Moccasins Show Venom In 73-70 Upset Of Georgia

Southeast men

The first thing Mack McCarthy told Tennessee-Chattanooga when it saw its NCAA Tournament pairing against Georgia was, “This will not be an upset.”

McCarthy’s Mocs and Georgia’s Bulldogs are the only people who believe it.

By seeding, by conference and by reputation, the Moccasins’ 73-70 beating of Georgia on Friday in one of four first-round games of the Southeast Regional qualifies as one of the tournament’s tumblers.

Fourteenth-seeded Chattanooga stunned third-seeded Georgia with leads of 15-0 and 20-2, then withstood Georgia’s second-half rally and last-gasp chance at overtime before an estimated 8,000 at Charlotte Coliseum.

Willie Young, directed a clearout, 1-4 offense, for two baskets in the last 1:51 to make the Mocs the 11th team since 1985 to send a No. 3 seed home after the first round.

“We don’t feel surprised, because we feel we are good enough to compete against everybody we play,” Chattanooga forward Johnny Taylor said. “We’re not one of those teams that’s just happy to get through the first round, lose and say, ‘Well, we had a good year.’ We’re thinking Indianapolis (site of the Final Four).”

Taylor scored 10 of the first 15 points for Chattanooga (23-10), and Young’s 3-pointer with 4:39 elapsed in the first half capped a 20-2 run - one from which the Bulldogs (24-9) never recovered.

Illinois 90, So. California 77

Kiwane Garris hit 16 of 17 foul shots, and scored 27 points as the sixth-seeded Fighting Illini (22-9) shot a season-high 59.6 percent.

The eleventh-seeded Trojans (17-11) trailed by double figures for much of the first 25 minutes, but used a 15-7 run midway through the second half to tie it at 69 on a baseline jumper by Danny Walker with 5:19 remaining. But Illinois scored 14 of the next 18 points as Garris made all eight of his free throws.

Providence 81, Marquette 59

Austin Croshere scored a career-high 39 points as the 10th-seeded Friars rallied past the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles (22-8) after trailing 19-13.

Duke 71, Murray St. 68

Jeff Capel scored 12 of his 25 points in the opening 4 minutes of the second half to help the second-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) hold off the 15th-seeded Racers (20-10).