March Madness 2023: Who won the First Four games?

The First Four in Dayton, Ohio, has concluded, and the final field of 64 is set. The drama of March Madness started right away and lived up to its name, with the first two games coming down to the wire.

Since the tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011, an at-large team in the First Four has gone on to win a game in the first round in every year except 2019.

Let’s take a look at the results from the First Four and see which of these teams may make some more noise in the tournament.

March Madness 2023: No. 11 Pittsburgh 60, No. 11 Mississippi State 59

Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi State

The Pitt Panthers (23-11) escaped with a close victory after Mississippi State (21-13) missed two potential game-winning shots in the final seconds of the game.

Pittsburgh will head to Greensboro, North Carolina, to take on No. 6 seed Iowa State (19-13). Pitt will feel comfortable after playing in the same arena last week in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The Panthers struggled to gain offensive flow against the Bulldogs but found some luck from 3-point range, shooting 47.4% as a team.

The Panthers went 5-5 against tournament teams in the regular season and should have a good shot against Iowa State, which has lost five of its last seven games.

March Madness 2023: No. 11 Arizona State 98, No. 11 Nevada 73

Nevada v Arizona State

Arizona State (23-12) came out hot and stayed that way to dominate its First Four game.

The Sun Devils dropped 53 points at halftime and rained 11 3-pointers as a team. They dominated the whole way and should be well rested headed into their next matchup.

Coach Bobby Hurley's squad will fly to Denver, Colorado, to take on No. 6 seed TCU (21-12).

The TCU Horned Frogs have a ton of size and could pose a matchup problem for the Sun Devils. If Arizona State can shoot like it did in Dayton, then the Sun Devils will advance to the second round.

March Madness 2023: No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75, No. 16 Southeast Missouri State 71

It was the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history for Texas A&M-CC, and the Islanders (24-11) made it count. The Islanders squeaked out a close win in a game marred by fouls and some questionable calls.

The Southland Conference champion will travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to take on the No. 1 overall seed Alabama Crimson Tide (30-5).

The Islander will look to pull off a miraculous upset here. No. 16 seeds are 1-147 against No. 1 seeds in NCAA Tournament history.

March Madness 2023: No. 16 FDU stomps No. 16 Texas Southern 84-61

Fairleigh Dickinson lost its conference championship but got into the tournament on an exception after Merrimack was ineligible to compete.

The Knights (20-15) made the most of their opportunity, absolutely dominating the game to send Texas Southern (14-21) home.

FDU will now move on to Columbus, Ohio, to take on No. 1 seed Purdue (29-5). FDU will likely have trouble slowing down Purdue’s national player of the year candidate Zach Edey.