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By C.J. Moore, Joe Rexrode, Sam Blum, Scott Dochterman, Ralph Russo and Tobias Bass

The Athletic has live coverage of 2025 Men’s March Madness

With 16 games on tap, you’ve got screens everywhere. Your laptop has a game on, as does your friend’s. You’ve also fired up two TVs and a tablet, all streaming the Madness. It’s the first day of the NCAA Tournament and the only plan is to watch it all.

As you settle in, The Athletic has you covered. Check out our takeaways from Thursday’s first-round games. You’ll also find the key things to watch for in the upcoming contests. And of course, you can follow the action in progress via our March Madness live blog.

No. 12 McNeese State 69, No. 5 Clemson 67

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The most feared low-level seed in a first-round NCAA tournament game is No. 12. McNeese State, and it proved why with the win against 5th-seed Clemson. McNeese became the 47th No. 12 seed to win a first-round game since 1979 and in the process won its first NCAA Tournament game in school history.

“We made school history, man,” McNeese coach Will Wade told CBS. “We’d never won a game. We didn’t have much history when we got there. We’ve broken almost every record. I’m just so proud for our guys, our university, our president, our athletic director. It’s incredible. This changes our university.”

The Cowboys rolled to a 31-13 halftime advantage while forcing Clemson into 10 first-half turnovers and a dismal 1-for-15 3-point shooting performance. That defensive effort proved critical in withstanding a late barrage from the Tigers.

Overall, McNeese (28-6) shot 43.5 percent from the field and held a 43-36 rebounding average. Brandon Murray led the Cowboys with 21 points. The performance comes in the wake of Wade’s agreement to leave McNeese and coach NC State following the tournament. But Wade’s transparency with his players and admission that he had contact with NC State did not become a distraction, he said.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” Wade said. “They’re all focused. We do what we do. That’s what we did.”

The first big upset of March has arrived 🔥

No. 12 seed McNeese State stuns No. 5 seed Clemson to win its first NCAA Tournament game. pic.twitter.com/yMRt1wljWa

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 20, 2025

No. 6 BYU 80, No. 11 VCU 71

DENVER, Co. — All season, one of the biggest stories surrounding BYU basketball was the poor shooting numbers of prodigious point guard Egor Demin. It was his 3-point prowess in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament-opening win that helped propel the Cougars to the victory. He finished with 15 points, hitting 3 of 7 from long range.

BYU went on a quick 13-3 burst early in the second half to go up by 20 points. VCU, the A-10 champion, was crushed on the glass, getting outrebounded 40-31. BYU dominated the paint as well, outscoring VCU 38-18 while taking 22 more free throws. It led the Cougars to their first NCAA Tournament win since 2011, having lost five first-round matchups since then. VCU has not advanced out of the first round in five consecutive Tournaments.

At one point this season, the Cougars were just 11-6, and 2-4 in the Big 12, very much trending outside the NCAA Tournament picture. But they’ve now rattled off 10 of11, and will face Wisconsin on Saturday for a chance to make the Sweet 16. — Sam Blum

No. 1 Auburn 83, Alabama State 63

LEXINGTON, Ky. — “Pissed off” was a popular term heard around the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday, a day before they embarked on an NCAA Tournament quest as the No. 1 overall seed. That’s because Bruce Pearl has been telling his players all week that’s how he wants them to play.

Losing three of four games entering the tournament should have helped. But it was Pearl who embodied that phrase Thursday — barking at players and assistant coaches during a timeout as South No. 16 seed Alabama State was in the middle of an 18-6 run. Auburn figured it out and cruised behind 23 points from Miles Kelly and a 14-point, 11-rebound effort from player of the year candidate Johni Broome, setting up a Saturday date with No. 9 seed Creighton.

Still, this team simply isn’t playing its best ball. It looks strained. If focus, energy and joy don’t return at high levels Saturday, this could be a short stay. — Joe Rexrode

No. 1 Houston 78, SIU Edwardville 40

WICHITA, Kan. — Houston achieved what it needed in the opening round: Advance and stay healthy.

The top-seeded Cougars cruised to a 78-40 win over SIEU and Kelvin Sampson was able to rest his starters for much of the second half after building a 28-point lead in the first.

SIEU struggled with Houston’s defensive pressure, turning the ball over 13 times and making only 2 of 24 3s.

Houston came out hot from the perimeter, making 8 of 13 3s in the first half. The Coogs cooled off the second half — 22.9 percent shooting from the field — but a lot of those misses were with their reserves in and the game in hand.

The important stat: No starter played more than 23 minutes. Houston has been haunted by injuries in the NCAA Tournament the last three years, but it cruises into the second round with its entire rotation intact. J’Wan Roberts, who missed the final two games of the Big 12 tournament with a sprained ankle, played only 20 minutes and looked unaffected by his ankle injury. The Coogs were led by guards Milos Uzan (16 points) and LJ Cryer (15 points). Houston will play the winner of Gonzaga-Georgia on Saturday. — C.J. Moore

The exclamation point from Houston ‼️#MarchMadness @UHCougarMBK pic.twitter.com/YKrsMeG0fi

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2025

No. 8 Creighton 89, No. 9 Louisville 75

LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Creighton’s big three — 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner, point guard Steven Ashworth and wing Jamiya Neal, all seniors — are playing off each other and executing the way they did Thursday, the Bluejays leave defenses with few answers. Louisville had none in an 89-75 loss at Rupp Arena, ruining the joy of Cards fans taking over the home of their bitter rivals. Those three combined for 65 points, Neal getting a career-high 29, including a pair of back-breaking midrange makes in the second half with Louisville trying to fight back.

Creighton shredded Louisville – No. 21 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency per Kenpom – for 1.348 points per possession, with an effective field-goal percentage of 68.8 percent. Louisville got 22 points from Chucky Hepburn, a technical foul for coach Pat Kelsey and a crowd warning after a (presumed) Louisville fan threw a water bottle onto the court. — Joe Rexrode

After Pat Kelsey received a technical foul in the closing minutes of Creighton-Louisville, a water bottle was thrown from the stands and landed on the court.

🎥 @CBSSportsCBBpic.twitter.com/bNXqT7EfY4

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 20, 2025

No. 3 Wisconsin 85, No. 14 Montana 66

DENVER — With a trio of big men that Montana had no way to defend, Wisconsin pulled away in the second half for the win over the upset-minded Grizzlies. Steven Crowl, Xavier Amos and Nolan Winter combined for 39 points on 17-of-25 shooting, utilizing a clear size advantage. Meanwhile, Montana’s top scorer, Malik Moore, was held to just seven points on 3-for-7 shooting for the Big Sky Conference champions.

On the very first play of the game, Crowl posted up on Montana’s Te’Jon Sawyer, who is four inches shorter than the Badgers’ center. He made an easy spin move and bucket. It set the tone for the rest of the game. The Grizzlies made it close early in the second half, cutting the deficit to four points on multiple occasions. But they had no defensive answer for Wisconsin, which shot 55.4 percent from the floor, up from their season average of 45.2 percent. — Sam Blum

No. 4 Purdue 75, No. 13 High Point 63

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Purdue hammered High Point on the boards to snap its run of being upset in the first round every other year.

The fourth-seeded Boilermakers never really shook free of the 13th-seeded Panthers, but they outrebounded High Point 45-24, including 17-5 on the offensive glass.

Dominating the glass hasn’t really been Purdue’s thing this season post-Zach Edey, and the Big South champions aren’t a drastically undersized mid-major. Still, the Boilermakers got a full team, crash-the-glass effort. Camden Heide grabbed 10 boards, while Trey Kaufman-Renn and Gicarri Harris each had eight. Purdue finished with 20 second-chance points. And even when the Boilermakers weren’t converting those offensive rebounds into points, they were helping Purdue burn clock and stymie a High Point comeback in an arena the Panthers’ fans took over.

Matt Painter’s Boilermakers reached the Final Four last year, a season after losing in the first round as a No. 1 seed to FDU. They also were bounced in the first round as a four seed by North Texas in 2021.

The winner of Clemson-McNeese awaits Purdue in the second round of the Midwest Regional. — Ralph Russo

Top things to watch in upcoming games

No. 10 Arkansas vs. No. 7 Kansas (7:10 p.m. ET on CBS)

Five months ago, neither of these fan bases thought their teams would be outside the top 25, let alone seeded anything lower than a 4-5, but here we are. Two of the sport’s most influential coaches, Bill Self and John Calipari, square off for the 13th time. Last season, Calipari’s 89-84 victory over the Jayhawks evened the series at 6-6.

This matchup features a ton of star power as well as future NBA players, but Arkansas will be without leading scorer and rebounder Adou Thiero (15.6 ppg and 6.0 rpg) due to injury.

The Razorbacks received a major boost last week with the news that freshman sensation Boogie Fland will return to action despite originally being expected to miss the rest of the season following hand surgery on Jan. 22.

Fland was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game.

As for Kansas, it’s led by AP Third Team All-American Hunter Dickinson, who averaged 17.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.

No. 11 Drake vs. No. 6 Missouri (7:35 p.m. on truTV)

Like Clemson, Drake is one of the slowest-paced teams in the country but makes the most of its possessions, slotting in at No. 58 in effective field goal percentage (53.8) and No. 56 at 2-point percentage (54.6). The Bulldogs are a popular upset pick led by MVC Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz, who is the only player in Division I to lead his conference in points, assists and steals.

As for Missouri, the Tigers haven’t played their best ball of late, losing four of their last five. However, the Tigers have one of the best offenses in the country, ranking 18th in effective field goal percentage (56.2) and 36th in 3-point percentage (37.0). Missouri has three players who average between 13.4-14.1 points per game and have had 10 play in at least 28 games.

Since 2001, No. 11 seeds are 61-95 in first-round games.

No. 15 Omaha vs. No. 2 St. John’s (9:45 p.m. ET on CBS)

This is the first tournament appearance for the Red Storm since 2019, and Omaha’s first since 2010.

Styles make fights, and something has to give in this matchup. The Red Storm have the most efficient defense in the country, with opponents shooting only 31.8 percent from 3.

Omaha, the No. 43-ranked 3-point shooting team in the country, is 12-1 when it shoots 39 percent or better from behind the arc.

Omaha doesn’t have a ton of size, and it shows. Its defense ranks 283rd in opponent 2-point field goal percentage, allowing teams to make 53.5 percent around the rim. Unfortunately for Omaha, St. John’s makes 51.5 percent of those shots.

An individual matchup to watch in this one is Omaha’s Marquel Sutton versus St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor.

(Top photo of Creighton’s Jamiya Neal: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)