Colorado State blows out Virginia 67-42 in First Four of March Madness

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Joel Scott scored a season-high 23 points and had 11 rebounds as Colorado State won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 11 years, blowing out Virginia 67-42 in the First Four on Tuesday night.

Nique Clifford added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Rams (25-10), who advance as a No. 10 seed to play seventh-seeded Texas in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday.

"I’ll tell you what, hard to imagine tonight going any better for us," Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. "Just a terrific performance, really, on both ends of the floor, from the opening tip."

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Reece Beekman had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting for Virginia, which hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since it won the national title in 2019. That stretch includes two first-round losses as a No. 4 seed.

The Cavaliers' ugly performance ignited more debate about whether they should have made the tournament field. Although Virginia finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it had just two Quad 1 wins and struggled offensively all season.

"It is a hard tournament to qualify (for), and you want to be playing your best when you get into it," said Virginia coach Tony Bennett, whose 500th career game at the school was among the low points of his 15 stellar seasons. "And obviously, we did not do that."

Virginia guard Reece Beekman, center right, shoots against Colorado State's Joe Palmer (20) during the first half of a First Four college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament in Dayton,