MARCH MADNESS BAD BEATS BLOG: Underdogs, unders deliver in Day 2

Welcome back to day two of the NCAA Tournament.

There are 16 games Friday and No. 1 seed Arizona and No. 2 seed Duke are the biggest favorites on the board.

We’ll be following the action from all the games from inside the Westgate SuperBook. Refresh this blog throughout the day to track bad beats, big bets, buzzer beaters, bracket busters, ATS results and more.

10 p.m.: After favorites started the day 5-0 ATS, underdogs went 9-2 ATS in the final 11 first-round games with six outright wins. Ten of 16 games went under the total. That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and good luck on the rest of the tourney.

FINAL: Wisconsin 67, Colgate 60. The No. 3 Badgers closed the game on a 19-8 run to prevail over the No. 14 Raiders. But Wisconsin didn’t cover the 7½-point spread. Colgate, a popular underdog, trailed by nine with 12 seconds left but earned the backdoor cover on a layup by Nelly Cummings with five seconds left. The game stayed way under the total of 139½.

FINAL: Michigan State 74, Davidson 73. The No. 7 Spartans closed as 1-point underdogs to the No. 10 Wildcats and held on for a win against a valiant comeback bid. Michigan State went on a late 13-3 run and led 67-59 with a minute left. Davidson outscored the Spartans 14-7 in the final 49 seconds, with Hyunjung Lee hitting a 3 with two seconds left for the final margin. Under bettors were dealt a bad beat as the game appeared certain to go under 140½ before Davidson’s desperate comeback attempt.

FINAL: Texas Christian 69, Seton Hall 42. The No. 9 Horned Frogs closed as 1½-point underdogs and rolled past the No. 8 Pirates. The game stayed under the total of 128½.

FINAL: Houston 82, Alabama-Birmingham 68. The No. 5 Cougars covered as 9-point favorites over the No. 12 Blazers and the game flew over the total of 137½.

FINAL: Iowa State 59, Louisiana State 54. The No. 11 Cyclones outlasted the No. 6 Tigers as 3½-point underdogs and +160 on the money line. The game stayed under the total of 129.

FINAL: Arizona 87, Wright State 70. The No. 1 Wildcats led by 20 with 1:10 left but didn’t cover the 21½-point spread. The game stayed under the closing total of 157½ at the Westgate when Arizona dribbled out the final 30 seconds.

6:30 p.m.: FINAL: Illinois 54, Chattanooga 53. The No. 13 Mocs led the entire game until the No. 4 Fighting Illini took a 52-51 lead with 46 seconds left on a Kofi Cockburn jumper. Chattanooga reclaimed the lead with two free throws with 32 seconds to go but Alfonso Plummer put Illinois ahead to stay with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left. Malachi Smith missed a jump with three seconds left as the Mocs’ bid for the biggest upset of the day fell short. Chattanooga easily covered as 8-point underdogs. The game stayed way under the total of 135.

FINAL: Duke 78, Cal State Fullerton 61. The No. 2 Blue Devils won but didn’t cover as 18½-point favorites over the No. 15 Titans. The game stayed under the total of 146½. Duke’s win was never in doubt but the cover was in the final 61 seconds as the teams traded hoops. Duke went ahead 76-57 on a 3-pointer by Joey Baker with 1:01 left as the crowd erupted at the SuperBook. The Titans then cut it to 17 with 36 seconds left on two free throws by Lado Laku.

Theo John scored on a putback dunk to give Duke a 19-point lead with 10 seconds left and apparent cover. But Dante Maddox Jr. threw down an uncontested dunk with four seconds left to give the Titans a backdoor cover.

4:53 p.m.: No. 13 Chattanooga leads No. 4 Illinois 33-29 at halftime after jumping out to a 20-6 lead as an 8-point underdog.

No. 2 Duke leads No. 15 Cal State Fullerton 37-27 at halftime after sprinting to a 17-4 lead. The Blue Devils failed to cover as 11-point favorites in the first half when AJ Griffin missed a 3-pointer with four seconds left before halftime.

4:27 p.m.: FINAL: Texas 81, Virginia Tech 73. The No. 6 Longhorns didn’t trail in the second half while covering as 1½-point favorites over the No. 11 Hokies. The game soared over the total of 136.

FINAL: Notre Dame 78, Alabama 64. In Friday’s biggest upset, the No. 11 Fighting Irish cruised past the No. 6 Crimson Tide as 4-point underdogs and +160 on the money line. The game stayed under the total of 152. Cormac Ryan scored a career-high 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, for Notre Dame, which pulled away with a 17-5 run in the second half.

3:02 p.m.: FINAL: Miami 68, Southern California 66. No. 10 Hurricanes bettors had to sweat out the cover as 2-point underdogs to the No. 7 Trojans. Profusely.

Miami, +115 on the money line, led by seven with 44 seconds left before USC improbably rallied to tie the game. Drew Peterson hit a 3-pointer to cut it to four. After Miami’s Charlie Moore stepped out of bounds, Peterson nailed another 3 to make it a 1-point game with 26 seconds left. Sam Waardenburg made one of two free throws to push the lead back to two and Peterson tied it with a layup with 14 seconds left.

With the possibility of overtime looming, Charlie Moore was fouled on a drive to the hoop with three seconds left and made both free throws to make it 68-66. It wasn’t over until Peterson’s half-court heave at the buzzer bounced off the backboard and clanged off the rim.

2:36 p.m.: Virginia Tech first-half bettors suffered a bad beat for the ages. The Hokies were getting a half-point in the first half and took a 30-28 lead with 35 seconds left. Andrew Jones answered with a go-ahead 3 for Texas with nine seconds left to put the Longhorns up 31-30. But that wasn’t the bad beat. Not even close.

Storm Murphy drew a foul for Virginia Tech with three seconds left and made both free throws for a 32-31 lead. But it wasn’t over. Marcus Carr nailed a buzzer-beating bomb from beyond half court to give Texas a 34-32 halftime lead and leave Hokies bettors in disbelief, their wallets a little lighter.

2:08 p.m.: FINAL: Villanova 80, Delaware 60. Favorites improved to 4-0 ATS on Friday as the No. 2 Wildcats outscored the No. 15 Blue Hens by 10 points in each half to covered -15½. The game went over the total of 133½.

1:15 p.m.: FINAL: Purdue 78, Yale 56. The No. 3 Boilermakers led the No. 14 Bulldogs by 28 in the final minutes and easily covered as 17-point favorites.

Purdue was the third straight favorite to cover, joining Auburn and Texas Tech. Villanova is bidding to make it four favorites in a row with a 20-point second-half lead over Delaware. All four double-digit favorites covered the first-half line as well.

12:52 p.m.: FINAL: Texas Tech 97, Montana State 62. The No. 3 Red Raiders rolled to a cover as 15-point favorites and the game flew over the total of 132½. The first four favorites, all laying double digits, covered the first-half spread and auburn texas tech purdue and villanova covered first half and first three covered game as well.

11:59 a.m.: No. 2 Villanova (-15½) and No. 15 Delaware (10-1 ML) tips off. The total is 133½.

11:52 a.m.: FINAL: Auburn 80, Jacksonville State 61. The capacity crowd at the SuperBook erupted with the loudest roars of the day at the end of the No. 2 Tigers win over the No. 15 Gamecocks. The crowd exploded when Jabari Smith threw down a monster dunk with 1:04 left to make it 79-58 and seal Auburn’s cover as a 14½-point favorite.

The crowd went crazy again when Semaj Henderson made a 3-pointer for Jacksonville State with 56 seconds left for the final margin to push the game over over the closing total of 140.

11:30 a.m.: FINAL: Ohio State 54, Loyola Chicago 41.The No. 7 Buckeyes led 23-18 at halftime and were never threatened in the second half, cruising to the win and cover over the No. 10 Ramblers in a game that closed at pick’em. The game stayed way under the total of 134.

11 a.m.: No. 3 Purdue (-17) and No. 14 Yale (10-1 ML) tip off. The total is 145.

10:45 a.m.: No. 3 Texas Tech (-15) and No. 14 Montana State (10-1 ML) tip off. The total is 132½.

10:31 a.m.: Auburn closed the first half on an 11-0 run to cover the first-half line (-8½) and send the first-half total over 65. The No. 2 Tigers lead No. 15 Jacksonville State 39-27 at halftime. Walker Kessler converted a 3-point play with 1:58 left to put Auburn ahead 36-27. K.D. Johnson made a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to seal the first-half cover and push the game over the first-half total.

9:40 a.m.: The second game tips off between No. 2 Auburn (-14½) and No. 15 Jacksonville State (11-1 ML). The total is 140.

9:15 a.m.: The first game of the day is underway between No. 10 Loyola-Chicago and No. 7 Ohio State. The game is pick’em and the total is 134.

7:15 a.m.: Terry Gomez, who went 10-0 ATS in last year’s NCAA Tournament to win Station Casinos’ Last Man Standing contest, went 2-0 ATS on Thursday on picks published in the Review-Journal with easy winners on double-digit underdogs Richmond and Akron.

Gomez (@TerryGomezLV) has two plays for Friday: Cal State Fullerton (+19) over Duke and Alabama-Birmingham (+8½) over Houston.

“Fullerton is coming in hot and is underrated by the market, while Duke has had some bad losses recently and doesn’t seem to be jelling in Coach K’s final season,” said Gomez, who works in sales and marketing for PropSwap. “You will always be getting value with the number betting against such a public team like Duke.

“UAB is a Conference USA team, which is a conference that always seems to play really well in the tournament, going against a Houston squad that has battled injuries all season and continues to battle injuries to many of its better players.”

Here is today’s schedule, with point spreads, money lines and totals:

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

9:15 a.m. — No. 10 Loyola-Chicago (Pick) No. 7 Ohio State (-110 ML), 134

9:40 a.m. — No. 2 Auburn (-15½) No. 15 Jacksonville State (11-1 ML), 138

10:45 a.m. — No. 3 Texas Tech (-15) No. 14 Montana State (10-1 ML), 132½

11 a.m. — No. 3 Purdue (-17) No. 14 Yale (10-1 ML), 145

11:45 a.m. — No. 2 Villanova (-15½) No. 15 Delaware (10-1 ML), 133½

12:10 p.m. — No. 7 Southern California (-2) over No. 10 Miami (+115 ML), 139½

1:15 p.m. — No. 6 Alabama (-4) No. 11 Notre Dame (+160 ML), 152

1:30 p.m. — No. 6 Texas (-1½) No. 11 Virginia Tech (+105 ML), 136

3:50 p.m. — No. 4 Illinois (-8) No. 13 Chattanooga (+280 ML), 132

4:10 p.m. — No. 2 Duke (-18½) No. 15 Cal State Fullerton (15-1 ML), 145