Colorado State used a near wire-to-wire effort to eliminate Virginia 67-42 in a matchup of No. 10 seeds at the First Four on Tuesday. The Rams led by as many as 27 points and held Virginia without a field goal for nearly the final 10 minutes of the first half in the win.
Colorado State forward Joel Scott scored a game-high 23 points and Nique Clifford added 17. The Rams will face No. 7 seed Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Virginia's season ends with a 23-11 record. The Cavaliers haven't advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since running the table during its 2019 national championship run.
In the first game of the First Four featuring No. 16 seeds, Wagner survived a late surge from Howard in a 71-68 win. Howard's Marcus Dockery missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would've sent the game to overtime. Melvin Council Jr. scored a game-high 21 points and Julian Brown added 15 as Wagner won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history.
The Seahawks will face No. 1 seed North Carolina on Thursday in the first round.
On Wednesday, Grambling State faces Montana State in a battle of No. 16 seeds. No. 10 seeds Boise State and Colorado face off in the second game of the doubleheader shortly after in Dayton, Ohio.
Colorado State makes a statement for the Mountain West
Colorado State's blowout win over Virginia wasn't just for its own program. It was for the entire Mountain West. The most exciting mid-major conference landed six teams in the NCAA Tournament this season, but two got sent to Dayton. Colorado State was one of them, and Boise State (who plays Colorado on Wednesday) is the other. The Rams were the last team to receive an at-large berth in the tournament. They should've never had to play at the First Four because they're more than capable of being a single-digit seed. Colorado State will have a chance to use this effort as a springboard when it faces Texas later this week. If the victory vs. the Wahoos showed anything, it's that the Mountain West was unfairly seeded.
No depth, no problem for Wagner
Three players in the Wagner starting lineup (Javier Ezquerra, Melvin Council Jr., and Julian Brown) played the full 40 minutes on Tuesday. The other two starters — Keyontae Lewis and Tahron Allen — played over 21 minutes each. Players on the Wagner roster are playing extended minutes because they only have seven scholarship players available. Despite the lack of depth, Wagner finished shooting 29-of-55 (53%) and knocked down eight 3-pointers. Council had one of the best games of his season with 21 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. This kind of depth could be a problem when they face North Carolina later this week. It's just remarkable what Wagner did with little reinforcements.
Virginia's offense proved to be its own worst enemy
Virginia's offense was horrendous. There is no sugarcoating it. The Cavaliers shot 14-of-56 (25%) from the floor and connected on 3 of their 17 attempts from distance. Virginia received one of the last at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament, and this performance doesn't help its argument on why they deserved to be in the tournament over countless others that were left out. This offensive performance was no anomaly. Virginia came into the day averaging 63.6 points — good enough for No. 344 in the country — and last among all Power Six programs. Something has to change this offseason, or Virginia will run the risk of another early exit in the tournament.
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First Four schedule, scores
Tuesday, March 19
CBS Sports will be with you the entire way updating this story with the latest from every First Four game on Tuesday. Keep it locked here for scores, analysis and highlights throughout the evening.