What happened in Thursday and Friday's first round

PITTSBURGH — Wasn't expecting a 3-point shootout between Ryan Kalkbrenner and Enrique Freeman, but here we are ... Akron center Freeman only made 17 3s all year but has already made three triples from the top of the key in the first six minutes, including one that banked in by accident, as the Zips try to pull Creighton's giant Kalkbrenner away from the rim.

For his part, Kalkbrenner hit a 3 of his own, and Creighton lets 16-14 behind his seven points.

Baylor's Scott Drew reiterated to The Athletic his commitment to staying at Baylor amid reports of interest from other programs, including Louisville.

"My family is happy at Baylor, I’m happy at Baylor, we’re extremely blessed to be here. We’re staying at Baylor," said Drew.

Though it is a No. 14 seed, Akron enters Thursday's game with Creighton with the benefit of being close to home. The Zips are in Pittsburgh, just 91 miles from their home arena back in Ohio.

In the Midwest Region, only Purdue — in Indianapolis, 61 miles from home — had a shorter trip.

Jakub Necas has now scored eight points in three straight games, which is his career high. He averages 10 minutes per game and has already played 15.

The freshman does not seem intimidated by this stage. Pretty unreal to have your best game in your first-ever NCAA Tournament.

Our staff picks for No. 3 Creighton vs. No. 14 Akron:

• Nicole Auerbach: Creighton
• John Hollinger: Creighton
• Brendan Marks: Creighton
• Austin Mock: Creighton
• Joe Rexrode: Creighton

Crowd here in Pittsburgh roars as the jumbotron shows Duquesne hitting a 3 to go up by 10 on BYU late in the first half. The Dukes are technically the host institution for this bracket, with the campus barely a mile away.

Incidentally, Duquesne closed the year 15-3 and beat Dayton in the A-10 tournament. Maybe that 11 seed wasn't too high after all?

Duquesne started its game against BYU with a 17-7 run, and it has maintained the lead throughout, except for a one-point lead for BYU at 20-19. The two teams have headed to the final media break of the first half, and the Dukes have a 31-21 lead.

Dae Dae Grant leads Duquesne with 12 points, while Jaxson Robinson has kept BYU in the game with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting (all 3-pointers). The rest of the BYU team is 3-for-15.

BYU's Dallin Hall playing through a bloody nose after getting hit in the face earlier.

Gotta be hard to breathe like this.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Actual NCAA Tournament games have tipped off, but there are still plenty of folks here frustrated by certain decisions made back on Selection Sunday.

The Big East has representatives here to support No. 1 overall seed UConn, which is a day away from beginning its quest for back-to-back national titles, but those around the league are still smarting from its snubs.

Despite the conference checking in as the second-toughest league in the country, only three Big East teams made the 68-team field. As it turns out, its many bubble teams weren’t all that close to making it. On Thursday, Huskies coach Dan Hurley was asked if the conference needs to rethink its non conference scheduling approach to avoid what happened on Sunday from happening again.

“There are smart things to do with non-conference scheduling,” Hurley said. “You've got to play some big-time non-conference games, and then we've got to win them. I used to watch P.J. Carlesimo during the nonconference season, like while we were traveling or while we were at a restaurant or somewhere, and he'd be watching other Big East teams play nonconference games and he'd be rooting like heck for the other teams because he knew that winning big nonconference games (and) not losing buy games is the best thing that you can do for your conference.”

Hurley also spoke more broadly about the overall health of the Big East conference, a basketball-first league with such a rich history of success in this sport.

“Obviously, we've got to get together and really figure out what happened,” Hurley said. “(And I do think that obviously the moves at DePaul (hiring Chris Holtmann this offseason), the moves at Georgetown (hiring Ed Cooley last offseason ) are going to strengthen those programs. Providence, St. Johns are in great hands. Seton Hall, Butler are in great hands.

“I think the league is in a great place.”

Kansas coach Bill Self gives clarity on Kevin McCullar Jr.'s knee injury.

"He worked tirelessly in rehab to try to play and everyone within the program knows it," Self said. "We’ve known the only way the bone bruise would heal is time off. Kevin elected not to do that and try to play."

No. 14 seed, Midwest Region

Opponent, time, TV: Creighton, 1:30 p.m., TNT

Team in 16 words: Enrique Freeman is a unicorn, and there's enough roster experience that Akron could be a tough out.

Record: 24-10 (13-5 MAC)

Coach: John Groce (4-4 in NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Enrique Freeman (MAC Player of the Year)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +100000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 6.2 percent

Final Four projected chance: 0.3 percent

Outlook: The Zips have length, experience and defense. They block shots, defend the 3-point line (12th nationally per KenPom) and aren't overly reliant on one player at the offensive end. They have a senior star in Enrique Freeman, who's improving offensively and routinely dominates the glass, but he's just one of six upperclassmen who won't be fazed by the big moment.

However, their shot selection is often questionable, and the offense can go stale for long stretches. The Zips are still playing in spite of a late-season offensive slump that saw them drop a series of head-scratching games and lose their grip on the MAC regular-season title. Akron wants to play a half-court game, but when shots don't drop, it's hard to keep up with quality opposition.

Freeman and 6-foot-8 senior guard Ali Ali have played in the NCAA Tournament before, and both are gifted enough to dominate in stretches. The defense sets up the offense, and Freeman was a load in the post against MAC competition. Can a bottom-100 team in 3-point shooting make enough treys to advance a game or two? If a few shots drop and Akron gets its tempo, it can hang with most of the field.

Michigan State guard Tyson Walker leads the Spartans with 10 points at halftime in Charlotte, N.C. He's one of the players in this tournament who was in college back in 2019-20, the year the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walker was a freshman at Northeastern back then. He starred for the Huskies for two years before transferring to MSU, where he's now in his third season. That means he brings a ton of experience into the tournament; this first-round game marks his 153rd career game and 143rd start.

MEMPHIS — Baylor will be without guard Langston Love this weekend. The sophomore averages 11 points and shoots 48 percent from beyond the arc, but has been hampered by an ankle injury down the stretch of this season.

He didn't play in either of the team's Big 12 tournament games last week.

"With a guy as talented or as crucial as Langston, I feel everybody has to step up honestly," Baylor senior forward Jalen Bridges said. "It will take a team effort to pick up for Langston's loss."

Michigan State leads Mississippi State 31-24 as the first game of the tournament heads to halftime. An odd stat of the first 20 minutes: There were no free throws in the first half.

There were only eight fouls called, four for each team.