March Madness: SI's Best Photos

Mercer 78, Duke 71

<italics>SI's best photos from Friday of the NCAA tournament</italics>, on a day in which Mercer pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament thus far with its shocking victory over Duke. Defense like this from T.J. Hallice on Rasheed Sulaimon played a role for the 14-seeded Bears.

Mercer 78, Duke 71

Anthony White Jr. (15) and Atlantic Sun player of the year Langston Hall combined for 24 points.

Mercer 78, Duke 71

Daniel Coursey defends against Tyler Thornton as he dishes the ball. Mercer came back from five points down in the last 4:52 as Duke's offense collapsed.

Mercer 78, Duke 71

Kevin Canevari celebrated Mercer's win by busting out a dance move that went viral.

Stephen F. Austin 77, VCU 75 (OT)

Jacob Parker scored a game-high 22 points for the Lumberjacks, who played in the fifth overtime game during the round of 64, a tournament record.

Stephen F. Austin 77, VCU 75 (OT)

Trey Pinkney (10) and Stephen F. Austin extended the nation's second-longest winning streak to 29 games.

Stephen F. Austin 77, VCU 75 (OT)

Mo Alie-Cox scores two of his four points. VCU was victimized by Desmond Haymon's four-point play with 3.6 seconds left.

Baylor 74, Nebraska 60

Cory Jefferson scored 16 points and the sixth-seeded Bears coasted in their first tournament game since falling in the Elite Eight two years ago.

Baylor 74, Nebraska 60

Baylor will play No. 3 seed Creighton on Sunday in the third round of West Regional. The Bluejays beat Louisiana-Lafayette 76-66.

Baylor 74, Nebraska 60

Isaiah Austin (21) and the Bears held Shavon Shields (31) and the Cornhuskers to a mere 16 points in the first half.

Baylor 74, Nebraska 60

Royce O'Neale and the Bears have now won 11 of their last 13 games, including a dominating march to the Big 12 tournament final and now the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Stanford 58, New Mexico 53

Josh Huestis (40) had seven points, three blocks and four rebounds for Stanford, which knocked off seventh-seeded New Mexico.

Stanford 58, New Mexico 53

Cullen Neal is defended by Stefan Nastic in a game in which the Cardinal built an early 16-point lead then held on after New Mexico rallied to tie it midway through the second half.

Stanford 58, New Mexico 53

Hugh Greenwood is boxed out by Stefan Nastic and Marcus Allen.

Stanford 58, New Mexico 53

Kendall Williams (10) and teammate Alex Kirk, who together average 30 points, combined for just six against the defense applied by the likes of Anthony Brown (21) and the Cardinal.

Arizona 68, Weber St. 59

Gabe York and the Wildcats fell into an eight-point hole in the opening six minutes, going without a field for nearly five minutes during a 10-2 run by Weber State to begin the game.

Arizona 68, Weber St. 59

Nick Johnson paced Arizona with a team-high 16 points.

Arizona 68, Weber St. 59

Aaron Gordon finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and five of Arizona's 11 blocks.

Arizona 68, Weber St. 59

Kaleb Tarczewski also had five blocks for the Wildcats, to go along with 10 points and four rebounds.

Creighton 76, Louisiana-Lafayette 66

Doug McDermott scored 30 points in Creighton's win over No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette. He has now scored at least 30 in four of his team's last five games.

Creighton 76, Louisiana-Lafayette 66

The Bluejays, one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country, missed their first six attempts from long range and struggled to get the ball to McDermott on some of his quick cuts to the basket.

Creighton 76, Louisiana-Lafayette 66

Elridge Moore (22) bangs underneath with Jahenns Manigat. The Ragin' Cajuns attacked Creighton with fearless defense and rebounding.

Creighton 76, Louisiana-Lafayette 66

Austin Chatman (1) had a team-high six assists for Creighton, which plays Baylor on Sunday.

Creighton 76, Louisiana-Lafayette 66

Avery Dingman makes an acrobatic attempt.

Tennessee 86, UMass 67

Chaz Williams tries to work inside against Tennessee. The Minutemen trailed by 20 before the half.

Tennessee 86, UMass 67

Josh Richardson tries to save the ball from going out of bounds as Sampson Carter defends.

Tennessee 86, UMass 67

Tennessee's Jordan McRae works against Raphiael Putney for a bucket in the Volunteers' easy win.

Tennessee 86, UMass 67

Jordan McRae and the Vols face Mercer next in a rematch of an NIT game won by Mercer at Tennessee last year.

Kansas 80, Eastern Kentucky 69

Perry Ellis had 14 points and 13 boards against 15th-seeded Eastern Kentucky, which has lost all eight of its NCAA tournament games.

Kansas 80, Eastern Kentucky 69

Andrew Wiggins had 19 points for the Jayhawks (25-9), who will play No. 10 seed Stanford on Sunday in the South Regional.

Kansas 80, Eastern Kentucky 69

Marcus Lewis defends against Wayne Selden Jr. in a game that Eastern Kentucky led 56-53 with 9:11 to go.

Kansas 80, Eastern Kentucky 69

Tarik Black throws down two of his 12 points for the Jayhawks while Eric Stutz tries to defend.

Gonzaga 85, Oklahoma St. 77

Marcus Smart led Oklahoma State in points (23), rebounds (13), assists (7) and steals (6), but it wasn't nearly enough to get the Cowboys beyond Gary Bell Jr. (5) and Gonzaga.

Gonzaga 85, Oklahoma St. 77

Kevin Pangos (4) poured in 26 points, including hitting 12 of 14 free throws,in helping Gonzaga move on to play top-seeded Arizona on Sunday.

Gonzaga 85, Oklahoma St. 77

Gonzaga is playing in its 16th consecutive NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga 85, Oklahoma St. 77

Kamari Murphy (21) and Sam Dower Jr. compete for the ball in a game that featured 61 fouls, seven off the tournament record set in 1956.

Wichita St. 64, Cal Poly 37

Ron Baker and Wichita State ran their unblemished record to 35-0 by turning back the Mustangs.

Wichita St. 64, Cal Poly 37

Cleananthony Early had 23 points against the only team with a sub-.500 record in the tournament.

Wichita St. 64, Cal Poly 37

Cleanthony Early and Nick Wiggins celebrate a play; Wichita State faces Kentucky on Sunday.

Wichita St. 64, Cal Poly 37

There was no suspense in this game as second-ranked Wichita State surpassed the previous best start in 1991 by UNLV. The Runnin' Rebels went 34-0 before losing to Duke in the national semifinals. The Shockers made the Final Four as a No. 9 seed last year.

North Carolina 79, Providence 77

Kenny Meeks swats away a shot attempt during Carolina's narrow victory over Providence.

North Carolina 79, Providence 77

J.P. Tokoto (13) and Brice Johnson helped Carolina control the backboards (35-24).

North Carolina 79, Providence 77

Marcus Paige led the Tar Heels with 19 points and sank a huge three-point shot with 67 seconds remaining to make it a 77-77 game.

North Carolina 79, Providence 77

Bryce Cotton puts up a finger roll shot on a night when Providence came close to handing North Carolina its first tournament opener loss since 1999.

Memphis 71, George Washington 66

Despite his team having lost three of its previous five games, Joe Jackson guaranteed Memphis would win its first two NCAA tourament games. He's halfway to being right after chipping in with 15 points.

Memphis 71, George Washington 66

Chris Crawford shoots over the George Washington defense, but it was top sixth-man Michael Dixon Jr. who hurt the Colonials the most. He scored 19 points and hit four free throws in the final 10 seconds to help Memphis survive.

Memphis 71, George Washington 66

Kevin Larsen scores a pair of his 16 points.

Memphis 71, George Washington 66

Isaiah Armwood, being defended here by Austin Nichols, led GW with 21 points.

Kentucky 56, Kansas State 49

Julius Randle (30) had 19 points and 15 rebounds as Kentucky advanced to a coveted Sunday date with unbeaten Wichita State.

Kentucky 56, Kansas State 49

Dakari Johnson (44) and Thomas Gipson battle for a rebound. The preseason No. 1, Kentucky (25-10) is finally starting to live up to the expectations that came with its heralded recruiting class. John Calipari's bunch nearly knocked of Florida in the SEC title game last week and seemed to carry that momentum right into Friday night's game.

Iowa State 93, North Carolina Central 75

Iowa State opened the scoring with this alley-oop reverse dunk by Melvin Ejim.

Iowa State 93, North Carolina Central 75

DeAndre Kane (50) and the Cyclones face North Carolina on Sunday and will do so without Georges Niang, who scored 24 points Friday night, but will miss the rest of the tournament with a broken bone in his right foot.

UCLA 76, Tulsa 59

Bryce Alford defends against Rashad Ray during UCLA's resounding victory.

UCLA 76, Tulsa 59

James Woodard (10) and the Golden Hurricane were no match for Tony Parker and the Bruins, who face Stephen F. Austin next.

UCLA 76, Tulsa 59

Rashad Ray makes a nice pass to a wide-open D'Andre Wright.

UCLA 76, Tulsa 59

Rashad Smith tries to time his jump as Zach LaVine and Tony Parker defend.

Virginia 70, Coastal Carolina 59

Anthony Gill came off the bench to score a game-high 17 for Virginia, which plays No. 8 Memphis next.

Virginia 70, Coastal Carolina 59

The Cavaliers trailed by 10 in the first half and five at halftime to the Chanticleers before pushing ahead for good with about 9 minutes left. A No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and the Cavs ensured history would wait at least another year.