ST. LOUIS — Reality hit Middle Tennessee State guard Jaqawn Raymond as he walked triumphantly off the floor. Giddy Potts thought it might come later, once he returned to the team hotel and flipped on the TV.
It sunk in immediately for Michigan State.
Relying on the same balanced scoring that carried them to the NCAA Tournament, the No. 15 seed Blue Raiders ended the second-seeded Spartans’ title hopes in convincing fashion Friday. They never trailed in a 90-81 first-round victory that sent brackets around the country into trash cans.
“We wanted to win this game as bad as anybody wanted us to win,” said Potts, the Blue Raiders’ hot-shooting sophomore guard. “We played our (butts) off today.”
Reggie Upshaw had 21 points and Potts finished with 19 for Middle Tennessee State (25-9), which became the eighth No. 15 seed to knock off a No. 2 since seeding began in 1985. The last time it happened was 2013, when Florida Gulf Coast beat Georgetown on its way to the Sweet 16.
The Blue Raiders will try to do the same against No. 10 seed Syracuse on Sunday.
“I’ll be honest with you, in my wildest dreams I didn’t think they’d hit some of the shots they hit,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “We didn’t guard them good, but man, they made some shots.”
The Spartans (29-6) were a trendy pick to win the national championship after capturing the Big Ten Tournament title. Part of it had to do with the experience of Denzel Valentine and the seniors, and part of it had to do with Izzo’s postseason pedigree.
“I’m more mad and disappointed because I know what this team could accomplish,” Valentine said. “It kind of fell apart, and it just stinks right now because I know the capability our team had.”
The Spartans’ Matt Costello matched a career-best with 22 points, but it wasn’t enough to offset Valentine’s miserable afternoon. The senior had 13 points and 12 assists, but he also had six turnovers — one of them coming with the Spartans trailing 79-76 and less than three minutes to go.
Michigan State twice had chances to tie the game after that, but Valentine missed an open 3 from the top of the key, and Bryn Forbes missed another. The Blue Raiders eventually scored on back-to-back runouts to establish some breathing room, then coaxed the final few seconds off the clock.
Darnell Harris and Perrin Buford scored 15 apiece, and Raymond had 11, as the Conference USA champion Blue Raiders won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1989.
Not that they haven’t made a statement before: They beat Kentucky in the first round in 1982.
They never seemed intimidated by the Spartans, roaring to a 15-2 lead in the opening minutes and slowly getting the Syracuse and Dayton fans in the building on their side.
Michigan State chipped away at its deficit but never managed to make an extended run. Valentine was saddled with two fouls and rendered ineffective most of the way, and the backcourt of Forbes and Eron Harris combined for four turnovers while managing a single point.
Valentine’s frustration reached its apex after he committed back-to-back turnovers in the second half. With the Blue Raiders leading 51-43, Valentine stalked back to the huddle and slammed his hand into the floor.
Michigan State slowly trimmed the lead to 65-64 on a basket by Costello with eight minutes to play, but the Blue Raiders scored on their next six trips down floor.
It was the first time the Spartans, heavily favored to reach the Final Four, lost in the first round since 2011.
“We just couldn’t make that one play,” the Spartans’ Tum Tum Nairn said. “That’s the thing about this tournament — tomorrow is not a guarantee.”
Syracuse 70, Dayton 51
ST. LOUIS — Malachi Richardson scored 21 points, Syracuse stumped Dayton with its trademark zone and the Orange rolled to a victory in their return to the NCAA Tournament.
Tyler Roberson added 10 points and 18 rebounds for the Orange (19-13), banned from the field last season following an NCAA investigation into academic misconduct and improper benefits.
They looked back at home in the first round of the Midwest Regional.
Tyler Lydon had 14 points, Trevor Cooney had 13 and Michael Gbinije added 10.
Charles Cooke led the Flyers (25-8) with 14 points, but he was just 2 of 9 from beyond the arc, as the regular-season Atlantic 10 champions shot 32 percent from the field.
Oklahoma 82,
Cal State Bakersfield 68
OKLAHOMA CITY — Buddy Hield scored 27 points to help Oklahoma defeat Cal State Bakersfield.
The senior guard made 8 pf 14 shots, including 3 of 6 3-pointers.
Isaiah Cousins scored 16 points and Jordan Woodard added 15 for the Sooners (26-7), who made 11 of 20 3-pointers and shot 50 percent overall.
Oklahoma enjoyed a homecourt advantage at Chesapeake Energy Arena, just a half hour’s drive north of their Norman campus. The Sooners advanced to play No. 10 seed Virginia Commonwealth, which defeated Oregon State 75-67 earlier in the day.
Aly Ahmed had 16 points and eight rebounds, Kevin Mays had 14 points and eight rebounds and Dedrick Basile added 13 points for Bakersfield (24-9).
SOUTH REGION
Hawaii 77, California 66
SPOKANE, Wash. — Hawaii won its first NCAA Tournament game in school history, when the Warriors ended California’s tumultuous week with an upset victory.
The Golden Bears’ played without popular assistant coach Yann Hufnagel, dismissed amid allegations of sexual harassment, and the loss of leading scorer Tyrone Wallace, who broke his hand Wednesday in practice. As if the Bears (23-11) needed more obstacles, guard Jabari Bird had back spasms during warmups and never played.
Quincy Smith scored a career-high19 points, Roderick Bobbitt had 17 points and Stefan Jankovic 16 for the champions of the Big West Conference regular season and tournament. Hawaii (28-5) used a strong first half from Jankovic to lead by as many as 11, then withstood Jankovic’s foul trouble in the second half thanks largely to Smith.
Smith scored 11 points in the second half and keyed Hawaii’s surge midway through after California had pulled within one.
Jordan Mathews led California with 23 points. The Bears play No. 5 seed Maryland on Sunday.
Maryland 79,
S. Dakota St. 74
SPOKANE, Wash. — Maryland needed a turnover in the closing seconds to ensure it would avoid a place with all the other top seeds that lost in the first round of this topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament, holding off South Dakota State behind a career-high 27 points from Jake Layman.
Deondre Parks fumbled a pass from Keaton Moffitt for the 12th-seeded Jackrabbits (26-8) and Rasheed Sulaimon picked up the ball and stuffed it for the final score. South Dakota State was seeking its first victory in the NCAA Tournament, but was undone by cold shooting in the first half.
Melo Trimble added 19 points and Jared Nickens 14 for fifth-seeded Maryland (26-8), which made 51 percent of its shots, including nine 3-pointers.
Parks scored 22 points for the Jackrabbits.
Iowa 72, Temple 70
NEW YORK — Adam Woodberry put back a missed shot at the overtime buzzer to give Iowa a victory over Temple.
With the game tied at 70, Mike Gesell worked his way to the baseline and put up about a 10-foot jumper that missed the rim and went right to Woodberry, who put it in as the red lights around the backboard lit up.
Iowa (22-10) will play second-seeded Villanova in the second round on Sunday.
The Hawkeyes got the chance at the game-winner when Daniel Dingle of Temple, who played just 6 minutes and was in the game because Devin Coleman had fouled out a minute earlier, missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Jarrod Uthoff led Iowa with 23 points, while Peter Jok had 16 and Woodberry finished with 10.
Quenton DeCosey, who made three free throws with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, had 26 points for the Owls (21-12).
Villanova 86,
UNC Asheville 56
NEW YORK — Ryan Arcidiacono scored 14 points, including a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the first half, and Daniel Ochefu had 17 points inside as Villanova beat UNC Asheville to roll into the second round.
The Wildcats (30-5) are looking to reach the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since their 2009 Final Four run.
Dylan Smith led 15th-seeded UNC Asheville (22-12) with 14 points as the Big South champions bowed out quietly.
Kris Jenkins scored 12 and Jalen Brunson had 10 points for the Villanova, which spent three weeks at No. 1 this season but is under pressure to return to the Sweet 16.
WEST REGION
VCU 75, Oregon St 67
OKLAHOMA CITY — JeQuan Lewis had 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as Virginia Commonwealth won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2013 with a first-round victory over Oregon State.
The tournament appearance is the sixth straight for VCU (25-10), and the experience showed as the Rams led by eight points at halftime and held off a charge by the Beavers in the second half.
Mo Alie-Cox added 20 points and was 7 of 8 from the field in the win, while Melvin Johnson also finished in double figures with 12 points.
Gary Payton II scored 19 points to lead the Beavers (19-13), who were making their first tournament appearance in 26 years, while Derrick Bruce finished with 15 and Drew Eubanks 13.
S.F. Austin 70, W. Virginia 56
NEW YORK — Thomas Walkup scored 33 points and 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin faced down West Virginia’s full-court pressure with some of its own in-your-face defense, pulling off a rugged, 70-56 first-round upset of the third-seeded Mountaineers Friday night in the NCAA Tournament.
The Lumberjacks (28-5) ran the nation’s longest winning streak to 21 games and will face either six seed Notre Dame or No. 11 Michigan on Sunday at Barclays in the second round of the East Region.
The Mountaineers (26-9) and Lumberjacks played physical, chest-to-chest defense, contesting not just every shot, but every pass. Neither team shot better than 31 percent.