PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Gohlke made 10 3-pointers and 14th-seeded Oakland delivered the first true shock of this year’s March Madness, beating third-seeded Kentucky 80-76 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

The Grizzlies (24-11) sent the Wildcats (23-10) to another early March exit behind Gohlke, a graduate transfer who finished with 32 points, and some late shot-making by his teammates. Trey Townsend had 17 points for the Horizon League champions. DQ Cole added 12, including a 3 from the corner with 28 seconds left that gave the Grizzlies a four-point lead.

Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 27 points. Tre Mitchell added 14 and Rob Dillingham scored 10, but the Wildcats and their roster stacked with NBA prospects spent most of the night trying — and failing — to chase down Gohlke.

The 6-foot-3 guard who came to the Grizzlies this season after playing for Division II Hillsdale College made 10 of 20 3-point attempts, seven in the first half. His only other points came after he was fouled — while attempting a 3.

Gokhle cooled off a bit over the final 20 minutes while often getting picked up at halfcourt, but his teammates helped pick up the slack. Oakland never trailed over the final 14:32 to give the program its first victory in the round of 64.

Texas 56, Colorado

State 44

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and No. 7 seed Texas held Colorado State to 11 points in the first half en route to a 56-44 victory on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Longhorns (21-12) will meet the winner of second-seeded Tennessee and No. 15 St. Peter’s on Saturday.

Isaiah Stevens and Joel Scott paced the Rams (25-11) with 10 points each. The Rams shot 29% from the field.

Colorado State, which held Virginia to 14 first-half points in their First Four game on Tuesday, jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the wheels came off.

The Rams missed 18 of their next 19 shots and scored just three points over the final 15 1/2 minutes of the first half. Texas closed the half on a 25-3 run to take a 27-11 lead into the locker room after Abmas hit from downtown at the buzzer.

Colorado State became only the 10th team in tournament history to score 11 points or less in the first half. The last time it happened was in 2008 when UNLV led Kent State 31-10 at halftime in a first-round game.

Dayton 63, Nevada 60

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — DaRon Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton staged a huge March Madness rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat 10th-seeded Nevada 63-60 in the West Region on Thursday.

Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, scored 18 points, including a three-point play with 2:01 remaining that gave Dayton its first lead since the first half.

The Flyers (25-7) trailed 56-39 with 7:36 left but responded with 17 unanswered points. The run included three 3-pointers from Koby Brea, who finished with 15 points.

Enoch Cheeks’ layup with 34 seconds left put Dayton ahead for good, and he made two free throws for the final margin.

He scored 12 points as the Flyers picked up their first NCAA Tournament win in nine years.

Dayton, which made its final seven baskets, will face No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round on Saturday.

Oregon 87, South Carolina 73

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jermaine Couisnard swears it wasn’t personal and he wasn’t seeking revenge against South Carolina.

He got some anyway.

Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points — the most for an Oregon player in NCAA Tournament history — and he haunted his former team while leading the Ducks to an 87-73 victory in the first round of the Midwest Region on Thursday.

Couisnard, who spent three years at South Carolina before transferring in part because of a coaching change following the 2022 season, made five 3-pointers, dropped all seven free throws and went 14 of 22 from the field to pace the 11th-seeded Ducks (24-11).

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.”

Oregon, which has been reduced to eight scholarship players due to injuries, advanced to the second round to face No. 3 seed Creighton, a 77-60 winner over No. 14 seed Akron in the first of four games at PPG Paints Arena.

Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Turns out, there’s no such thing as job security when you’re coaching against Arizona.

Dan Monson learned that lesson Thursday in an 85-65 loss to the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament that slammed shut his 17-year tenure at Long Beach State.

Second-seeded Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch to turn a tight game into a laugher. At the end, Monson walked slowly off the court for the final time and blew three kisses to his school’s small, tear-stained cheering section in the corner of the arena.

“It’s a range of emotions,” said the 62-year-old coach, who learned last week that this would be his final season with the Beach. “Mostly proud. Proud of my tenure. I’m proud of doing it the right way. Proud of the student-athletes that came in as young men, left as men.”

Sadly for Monson, Arizona is nothing like the teams Long Beach State beat last week in a surprising run through the Big West Tournament that sent the program to March Madness for the first time since 2012.

Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (26-8), who made 13 3-pointers, the program record for March Madness.

Illinois 85, Morehead State 69

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Marcus Domask posted the NCAA Tournament’s first triple-double since 2019 and Terrence Shannon scored 26 points, helping No. 3 seed Illinois pull away from No. 14 Morehead State for an 85-69 first-round win on Thursday.

Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double. It was the first triple-double in the NCAA tourney since Ja Morant accomplished the feat and the 10th ever.

Dain Dainja scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Illini shook off the pesky Eagles. Dainja went 9 for 9 from the field and matched his career high with eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

Next up for Illinois (27-8) is No. 11 seed Duquesne (25-11) on Saturday. The Dukes advanced with a 71-67 victory over BYU.

Creighton 77, Akron 60

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Creighton leaned on experience from past trips through March to make sure this one didn’t start with a stumble.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as the Bluejays, who came within seconds of making the Final Four a year ago, opened the NCAA Tournament with a 77-60 win over Akron in the Midwest Region on Thursday.

No. 3 seeded Creighton (24-9) got all it could handle in the first half from No. 14 seed Akron (24-11), the Mid-American Conference tourney champion which came in as a 10 1/2-point underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

However, the Bluejays flexed their Big East muscles after halftime and pulled away to advance to the second round and a matchup with No. 11 seed Oregon on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. The Ducks advanced with an 87-73 victory over South Carolina.

Duquesne 71, BYU 67

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — 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 tourney 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 on Thursday.

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 for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

The Cougars (23-11) trailed 46-32 in the second half before drawing even when Fousseyni Traore, who had struggled all game, slammed down the second of back-to-back baskets to knot the affair at 60-all with 1:45 to go.

Clark was fouled at the other end and made two free throws for Duquesne, and when Traore missed a floater, he got to the line again. Clark only made the first of two foul shots this time but helped tie up a loose ball after the second, and on the next play, the slick guard broke down the defense for a layup and a 65-60 lead with 26.9 seconds left.

Dallin Hall tried to give the Cougars a chance with four free throws and a deep 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds, but Grant — one of the nation’s best foul shooters — was stoic from the line to help send the Dukes into the weekend.