-5 in its last eight games in the SEC and did not win more than three games in a row since early January.

Rebels head coach Chris Beard has had past NCAA tournament success with Texas Tech, but he needs his team to turn around its recent form to win this March.

North Carolina is trying to follow in the footsteps of VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021 to make deep runs out of the First Four.

At minimum, the Tar Heels will attempt to extend the trend that at least one First Four winner is victorious in one more game. That's been done in every year except one since the First Four was introduced in 2011.

Alabama State Sets Up Clash With Auburn

Alabama State won the battle of 16 seeds with Saint Francis in thrilling fashion.

The Hornets are now on a seven-game winning streak, but most people expect that to end against Auburn on Thursday.

Auburn has lost three of its last four games, but the Tigers should outclass the Hornets and win by double digits.

However, Alabama State is not to be taken lightly. After all, FDU won as a 16 seed out of the First Four just two years ago against Purdue.

An upset is unlikely, but at least Alabama State got to taste victory in a NCAA tournament game, something most 15 or 16 seeds can't come close to.