UNDATED (AP) — A targeting penalty will no longer automatically take a player off the field for the following game. The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee has approved a one-year trial rule that gives a player a break for his first targeting penalty. For 2026, a player disqualified for targeting for the first time in the season may play the following game. The trial rule will apply regardless of which half the targeting penalty is called. Before 2026, players disqualified for targeting in the second half of a game have had to sit out the first half of the following game.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Dion Brown scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting, all on layups and dunks, and Saint Louis blew out Georgia 102-77 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Amari McCottry added 13 points and nine rebounds, while Robbie Avila had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists for the ninth-seeded Billikens. Saint Louis set a school record for victories in a season with 29 and advanced to meet Michigan, the Midwest Region’s top seed, on Saturday. Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 30 points for No. 8 seed Georgia. This was the most lopsided loss of the season for the Bulldogs.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. had 24 points and seven assists, and No. 4 seed Arkansas continued its strong play after winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament, beating No. 13 seed Hawaii 97-78 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas moves on to face No. 12 High Point in the second round of the West Region. Meleek Thomas had 21 points and eight rebounds for coach John Calipari’s Razorbacks, Trevon Brazile added 19 points and three blocks, and Malique Ewin had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Dre Bullock scored 21 points for Hawaii, the Big West Conference champion. Isaac Johnson had 15 points and five rebounds.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Rashaun Agee had 22 points and nine rebounds, and No. 10 seed Texas A&M beat seventh-seeded Saint Mary’s 63-50 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Ruben Dominguez added 11 points for the Aggies, who advanced in the South Region to face No. 2 seed Houston on Saturday. Joshua Dent scored 18 points and Liam Campbell added 15 for Saint Mary’s. Paulius Murauskas, who had averaged 18.8 points per game, scored just four on 1-for-6 shooting. It was a season-low point total for the Gaels. Saint Mary's was a 3 1/2-point favorite, making this a mild upset.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tyler Tanner had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Vanderbilt rallied to beat McNeese 78-68 on Thursday for its first victory in the NCAA Tournament since 2012. The Commodores (27-8), the No. 5 seed in the South Region, will play No. 4 seed Nebraska in the second round on Saturday. Duke Miles scored 13 points and Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel each added 12 for Vanderbilt, which trailed by 12 points in the first half and then took control after the break. Garwey Dual scored 16 points and Larry Johnson added 15 for No. 12 seed McNeese, which was trying to knock off a No. 5 seed for the second straight year.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kentucky coach Mark Pope danced around a report from The Associated Press that his program offered a huge NIL deal to Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg when he was transferring from UAB last season. Pope was asked on the eve of the Wildcats' game against Santa Clara in the NCAA Tournament if Lendeborg really was offered in the range of $7-9 million, as the All-American told the AP. Pope avoided a direct answer, instead discussing the nature of media and how it portrays his program. At one point, he did seem to suggest that Lendeborg's claim was inaccurate, but he did not provide any details.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Dontae Horne, Cory Wells and the rest of the Prairie View A&M basketball program didn’t get much time to celebrate the school’s first NCAA Tournament victory. Fresh off a 67-55 win over Lehigh on Wednesday night in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, the Panthers were getting ready quickly for a monumental task. They’re the 16th seed in the South Region and will face top seed and defending champion Florida on Friday night in the first round. In the other South Region matchup at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, No. 8 seed Clemson takes on ninth-seeded Iowa.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — No school located anywhere close to the West Coast has won an NCAA men’s basketball championship since Arizona did it in 1997. The top-seeded Wildcats have another powerhouse team this March, and their quest to end the Western drought begins Friday morning in San Diego. Their first task out here on the edge of the Pacific is avoiding the Sharks. Jaden Bradley and the blue-blood Wildcats (30-2) open the NCAA Tournament against Long Island University, a No. 16 seed that has every hallmark of the scrappy small schools that annually rocket to national prominence by taking a bite out of March Madness.
