LOUISVILLE, Ky.  — The UAB Blazers may not have a football program anymore. They do have the first big upset of the NCAA Tournament and hope they can give their university something to rally around.
    William Lee scored the last four points for 14th-seeded UAB, and the Blazers knocked off third-seeded Iowa State 60-59 on Thursday in their opening game in the NCAA Tournament. It's the third straight year a 14 seed has upset a No. 3 seed, and Georgia State followed up by joining the list within an hour with a 57-56 win over Baylor.
    The Blazers (20-15) came in with the third-youngest team in the NCAA Tournament and with nobody having played in this tournament before. They wound up winning the program's first NCAA game since 2005 and ran over to celebrate in front of the fans of a school that shut its football program down in December.
    "For us, it was just huge," UAB junior Robert Brown said. "We come here, not just to play games, but to actually make some noise and to win some games. To be able to do that and win for Birmingham, win for Coach (Jerod) Haase, it's a great feeling."
    And it set off a wild celebration in the Blazers' locker room.
    "We were celebrating because that was a really big win for us with us being the underdogs," UAB guard Tyler Madison said.
    Haase estimated maybe four or five of the Blazers didn't even realize a month ago that the Conference USA Tournament champion earned an automatic berth, while another had never watched a selection show before Sunday.
    "You're a product of your thoughts," Haase said. "There's been more talk right now about 14 seed or upsets than we've said the entire year. Our thoughts have been, when we play well, we think we can compete with anybody, and those thoughts have been expressed to our team, and our team has made the choice to believe in that. I think that's what you saw today."
    The ninth-ranked Cyclones (25-9) came into the South Regional looking for a much longer run than a year ago when they reached the Sweet 16 without top scorer Georges Niang due to injury. But they just couldn't match the scrappy Blazers on the boards in a second half where the Cyclones couldn't hold onto a 55-51 lead with 3:13 left.
    For Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, it's as tough a loss as he's had. His Cyclones came in having won five straight, rallying from double-digit deficits in each on their way to the Big 12 Tournament title. Hoiberg called that an emotional three days in Kansas City followed by playing the first game Thursday.
    "I'm not going to make any excuses," Hoiberg said. "You've got to come out and play 40 minutes. .. I don't know. Maybe we should have let them get up double digits. That's kind of how we play our best."that. I think that's what you saw today."
    The ninth-ranked Cyclones (25-9) came into the South Regional looking for a much longer run than a year ago when they reached the Sweet 16 without top scorer Georges Niang due to injury. But they just couldn't match the scrappy Blazers on the boards in a second half where the Cyclones couldn't hold onto a 55-51 lead with 3:13 left.

 UCLA stuns No. 6 SMU
    Bryce Alford's final jumper appeared offline when he let it fly from behind the 3-point arc, and all the UCLA guard could do was helplessly watch the battle for the rebound.
    SMU center Yanick Moreira was in position and seemed to time his leap as he went up to touch it. The officials, however, thought he was a bit too quick and called goaltending and awarded Alford the game-winning basket with 13 seconds left — one that's sure to be this NCAA Tournament's most debated.
    Alford had no doubt there was interference.
    "I had a pretty good look at it because I shot it," Alford said after the 11th-seeded Bruins' 60-59 South Regional victory over sixth-seeded SMU on Thursday. "From my angle, I saw Kevon (Looney) and another player going after it, and I was confused because he went up and grabbed it on its way to the rim.
    "I don't know if it would have gone in or not, but he definitely grabbed it on the way."
    Officials went to the monitor to determine it was a 3 and were resolute in their call, telling a pool reporter that it wasn't reviewable. SMU coach Larry Brown couldn't believe it. SMU (27-7) still had two shots to win in the final seconds, but Nic Moore, who scored 24 points, missed a 3-pointer and then a 2-point attempt that sent the Bruins (21-13) into a wild celebration.

Ga. State routs Baylor
    R.J. Hunter kept firing away, eventually lifting 14th-seeded Georgia State over third-seeded Baylor and knocking his father right off his seat with the biggest shot of his life. Hunter's 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining capped a comeback from a 12-point deficit and lifted the Panthers to a 57-56 opening-game victory over the Bears in the NCAA tournament on Thursday.
    With Ron Hunter working the sideline on a rolling chair less than a week after tearing his left Achilles tendon celebrating Georgia State winning the Sun Belt Conference championship, R.J. shrugged off a poor shooting performance to come through when his team needed him most.
    "It was a great game, but I'm not going to coach, I'm going to be Dad right now," said Hunter, who fell off his seat and had to be helped up after R.J. made the second of two long 3-pointers that helped the Panthers advance. "This is my son. Proud of him. ... I haven't been able to do that for three years."