NCAA Tournament: Day 1 Review, Recap And Analysis

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Mar 19, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; UAB Blazers celebrate after defeating Iowa State Cyclones 60-59 in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

Upset of the Day Part 1

#14 UAB Blazers stun #3 Iowa State Cyclones

UAB battled Iowa State better than some Big-12 teams were able to do this year, got out to a lead in the second half and didn’t allow the Cyclones to come back. The Blazers held on late to earn a 60-59 win and advance to action on Saturday.

Iowa State looked out of rhythm all game and couldn’t get their offensive flow going. The Cyclones like to run the floor but the Blazers kept them to half court offense throughout the contest.

The biggest difference in the game was rebounding as UAB won that battle by a final tally of 52-37, including 19 offensive rebounds. Thursday’s rebounding total marks the ninth time in the last 10 games and 18 times in the last 21 games the Blazers have won the rebounding battle.

Why it’s a big upset:

This seems to happen often when Iowa State has a really good team. They get hot at the right time and fans hop the the Cyclones-to-the-Final-Four bandwagon only for Iowa State to fall short. Nobody saw this loss coming, but we probably should have.

Iowa State fans are nuts (in a good way). Hilton Coliseum is home to one of the best home-court advantages in the country and the Cyclones perform very well there (16-1 at home this season). However, NCAA Tournament games are played on mostly neutral floors, where Iowa State now finishes 5-4 on the season. Three of those wins were in the Big-12 Tournament, which turned into a mini-Hilton last weekend. Louisville was not a mini-Hilton this time around.

UAB advances to play UCLA on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16.

Iowa State finishes with a 25-9 record and will look to reload for next year.

Next: Upset of the Day Part 2