KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After overcoming heartbreak and tragedy just to get to the NCAA tournament, the Matadors of Cal State-Northridge could not get past the greatest game of Roburt Sallie's life.

Sallie, averaging 4.5 points all year for Memphis, scored 35 and the second-seeded Tigers beat the plucky Matadors 81-70 Thursday, dodging what would have been one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

Sallie kept Cal State-Northridge at bay during a lackluster first half for Memphis (32-3) and wound up hitting 10 of 15 3-pointers, a first-round tournament record.

The Matadors (17-14), who lost one of their top players in a traffic accident during the season and another to a burglary charge, never seemed intimidated despite being 19-point underdogs. Taking advantage of miserable shooting by most of the Tigers, Northridge led much of the second half and went up by six points with 10:08 to play.

The capacity crowd roared when Vincent Cordell's bucket put the Matadors up 62-56. But then Sallie hit another 3-pointer and Antonio Anderson, hardly a factor most of the game, launched a decisive 9-0 run that saved last year's national runners-up.

Since the NCAA went to a 64-team format in 1985, only four No. 2 seeds have lost to a No. 15 in the first round.

West Regional At Philadelphia Connecticut 103, Chattanooga 47

With their coach in the hospital, A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet scored 20 points apiece to lead top-seeded Connecticut to its first postseason win in three years.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun missed the game because he wasn't feeling well and was hospitalized for tests. He will be kept overnight for observation.

Associate head coach George Blaney coached the Huskies (28-4) in Calhoun's absence. Stanley Robinson topped the Huskies with 24 points.

The Southern Conference champion Mocs (18-17) had a nice start, but were simply overmatched by one of the best teams in basketball.

Texas A&M 79, BYU 66

Bryan Davis scored 21, Donald Sloan had 14 and the ninth-seeded Aggies handed the Cougars their seventh straight opening-round loss in a rematch from last year. Both teams drew the same seeds last March when A&M won 67-62.

Jimmer Fredette scored 18 and Lee Cummard added 17 for BYU (25-8).

At Portland, Ore. Purdue 61, N. Iowa 56

E'Twaun Moore had 17 points and fifth-seeded Purdue held off a late charge to advance.

JaJuan Johnson added 14 points for the Boilermakers (26-9), who led by as many as 14 before the Panthers made it interesting down the stretch.

Kwadzo Ahelegbe had 11 points for Northern Iowa (23-11).

Wash. 71, Miss. St. 58

Quincy Pondexter scored a season-high 23 points and fourth-seeded Washington took advantage of early foul trouble to Mississippi State's menacing Jarvis Varnado.

Jon Brockman had 14 rebounds and 10 points for the Huskies (26-8).

Barry Stewart had 11 points but was able to get off just five shots for Mississippi State (23-13).

At Kansas City, Mo. Maryland 84, California 71

Grieves Vasquez had 27 points and Maryland shut down the nation's best 3-point shooting team.

Tenth-seeded Maryland (21-13) disrupted Cal with its pressure defense, rarely giving the Bears a good look from the perimeter. Vasquez controlled the offense and Dave Neal chipped in 15 points, helping the Terps advance past the first round in their ninth straight NCAA appearance.

Cal (22-11), which shot a nation-best 43 percent from 3-point range during the regular season, was 7-for-24 in this one. Theo Robertson led the Bears with 22 points.

South Regional At Greensboro, N.C. N. Carolina 101, Radford 58

Tyler Hansbrough took quick care of his latest record pursuit, then helped North Carolina advance in the NCAA tournament.

Hansbrough set the Atlantic Coast Conference career scoring mark in the opening minutes and finished with 22 points South Regional's top seed another easy tournament opener in its home state.

Wayne Ellington had 25 points for the Tar Heels (29-4), who led the entire way and had no trouble beating the 16th-seeded Highlanders.

LSU 75, Butler 71.

Butler has put together quite a few upsets in recent NCAA tournaments. Marcus Thornton scored 30 points to keep LSU off that list.

Tasmin Mitchell had 14 points and Chris Johnson added 12 for the Tigers (27-7).

Matt Howard scored 22 points before fouling out with 35.7 seconds left, and Shelvin Mack added 18 points for Butler (26-6).

At Kansas City, Mo. Michigan 62, Clemson 59

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Manny Harris scored 21 points and Michigan stymied Clemson with its 1-3-1 defense, then survived a late scare in its first NCAA tournament game in 11 years.

The Wolverines (21-13) showed little sign of nerves in their first NCAA game since a booster scandal rocked the program in the 1990s.

Oklahoma 82, Morgan St. 54

A dominant Blake Griffin had 28 points and 13 rebounds and survived an ugly fall that got another player ejected as Oklahoma (28-5) rolled.

The player of the year favorite took another hard tumble when Morgan State's Ameer Ali flipped him over his back and on to the court in the second half after the two became entangled. Ali was immediately ejected.

Griffin stayed in the game and finished 11 of 12 from the field.

At Portland, Ore. Gonzaga 77, Akron 64

Josh Heytvelt scored 22 points — seven during a decisive late run — and the Bulldogs rallied to get past determined but ultimately overwhelmed Akron.

Micah Downs added 15 points for fourth-seeded Gonzaga (27-5), which won for the 19th time in 20 games.

Getting zapped in the first round by the 13th-seeded Zips seemed possible for a while. Akron (23-13) was up six in the second half.

Western Kentucky 76, Illinois 72

Western Kentucky, which made an unexpected run in the NCAA tournament last year, pulled off another first-round upset.

Steffphon Pettigrew had 17 points to lead 12th-seeded Western Kentucky (25-8), which led by as many as 17 points but had to hold off a late charge by the fifth-seeded Illini (24-10). It was the 19th time in the last 21 years that a 12 seed has beaten a No. 5.

East Regional At Greensboro, N.C. Texas 76, Minnesota 62

A.J. Abrams hit eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help Texas (23-11) win its NCAA opener for the fifth time in six seasons.

Lawrence Westbrook scored 19 points for the 10th-seeded Golden Gophers (22-11),

Duke 86, Binghamton 62

Jon Scheyer scored 15 points to lead six players in double figures, and the Blue Devils made Binghamton's first appearance in the NCAA tournament a quick one.

At Philadelphia Villanova 80, American 67

Dwayne Anderson and Dante Cunningham each scored 25 points, and Villanova rallied back from a 14-point hole.

The third-seeded Wildcats (27-7) lost their home-court advantage and nearly lost the game, needing a late 19-2 run in the East Regional to fend off the Patriot League champions.

UCLA 65, VCU 64

Darren Collison pressured VCU's Eric Maynor into missing 17-foot jumper at the buzzer and the sixth-seeded Bruins held on to beat the Rams.

Josh Shipp scored 16, Jrue Holiday had 13 and three other Bruins (26-8) scored in double figures.

Maynor led Virginia Commonwealth (24-10) with 21 points.