2025 March Madness: All-Americans and transfers save the day for Sweet 16 bids

Many of the games on the first day of the Round of 32 continued the trend we saw from the Round of 64, with the favorites largely reigning supreme. However, we did get our first major upset of the tournament on Saturday.

No. 10 seed Arkansas took down No. 2 seed St. John's in a battle of two Hall of Fame coaches, with John Calipari getting the latest laugh over rival Rick Pitino. That game wasn't defined by its stars, however. In fact, both teams had commanding defensive performances that caused the opposing stars to struggle to shoot from the field as St. John's All-American RJ Luis was benched for the final minutes of the game.

 [MORE:  2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket here ]

The other seven games on Saturday, though, featured strong individual efforts. A couple of All-Americans made their presence felt, while a bench player was pivotal to another victory after transferring from that school's top rival over the offseason.

Let's take a look at the biggest heroes from Saturday's games. 

The junior continued his impressive season on Saturday, scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field while securing 15 rebounds in Purdue's 76-62 win over McNeese. Fourteen of those points came in the second half, helping the Boilermakers pull away and not have to worry about any Cinderella magic. As for Kaufman-Renn's 15 rebounds, that's a new career high.

When it was time to make a comeback, a former Buckeye stepped up for the Wolverines. Gayle, an Ohio State transfer, went off after Texas A&M took a 60-50 lead with 13:17 remaining. He scored 16 points from that point on, hitting multiple 3-pointers and sinking several other clutch shots. His made free throw with 6:08 remaining gave Michigan a 71-70 lead, one that