NCAA bracket 2017: Live scores, results, and highlights from Friday’s March Madness

Sweet 16 Friday is always something of a loss of innocence event. It’s the last night of the college basketball season that we’re all blessed with the gift of high-profile games being played simultaneously. Regional finals and Final Four games are cool and all, but if one of them is bad, there’s no lifeboat anywhere around us.

Refresh this post throughout the evening for updates, analysis, pictures and videos from the Friday night’s action as we eliminate four more teams from the field.

Day two of the NCAA tournament is in the books. The top seeds remained unscathed, but it leaves us with an incredible slate of matchups in the second round.

The biggest surprise of Friday came when USC knocked off sixth-seeded SMU. The Trojans’ second half comeback makes them the latest First Four team to advance to the round of 32. USC will face No. 3 Baylor for the right to go to the Sweet 16 on Sunday.

The No. 3 UCLA Bruins had a scary moment on Friday night. Star freshman guard Lonzo Ball went down with a bruised hip against the No. 14 seed Kent State Golden Flashes.

Ball suffered the injury while attempting to catch a pass in midair and getting his legs cut under him. He landed hard on the side of his hip and was in obvious pain for several minutes.

Long-suffering South Carolina basketball fans finally got some joy on Friday. The No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks dominated the No. 10 Marquette Golden Eagles, 93-73, led by Sindarius Thornwell’s 29 points.

The most notable part of this game is that it’s the first time South Carolina has won an NCAA tournament game since 1973. That is an incredible 44-year span, which is so long that Richard Nixon was president the last time the Gamecocks won a tournament game.

Jayson Tatum was everywhere for the Duke Blue Devils in their opening round victory against the Troy Trojans, recording 18 points, 12 rebounds, four steals, and four blocks. Two of those blocks were particularly filthy, starting with this one at the end of the first half.

Tatum leaps, hangs in the air for a while, and easily stuffs the layup attempt on the rim. On the next play, Tatum was even more vicious, throwing the block into the floorboard.

LaVar Ball is everywhere lately. LaVar is the father of UCLA standout Lonzo Ball and also Chino Hills High School star LaMelo Ball. But’s it’s LaVar’s talking that has earned the most headlines lately. He’s said his son Lonzo is better than Stephen Curry. He guaranteed UCLA would win the NCAA Championship all the way back in November. He even thinks he would beat Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1, which is impressive considering that Ball only averaged 2.2 points per game in college.

Yeah, this is all some pretty crazy stuff. But the best part of it is that someone has finally confused LaVar Ball with LeVar Burton. Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton.

The USC Trojans became the latest First Four team to reach the Round of 32, making them a perfect 7-of-7 since it was introduced. It was also the biggest upset of the tournament so far, with the Trojans as 7.5-point underdogs to the SMU Mustangs.

The Trojans came back from a 12-point deficit, and were down as many as nine points in the second half. A big shot and good defense in the final seconds secured their 66-65 victory.

Arkansas beat Seton Hall in a first-round NCAA tournament game on Friday, 77-71. The last minute was a weird one, punctuated by an unfortunate Pirate travel and a questionable flagrant foul call against Seton Hall junior Desi Rodriguez.

Seton Hall had its chances to win, but a mental error and a potential officiating flop essentially snuffed them out. Here’s what happened.

If you haven’t heard of Southern Methodist University yet, now is the time. They are a talented and athletic team looking to make a run in the NCAA tournament and here is exactly why you’ll want to watch. This putback dunk by Semi Ojeleye was absolutely ridiculous.

When the shot went up, you can see Ojeleye at the bottom of this frame all the way at the three-point line.

Iona’s Jordan Washington suffered a freak injury towards the end of the first half against Oregon, in which he slipped and appeared to hurt his left leg.

Washington slipped on the floor, and immediately went down, screaming in pain. He was able to put weight on the leg, but buried his face in a towel as he was being tended to by trainers on the bench.