Our coverage of March Madness at the Milwaukee site, hosted by Marquette University, began back on Selection Sunday when it was revealed what teams would make the trip up to Fiserv Forum to kick off one of the world’s greatest sporting events, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Milwaukee would include teams from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Big East, ASUN and Sun Belt Conferences: Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa St., North Carolina, Ole Miss, Xavier, Troy and Lipscomb, playing in the South and Midwest Regions.
Being a Friday/Sunday game site, media coverage began on Thursday with each team participating in media pressers and open practices. This prep day is full of excitement and anticipation, and those vibes were definitely making their way through Fiserv Forum, from its court to its media underbelly. Teams and coaches were positive as they took the dais, and practices were fun and laid back. Except for North Carolina. Most practices function more like a shootaround, with mostly shooting drills and easy pick and roll-type sub-drills, but not for UNC head coach Hubert Davis. Coach Davis ran an intense 40-minute practice consisting mostly of full-court transition drills and full-speed half court sets. Coming off of a convincing beat-down of San Diego St. in the First Four, North Carolina stood out as a team hungry to get going on Friday.
The Mox joined Micah virtually live on-site from Fiserv Forum to preview Friday’s action in Milwaukee ahead of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament:
After one more sleep, Friday had finally come, fans were rolling into Fiserv, and gameday was here. Kicking off our set of four games was 3-seed Iowa St. vs the 14-seed Lipscomb in the South Region. Ames, IA is about a 5-hour drive from Milwaukee and their faithful fans showed up in droves to support their Cyclones. A ruckus crowd laid the backdrop for a game that never had any sense of an upset. The size and physicality of Iowa St. was too much for the Lipscomb Bisons, and the Cyclones cruised to an 82-55 victory behind a game-high 20 points from Milwaukee area native, Milan Momcilovic. Playing without their second leading scorer Keshon Gilbert, Iowa St. still looked the part of a team that won 24 games as they awaited the winner of Ole Miss and North Carolina.
The Tournament moves fast, and after just a 30-minute break from Iowa St. leaving the floor after their win, we were ready for the tip-off of 6-seed Ole Miss and 11-seed North Carolina. Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard has been quickly gaining notoriety as one of the premiere coaches in college basketball, and after winning 22 games and surviving the gauntlet that was the SEC this season, they played favorites to a controversial, yet red-hot North Carolina. All those up-and-down sets in the open practice didn’t seem to help Carolina early, as the Tarheels fell behind by as many as 22 points early in the second half. After an almost historical comeback led by standout guard RJ Davis, the Ole Miss Rebels were able to hang onto a 7-point victory over North Carolina, 71-64. Ole Miss survived with 20 points and 5 assists from senior point guard Sean Pedulla as the Rebels moved onto a Sunday matchup with Iowa St.
After a session change, Milwaukee was all set for the evening session, beginning with the blueblood 3-seed Kentucky vs the Sun Belt champions, 14-seed Troy. Talk about undersized, Kentucky starts two seven-footers in their frontcourt, while Troy doesn’t feature a player over 6’8″ on their roster. Forcing Troy into a 2-3 zone to protect the inside, Kentucky would simply just shoot over the top of it. Kentucky would hit 10 three pointers in the game, as well as show tremendous off-ball movement around the perimeter to open up the mid-range game of junior guard Otega Oweh. Oweh would lead all scorers with 20 points on 62% shooting and the Wildcats would cruise to a 76-57 victory where they would await the winner of Xavier and Illinois.
Closing out our 15+ hour day in Milwaukee was 6-seed Illinois vs 11-seed Xavier. This matchup geographically favored Illinois the most out of the teams and fans that made the trip, and boy did they show up. Illini fans made up the bulk of the arena and were the loudest group heard all day. Arguably, no team had to do more to get into the tournament than Xavier, winning eight straight to end the regular season, two Big East Tournament games, and a First Four win over Texas. That run may have taken its toll for the Musketeers against Illinois and their fans pushing back throughout Fiserv Forum, as Illinois held a double-digit lead for almost the entirely of the game. Illinois had four players score in double-digits, went +20 in rebounds, and committed just 5 turnovers. Illinois secured an 86-73 victory to end the day in Milwaukee and would get Kentucky on Sunday.
After the off-day on Saturday, the stage was set for our two second round matchups with a trip to the Sweet-16 on the line. Kicking things off in the afternoon was the 6-seed Illinois vs the 3-seed Kentucky. Illinois entered the game as 1.5 point favorites, but quickly played out otherwise. Kentucky used its size inside to dominate Illinois early and jumped out to a 12-point lead before midway through the first half. After defensive adjustments by the Illini to protect the paint, things opened up the rest of the game for senior guard Koby Brea, who went for 23 points on 63% shooting from the field. Despite the overwhelming support from an Illinois-based crowd, the Illini struggled to hit shots from the outside, shooting only 28% from beyond the arc as they played catch-up. Up by as many as 16, Kentucky would go on to win 84-75, punching their ticket to the Sweet-16, their first appearance since 2019.
The nightcap and final game of the opening rounds in Milwaukee, Ole Miss would take on Iowa St. for their chance to move onto the Sweet-16. Ole Miss carried a certain confidence around with them the entire weekend, perhaps due to the fierce competition they faced in the SEC, and it played out on the court. Seemingly not threatened by Iowa St. whatsoever, Ole Miss once carried a 26-point lead against the Cyclones. The Rebels outshot the Cyclones by a whopping 21%, led once again by Sean Pedulla who added another 20 points and 8 assists. Junior forward Malik Dia also shined with 18 points and 8 rebounds, as well as anchoring the defensive intensity that limited Illinois all game. Ole Miss advances to the Sweet-16 for just the second time in school history, and joins a record seven SEC teams remaining in the field of 16.
Eight teams entered Milwaukee, two teams remain. Overall, like most of the tournament, the games weren’t all that close, but we saw some amazing basketball played from our courtside media seating on press row. The speed of the game, the sound of player and referee chatter being audible, and the sound of the ball hitting the floor from just feet away in the greatest basketball tournament in the world just cannot be topped. We walked away with the utmost respect for how the players, coaches, and the NCAA committee handled themselves under the immense pressure that the tournament presents, and we cannot wait to see how the rest of the tournament unfolds.
The Barn 