Dayton rallies from 17 down, stuns Nevada in NCAA tournament - ESPN

SALT LAKE CITY — With 7:39 left Thursday, 10th-seeded Nevada went up 17 points over seventh-seeded Dayton and an upset seemed all but destined, if not guaranteed.

At that point, the Wolfpack had a 99.1% chance to advance to the second round of the men's NCAA tournament, according to ESPN Analytics. That improved to 99.5% with 7:14 left in the game, which is right when Dayton started chipping away at Nevada's lead.

The Flyers then went on a 24-4 run to cap the largest comeback in the NCAA tournament since 2018, winning 63-60 at the Delta Center. Dayton will face the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the second round Saturday.

«I thought down the stretch we got in a rhythm where the guys understood how we wanted to attack them and how we needed to make plays for each other,» Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. «You saw guys doing a good job attacking the rim, extra pass for 3s, ball being fed to Deuce (DaRon Holmes II) inside, him making plays himself or making plays for his teammates, which is really how we've played.»

Nevada senior guard Kenan Blackshear described the last seven minutes as a «meltdown.»

«Can't really put it into words really,» he said.

Wolfpack coach Steve Alford said he never expected to see Nevada's season end on the losing end of a 24-4 run. But a series of mistakes, including one where two players took the ball out of bounds, and «uncharacteristic things» like not rotating defensively led to their first-round exit, Alford explained.

«Really, really poor offense the last seven minutes,» Alford said. «Very poor defense. When you do that on this stage, you're probably not going to win very many games. That's really what happened tonight.»

Grant didn't show any panic when the Flyers trailed by 17, and his