Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard, left, and South Carolina’s Ta’Lon Cooper vie for the ball during Thursday’s game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh. Matt Freed/Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Few players or staffers remain at South Carolina from Jermaine Couisnard’s time there.
On Thursday, he made the new-look Gamecocks pay all the same.
Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points, most ever by an Oregon player in an NCAA Tournament game, and added six assists and four rebounds against his former team, leading No. 11 seed Oregon to an 87-73 win over No. 6 seed South Carolina on Thursday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. Couisnard spent three years at South Carolina before transferring in part because of a coaching change following the 2022 season.
It was the first career 40-point game for Couisnard, who surpassed Tajuan Porter’s program record (33) for points in an NCAA Tournament game.
With his grandmother and parents watching from the front row, Couisnard put on quite a show while also exchanging a few words with some former teammates.
“It was fun, man,” the smooth guard said. “Those guys kind of made me. I grew a lot. I learned a lot when I was there. So I appreciate those guys more than anything.”
N’Faly Dante had 23 points and six rebounds for Oregon (24-11), which advances to face No. 3 seed Creighton (24-9) in the second round on Saturday.
Couisnard scored 14 points and had four assists in the first half, including five consecutive points to halt a 6-0 South Carolina run. The sixth-year guard then reeled off seven more amid an 11-0 run to give the Ducks a 32-22 lead with 1:49 to go before the half.
Ta’Lon Cooper (15 points, six assists) hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer as South Carolina cut the gap to 34-29 at the break.
Couisnard had 22 points, three rebounds and two assists in the second half as he etched his name into the program’s record book.
He scored eight points and Dante contributed five to fuel a 15-3 run in the second half, opening up a 55-37 with 13:32 to go.
Couisnard was 14 of 22 from the field, including 5 of 9 from 3, and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.
Meechie Johnson scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half for South Carolina (26-8).
ANOTHER NO. 11 SEED – DUQUESNE – PULLS THE UPSET
As his players celebrated around him after springing the first big upset of the NCAA Tournament, Duquesne Coach Keith Dambrot joked that they had refused to let their retiring coach reach “the promised land” with their down-to-the-wire win over BYU.
The promised land is a better description for the second round of the NCAA Tournament anyway.
Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points, including four clinching free throws in the final 10 seconds, and the No. 11 seed Dukes held on after blowing a 14-point lead in a 71-67 victory over the sixth-seeded Cougars.
Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the Atlantic 10 tourney champs, who won four games in four days there just to qualify for their first dance in 47 years, and now have their first win on the NCAA stage since 1969. The Dukes (25-11) will play third-seeded Illinois on Saturday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
“I’m trying to retire,” the 65-year-old Dambrot said, “but if we keep winning games, they’re going to make me an old man.”
“Bust them brackets, baby! Bust them brackets, baby!” Clark roared as Duquesne headed back to the locker room.
YET ANOTHER VICTORY FOR MICHIGAN STATE’S TOM IZZO
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo won his 20th first-round game in the NCAA Tournament.
This one, he said, might have been the most impressive, even to former Spartans greats like Draymond Green.
Tyson Walker scored 19 points and the ninth-seeded Spartans improved to 20-6 in March Madness openers under Izzo with a 69-51 win over eighth-seeded Mississippi State.
It was Izzo’s 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance – an NCAA Division I record for a coach at one school.
“I thought this was one of the better first game performances of a team that was, and deservedly so, seeded a little lower,” Izzo said. “We brought everything from the get-go. We moved the ball well. We shot the ball well. We rebounded the ball.”
Izzo’s win was his 56th overall in the tournament, trailing only three coaches for victories at one school.
He noted that while the game was sloppy at times, former players Green, Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson would have enjoyed the “tough, rugged nature” of the Spartans’ win.
BRACKETS TAKE A BEATING
The NCAA Tournament has barely begun, and most brackets around the country already have crashed.
March Madness Live, the NCAA’s official site, reported only 2.43% of brackets – fewer than 800,000 – across major sites remained perfect halfway through Thursday’s slate of 16 first-round games.
At the ESPN Tournament Challenge, 21.5 million brackets had been dinged, leaving just more than 576,000 still perfect.
Those having No. 8 seed Mississippi State and No. 6 seed BYU advance out of the first round took the biggest hits. Each school was predicted to get through the first round in more than 9 million ESPN brackets.
Mississippi State lost 69-51 to Michigan State, and BYU was beaten 71-67 by Duquesne.
A record 22.6 million brackets were filled out on ESPN’s site, up 15% over last year.
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