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March moments
Gonzaga clinched yet another NCAA Tournament berth, but Hofstra and Siena ended some long droughts, while Wright State needed a defensive play to punch its ticket. Plus: All of Tuesday's conference tourney results, key injuries to know this week, and previews for 8 tourneys that start today.
Sean Paul
March 11, 2026
How dare Bam Adebayo try to steal the spotlight from Championship Week?!
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1. Wright State’s wild finish clinches an NCAA berth
Wright State is heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four seasons. And it was quite the finish during the Horizon League Championship to make it happen.
Three-seed Detroit Mercy — vying for its first bid since 2012, and just two years removed from a 1-win season — held a 49-37 lead with 9:52 left. But Wright State’s TJ Burch scored six points in a 30-second stretch that cut the lead to four. Then it was Kellen Pickett time.
With 2:29 left, the stud freshman forward blocked a shot, and dished to Logan Woods the first of two 3-pointers that gave the Raiders the lead. And with 12 seconds left, Mercy’s Orlando Lovejoy had a chance to tie it, but Pickett delivered again.
Pickett was the star for top-seed Wright State. He scored 17 points with seven rebounds, three assists and four blocks.
The Raiders (23-11) had uneven play during parts of February, but that’s partly what helped them reset for the league tournament.
“Two weeks ago, we got beat at home by Robert Morris,” Wright State coach Clint Sargent said. “I thought it was a really good important learning moment, for me, how to grip a big game, for our team, how to understand what that feels like.”
2. Gonzaga, Hofstra, Siena all clinch autobids
Three other teams punched their NCAA Tournament tickets on Tuesday. Let’s start with the team everybody expected: Gonzaga.
