NCAA TOURNAMENT

Grievis Vasquez had 27 points and Maryland shut down the nation’s best three-point shooting team in an 84-71 victory over California in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday at Kansas City, Mo.

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 Terrapins advance past the first round in their ninth straight NCAA appearance.

Maryland will face No. 2-seeded Memphis on Saturday.

Seventh-seeded Cal (22-11), which shot a nation-best 43% from three-point range during the regular season, was seven for 24 in this one. Theo Robertson led the Bears with 22 points and Jerome Randle had 14 but took only three shots in the second half after scoring 11 points in the first.

No. 4 Washington 71, No. 13 Mississippi State 58 -- Quincy Pondexter scored a season-high 23 points and the Huskies (26-8) took advantage of early foul trouble to Jarvis Varnado to win at Portland, Ore.

Jon Brockman had 14 rebounds and 10 points for Washington, which looked far better than the last time it played in Portland, losing to Portland of the West Coast Conference to begin the season.

Barry Stewart had 11 points but was able to get off just five shots for Mississippi State (23-13), which reached the NCAAs for the sixth time in eight years.

No. 1 Connecticut 103, No. 16 Chattanooga 47 -- With their coach in the hospital, A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet scored 20 points apiece at Philadelphia to lead the Huskies (28-4) to their 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 was kept overnight for observation.

Associate head coach George Blaney coached the Huskies in Calhoun’s absence. Stanley Robinson topped the Huskies with 24 points.

The 56-point difference was the third-largest margin of victory in the NCAA tournament.

No. 9 Texas A&M; 79, No. 8 Brigham Young 66 -- At Philadelphia, Bryan Davis scored 21, Donald Sloan had 14 and the ninth-seeded Aggies (24-9) handed the Cougars (25-8) their seventh straight opening-round loss in a rematch from last year. Both teams drew the same seedings last March when A&M; won, 67-62.

Jimmer Fredette scored 18 and Lee Cummard had 17 for BYU.

No. 5 Purdue 61, No. 12 Northern Iowa 56 -- E’Twaun Moore had 17 points and the Boilermakers (26-9) held off a late charge at Portland to advance. JaJuan Johnson scored 14 points for Purdue, which led by as many as 14.

Kwadzo Ahelegbe had 11 points for Northern Iowa (23-11), which closed to within 56-54 on Kerwin Dunham’s three-pointer with 17.4 seconds left.