See UNCW basketball players, fans react to March Madness Bracket reveal
The Seahawks learned who will play in the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Sunday’s Selection Show at Trask Coliseum.
The first March madness on display in the eight years of UNCW basketball became a moment that seemed impossible after chasing 16 in the first half.
Despite erasing the huge deficit in the first half, the 14-seeded Seahawks (27-8) were unable to slow down the Texas technology attack, which drained 13 three-pointers to avoid 82-72 in the crazy opening round in March at Interst Bank Arena on Thursday night in Kansas.
The Red Raiders flew to an early 8-point lead as Carwin Walton drained a trio of three-point shots in the first two minutes. The team did not slow down and jumped to a 35-19 lead in just six minutes in the first half.
Texas Tech will advance to round 32 and face No. 11 seed Drake in Wichita on Saturday.
Watch fubo (free trial) in Madness in March 2025
Texas Tech’s Carwin Walton saves the best savings for March Madness
There was no doubt that Texas Tech’s offensive abilities would take part in Thursday’s matchup. The Red Raiders, expected to run a long tournament, still painted some tricks on their sleeves as senior Carwin Walton leads all the scorers with 24 points.
Walton’s three-pointer trio of 2 minutes of the game helped him finish guard with 27 points on an eight-night, 19 nights, past the arc, the season-best for the senior, who averaged 5.8 points per game entering the NCAA Tournament.
Texas Tech took 46 record shots of the tournament program from the 3-point range.
Just as Nolan Hodge leads the Seahawks, the depth of the UNCW show
Nolan Hodge of UNCW did not start the game. That didn’t bother the junior who came out of the bench to lead all the Seahawks with 18 points.
Donovan Newby was a star of UNCW’s offensive throughout the season, but the graduate students finished with just six points. Instead, the only Seahawks to reach double digits were Hodge and Beaumont Grommery (10 points, 5 rebounds).
For now, uncw is ready
The Seahawks did not collect their first NCAA Tournament victory since Thursday, 2002, but the team has proven they are ready for now, even with some warm-up.
Limiting Big 12 players and rookie JT Toppin to just 12 points, the Seahawks defense locked the freshmen of all games. That defensive effort paid dividends in the second half as the Seahawks took a two-point lead.
