Wes Clark scored 25 points, Jeremy Harris added 23 and No13 seed Buffalo pulled off the biggest upset of the NCAA tournament’s opening round, rolling over No4 seed Arizona 89-68 in the South Region on Thursday night.

The smaller Bulls (27-8) used their quickness to zip around the Wildcats (27-8), scoring at the rim and on kickout three-pointers.

NCAA tournament: Arizona crash out to Buffalo; Villanova and Kentucky win – latest scores Read more

Defensively, Buffalo neutralized Arizona’s size inside by collapsing on the paint, forcing the Wildcats to shoot from the perimeter. Arizona went 2 for 18 from beyond the 3-point arc, while the Bulls knocked down 15 of 30.

CJ Massinburg had 19 points and Buffalo shredded Arizona’s defense at a 55% clip for the program’s first NCAA tournament win.

The Bulls move on to face Kentucky in Saturday’s round of 32.

Dusan Ristic had 16 points, and Deandre Ayton finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead Arizona.

Arizona has played through one of the most difficult seasons in program history. The Wildcats were twice entangled in a federal investigation into nefarious recruiting practices and lost one of their best players twice to injury. Trier missed two games after testing positive for the same banned substance that cost him 19 games a year ago.

Outside of an 0-for-3 trip to the Bahamas, their focus on the court rarely wavered. Arizona won the Pac-12 regular-season title and routed Southern California in the tournament title game, becoming the second team in conference history to sweep both in consecutive seasons.

No3 Tennessee 73, No14 Wright State 47

Admiral Schofield had 15 points and 12 rebounds as third-seeded Tennessee advanced to the second round by overwhelming Wright State.

Lamonte Turner had 19 points and a career-high nine assists for the Volunteers (26-8), SEC co-champions in the regular season after being picked in the preseason to finish 13th in the 14-team league. They’ll next play Loyola-Chicago on Saturday.

Wright State (25-10) was the Horizon League tournament champ.

No5 Kentucky 78, No12 Davidson 73

Kentucky didn’t make a 3-point for the first time in a game since 1988, but still did enough to top Davidson.

Fifth-seeded Kentucky (25-10) went 0 for 6 from behind arc after hitting a 3 in a nation-best streak of 1,047 games.

Kevin Knox scored 25 for Kentucky, which next plays the Arizona-Buffalo winner.

Davidson (21-12) made 11 3-pointers, led by six from Jon Axel Gudmundsson, who finished with 21 points.

No11 Loyola Chicago 64, No6 Miami 62

Donte Ingram hit a 3-pointer from the March Madness logo just before the buzzer, lifting Loyola-Chicago over Miami 64-62 in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1985.

Ingram’s long shot came from well above the key. The 11th-seeded Ramblers (29-5) matched the school record for wins from their 1963 national championship team.

Loyola was boosted by a pregame prayer from its team chaplain, 98-year-old Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.

The buzzer sounded as Ingram’s shot went in, but officials put 0.3 seconds back on the clock. A desperation pass by Miami (22-10) bounced away harmlessly.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Loyola Chicago’s Donte Ingram celebrates after his game-winning shot to sink Miami. Photograph: Tim Heitman/USA Today Sports

East regional

No9 Alabama 86, No8 Virginia Tech 83

Collin Sexton scored 21 of his team-high 24 points after halftime to lead Alabama over Virginia Tech for the Crimson Tide’s first NCAA tournament win in a dozen years.

John Petty kept ninth-seeded Alabama (20-15) in it while Sexton struggled during a sluggish opening half and finished with 20 points while shooting 6 of 8 on 3-pointers. Sexton found a rhythm in the second half, including a handful of big shots over the final five minutes to give the Crimson Tide a bit of breathing room in a game that featured 10 lead changes, with no team ever being up by more than seven points.

Justin Robinson scored 19 points to lead the eighth-seeded Hokies (21-12).

No1 Villanova 87, No16 Radford 61

Jalen Brunson scored 16 points and top-seeded Villanova hit 14 3-pointers to rout Radford.

The Wildcats (31-4) played to near-perfection for the first 30 minutes and led 44-23 at halftime.

The Highlanders (23-13) posed no threat at becoming the first 16 seed to ever knock off a No1 in the tournament.

No3 Texas Tech 70, No14 Stephen F Austin 60

Keenan Evans scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime and third-seeded Texas Tech ended the game on a 13-2 run.

Evans’ layup with 3:58 left put the Big 12 runner-up Red Raiders (25-9) ahead to stay. Texas Tech will next play Florida.

SFA (28-7), the Southland Conference tournament champion, led by eight early in the second half.

Midwest regional

No1 Kansas 76, No16 Penn 60

Devonte Graham ignited sluggish Kansas midway through the first half, pouring in 29 points and lifting his top-seeded team.

Lagerald Vick added 14 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who trailed the Ivy League champs 21-11 with about 7 minutes left in the first half. Kansas advanced to play Seton Hall.

AJ Brodeur had 14 points to lead the Quakers (24-9).

No2 Duke 89, No15 Iona 67

Marvin Bagley III dominated in his NCAA tournament debut, pouring in 22 points to go with seven rebounds as Duke rolled.

The Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year made 10 of 14 shots in 32 minutes and grabbed seven rebounds.

Grayson Allen scored 16 points as the second-seeded Blue Devils (27-7) powered past 15th-seeded Iona (26-7).

Duke will next play Rhode Island.

No7 Rhose Island 83, No10 Oklahoma 78 (OT)

EC Matthews hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime and Rhode Island topped dynamic scorer Trae Young and the Sooners.

The seventh-seeded Rams (26-7) won a game in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season and will play Duke on Saturday.

Young scored 28 points on 9-for-18 shooting with six turnovers. The freshman scored 13 straight points for Oklahoma (18-14) late in regulation and made two free throws to open OT.

No8 Seton Hall 94, No9 North Carolina State 83

Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points, Desi Rodriguez added 20 and eighth-seeded Seton Hall won a foul-filled first-round matchup.

Myles Powell added 19 points and Angel Delgado scored 13 for the Pirates (22-11), who led the entire way a year after a late meltdown cost them against Arkansas.

Allerik Freeman hit six 3-pointers and had 36 points to lead No. 9 seed North Carolina State (21-12).

The only thing that slowed down the high-scoring, up-and-down matchup was the whistles. The teams combined for 53 fouls.

West regional

No4 Gonzaga 68, No13 UNC Greensboro 64

Zach Norvell Jr hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left to help Gonzaga escape a major scare.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs (31-4) trailed 64-62 with 1:48 left after squandering a 12-point lead they took early in the second half.

Gonzaga, in its 20th straight NCAA tournament, won its first game of March Madness for the 10th year in a row. UNC Greensboro (27-8) was the Southern Conference champ.

No5 Ohio State 81, No12 South Dakota State 73

Kam Williams made a tiebreaking four-point play with 1:36 left, then added a trio of free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt to lift Ohio State.

The fifth-seeded Buckeyes (25-8) built a 13-point lead by reeling off 16 straight points midway through the second half.

Ohio State advanced to play Gonzaga. The teams met in November and the Zags romped 86-59.

Mike Daum scored 27 points for 12th-seeded South Dakota State (28-7).

No6 Houston 67, No11 San Diego State 65

Rob Gray scored 39 points, including a wind-milling layup that just trickled over the rim with 1.1 seconds left that lifted sixth-seeded Houston.

Trey Kell’s off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good for 11th-seeded San Diego State (22-11).

Houston (27-7) posted its first tournament win since 1984.