The University of Illinois is introducing new men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood today. He leaves Oklahoma State after one year and an NCAA appearance following three seasons and NCAA berths at Stephen F. Austin. The Illini host Boise State tonight in the second round of the NIT at 8:00 at State Farm Center. Pre-game on 98.9 WJEZ begins tonight at 7:00.
Illinois State welcomes UCF to Redbird Arena tonight for a second-round NIT game. Tip-off is at 6:00 on Doug Collins Court. The Redbirds are the only remaining Number 1 seed in the NIT field after TCU beat Iowa 94-92 in overtime on Sunday.
Upsets and near-upsets highlighted Sunday’s play in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. A pair of 7 seeds knocked off 2 seeds as Michigan advanced by knocking off 2-seed Louisville 73-69 and South Carolina eliminated Duke 88-81. 10-seed and Missouri Valley Conference representative Wichita State narrowly missed a third upset, falling to Kentucky 65-62. Top seeds Kansas and North Carolina moved on, as did Oregon, Baylor and UCLA.
Ryan Newman won the Monster Energy Cup race at Phoenix.
In practice baseball, the Cardinals beat the Braves 5-2, the White Sox handled the Angels 11-2 and the Cubs lost to the Royals 6-2.