Here are the best NCAA Tournament games contested on Milwaukee soil (besides the Oregon-Wisconsin battle)

Story by

Story by
Here are the best NCAA Tournament games contested on Milwaukee soil (besides the Oregon-Wisconsin battle)

Wisconsin Badgers forward Frank Kaminsky drives for a basket against Oregon Ducks forward Ben Carter during Wisconsin's 85-77 win in a second-round win en route to a Final Four appearance in 2014. Wisconsin returns to Milwaukee in 2022 to open the NCAA Tournament.

JR Radcliffe · Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Thu, Feb 6, 2025 ·

11 min read

About Our Ads

This year Fiserv Forum will host NCAA Tournament games for the first time, though it naturally won't be a first for Milwaukee .

Wisconsin Badgers fans looking forward to seeing their team hoop it up in Milwaukee surely recall the 2014 clash with Oregon at the Bradley Center , featuring a furious second-half rally and a delirious partisan crowd lifting UW over a major hurdle en route to the Final Four.

That game represents one of the biggest moments in the Bradley Center's history. Less remembered are other thrillers on Milwaukee soil, given that the teams competing weren't usually of interest to the local fan base. But there have been some good ones.

Milwaukee has hosted NCAA Tournament games eight times, all first- and second-round contests. In 1984, games were played at the MECCA (now UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena). The other years (1992, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2017) were all played at the Bradley Center.

These were the games that produced the greatest thrills:

10. The Wisconsin prelude (Pittsburgh 59, Wisconsin 55, 2004)

Wisconsin Badger coach Bo Ryan and players can only watch the final seconds tick away as they were eliminated by Pittsburgh, 59-55, on Sunday, March 21, 2004.

Of course, 2014 wasn't the first time the Badgers played in Milwaukee. But the hostile crowd wasn't enough against Pittsburgh in the second round of the 2004 tournament, with the Badgers the underdog as the sixth seed against the third-seeded Panthers.

Carl Krauser's tough shot with 2 minutes remaining broke a 52-all tie, and Jaron Brown made two clutch free throws after an offensive rebound with 42.8 seconds to go to give Pitt a 56-52 lead. Boo Wade's triple made it a one-point game briefly, but Krauser answered with two more free throws. Zach Morley's shot attempt — a two-pointer despite the three-point deficit — with 8 seconds left was no good.

Pittsburgh lost to Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16.

9. The Blue Raiders strike again (Middle Tennessee 81, Minnesota 72, 2017)

One year after it upset Michigan State in the first round, 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee again wreaked havoc on the Big Ten with one of the bigger shockers Milwaukee has seen in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Raiders went up by as many as 17 points despite a loud contingent of Gophers supporters in the seats. Reggie Upshaw scored 19 points and Giddy Potts had 15 for the Conference USA champion.

Middle Tennessee lost to Butler two days later, 74-65.

8. Technically speaking (Mississippi 72, Villanova 70, 1999)

One year after it was victimized in the first round by one of the most famous shots in NCAA history — a buzzer-beater by Valparaiso's Bryce Drew — Ole Miss won its first NCAA Tournament game ever in the 8 vs. 9 game.

Villanova's Malik Allen was called for a technical foul when he shoved Mississippi's Marcus Hicks to the ground before an inbound with 4.7 seconds left. Jason Harrison missed both free throws, but on the ensuing Ole Miss inbound, Michael White took a pass and ran around the floor until time ran out.

7. Milt Wagner at the MECCA (Louisville 69, Tulsa 67, 1984)

Milt Wagner is celebrated after his huge shot to lift Louisville over Tulsa in the 1984 NCAA Tournament at the Arena in Milwaukee.

Milt Wagner hit a 12-footer from the right baseline with 5 seconds left to lift his fifth-seeded Cardinals in the final NCAA Tournament game at the MECCA, though fourth-seeded Tulsa was playing from behind all game long.

The Golden Hurricane, led by coach Nolan Richardson and his frenetic style that helped the squad average 91.6 points per game, didn't go quietly, rallying after the Cardinals took an 11-point lead with 3:45 to go. Tulsa scored eight straight points in the final 2:20 to tie the game with 34 seconds left.

Louisville advanced to the third round but lost to top-seeded Kentucky.

6. Vaughn's put-back in traffic (Memphis State 82, Arkansas 80, 1992)

Memphis State's David Vaughn, lleft, shoots over Arkansas' Oliver Miller on Feb. 8, 1992, at The Pyramid.

David Vaughn scored off his own miss with 7.5 seconds left to lift sixth-seeded Memphis State to a win over No. 3 seed Arkansas in the second round of the 1992 tournament. Vaughn missed his 15-footer with 11 seconds left but grabbed the rebound in traffic and laid it in to complete a comeback and upset.

Memphis State, a team that included freshman Anfernee Hardaway (today the head coach at Memphis), would go on to beat Georgia Tech (which also won in a thriller in Milwaukee) in the Sweet 16 before falling to No. 4 seed Cincinnati in the Elite Eight.

The loss ended the careers of future Milwaukee Bucks Lee Mayberry and Todd Day, as well as Oliver Miller. Arkansas won the NCAA Tournament two years later.

5. Jarrett Jack 's (almost) game-sealing dunk (Georgia Tech 57, Boston College 54, 2004)

Georgia Tech's Jarett Jack celebrates a slam dunk after stealing the ball in the closing seconds to seal the win against Boston College Sunday, March 21, 2004.

Jermaine Watson's free throw gave Boston College its only lead at 54-53 with one minute to go in a second-round battle, but Jarrett Jack made two free throws to give the Yellow Jackets a lead, then stole a pass and raced ahead for an uncontested dunk with 5 seconds to go.

It was a thrilling moment — though coach Paul Hewitt was trying to tell Jack to dribble out the clock, but he couldn't hear over the crowd noise. That allowed Watson to attempt a potential game-tying shot, but his three-pointer skidded around the rim and out. Eagles leading scorer Craig Smith (19.3) scored just two points and took four shots.

Georgia Tech advanced to the championship game that season, first by beating fourth-seeded Kansas in overtime of an Elite Eight battle, 79-71, and then upsetting Oklahoma State in a national semifinal, 67-65. The Yellow Jackets lost to Connecticut for the title.

4. Wheat and the whistle (Louisville 82, Tulsa 80, 1996)

Twelve years after the teams played a memorable game at the MECCA, the same squads were back at it in the Bradley Center for a first-round tilt — the only Milwaukee-hosted tournament game that's gone to overtime.

DeJuan Wheat scored 33 points, including a big three-pointer in overtime, and the sixth-seeded Cardinals rallied from a 12-point deficit with 3:41 to go and prevailed over 11th-seeded Tulsa.

Tulsa's Cordell Love made a three-pointer with 1:07 left to give the Hurricane the lead, but Wheat answered with 47 seconds to go.

Wheat stepped out of bounds on Louisville's final possession but wasn't whistled for it, then hit 1 of 2 free throws to put his team up two points. The miss on the second attempt went out of bounds off Tulsa, allowing Louisville to get one more point when Tick Rogers split free throws. Tulsa then threw the ball out of bounds trying to set up a game-winner.

Tulsa's Steve Robinson also appeared to hit a shot that gave Tulsa a lead with 18 seconds left in regulation, but he was whistled for traveling, something TV replays seemed to dispute.

Wheat hit another late three-pointer to beat Villanova in the second round. The Cardinals eventually lost a controversial 60-59 decision against Wake Forest in the Sweet 16 when Tim Duncan got the benefit of a continuation call in the final seconds.

3. Sooner the better (Oklahoma 61, Arizona 60, 1999)

Oklahoma's Ryan Humphrey (24) tips in the game-winning shot in the final seconds of play to beat Arizona 61-60 in a first-round NCAA Midwest Regional game Friday, March 12, 1999, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Watching are Oklahoma's Eduardo Najera, bottom, and Arizona's Jason Terry (31), Ruben Douglas (5) and A.J. Bramlett (42).

On paper, it's the biggest upset in a Milwaukee tournament game. Ryan Humphrey's tip-in with 21 seconds to play gave the 13th-seeded Sooners a stunning win under future Bucks assistant coach Kelvin Sampson.

Arizona freshman Michael Wright stepped over the end line on an inbound pass after Oklahoma had pulled within a point. Eric Martin drew nothing but air on a three-pointer and Eduardo Najera missed the follow-up, but Humphrey was there for the tip-in.

Future Bucks player Richard Jefferson missed the fadeaway shot at the buzzer. One year later, Arizona would fall in another upset at the hands of Wisconsin in the second round of the tournament.

Oklahoma was the lowest-seeded at-large team in the tournament, but the Sooners kept right on rolling, toppling Charlotte in the second round, 85-72, before falling to top-seeded Michigan State in the Sweet 16.

2. Ridley's believe it or not (Texas 87, Arizona State 85, 2014)

Arizona State Sun Devils center Jordan Bachynski (13) is dejected while Texas Longhorns center Cameron Ridley is mobbed by teammates after his last second tip-in gave Texas a 87-85 win over Arizona State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin-Oregon game got the bulk of the attention that year, but this first-round game two days earlier came down to an actual buzzer-beater.

After Jonathan Holmes missed badly on a three-point attempt with less than 3 seconds left, big man Cameron Ridley dug out the rebound and laid it in as the buzzer sounded for a victory.

Holmes' three-point play with 32 seconds left spotted Texas a two-point lead, but Jonathan Gilling made two free throws on the other end to knot the score and set up the final possession. The game was played at an up-tempo pace, the highest-scoring game in Milwaukee's tournament dossier.

Texas lost to Michigan in the second round.

1. The Miracle in Milwaukee (Georgia Tech 79, USC 78, 1992)

Georgia Tech's bench erupts after James Forrest's three-pointer at the buzzer caps what coach Bobby Cremins called "the miracle in Milwaukee."

James Forrest took an inbound pass from Georgia Tech teammate Matt Geiger with eight-tenths of a second left and hit a game-winning turnaround triple from 25 feet that gave the Yellow Jackets a shocking win over second-seeded USC in the second round.

Former Marquette University coach Al McGuire was on the call for CBS and briefly re-lived MU's wild buzzer-beating win in the 1977 national semifinal over Charlotte when Jerome Whitehead tipped it in . Mere moments later, Geiger's one-handed bounce pass from the baseline to midcourt with 1.1 seconds left was knocked out of bounds, leaving Tech with 0.8 on the clock and another inbound at midcourt.

Geiger found Forrest at the near wing, and Forrest unleashed the shot just before the buzzer. McGuire went crazy, with three howls of "holy mackerel."

Georgia Tech lost in the Sweet 16 to Memphis State.

The full list of NCAA Tournament games in Milwaukee

1984 (at MECCA)

No. 7 Villanova 84, No. 10 Marshall 72
No. 5 Louisville 72, No. 12 Morehead State 59
No. 2 Illinois 64, No. 7 Villanova 56
No. 5 Louisville 69, No. 4 Tulsa 67

1992 (at Bradley Center)

No. 6 Memphis State 80, No. 11 Pepperdine 70
No. 3 Arkansas 80, No. 14 Murray State 69
No. 7 Georgia Tech 65, No. 10 Houston 60
No. 2 USC 84, No. 15 Northeast Louisiana 54
No. 6 Memphis State 82, No. 3 Arkansas 80
No. 7 Georgia Tech 79, No. 2 USC 78

1996

No. 6 Louisville 82, No. 11 Tulsa 80 (OT)
No. 3 Villanova 92, No. 14 Portland 58
No. 10 Texas 80, No. 7 Michigan 76
No. 2 Wake Forest 62, No. 15 Northeast Louisiana 50
No. 6 Louisville 68, No. 3 Villanova 64
No. 2 Wake Forest 65, No. 10 Texas 62

1999

No. 1 Michigan State 76, No. 16 Mount St. Mary's 53
No. 9 Mississippi 72, No. 8 Villanova 70
No. 5 Charlotte 81, No. 12 Rhode Island 70
No. 13 Oklahoma 61, No. 4 Arizona 60
No. 1 Michigan State 74, No. 9 Ole Miss 66
No. 13 Oklahoma 85, No. 5 Charlotte 72

2004

No. 6 Wisconsin 76, No. 11 Richmond 64
No. 3 Pittsburgh 53, No. 14 Central Florida 44
No. 6 Boston College 58, No. 11 Utah 51
No. 3 Georgia Tech 65, No. 14 Northern Iowa 60
No. 3 Pittsburgh 59, No. 6 Wisconsin 55
No. 3 Georgia Tech 57, No. 6 Boston College 54

2010

No. 10 Georgia Tech 64, No. 7 Oklahoma State 59
No. 2 Ohio State 68, No. 15 UC Santa Barbara 51
No. 6 Xavier 65, No. 11 Minnesota 54
No. 3 Pittsburgh 89, No. 14 Oakland 66
No. 2 Ohio State 75, No. 10 Georgia Tech 66
No. 6 Xavier 71, No. 3 Pittsburgh 68

2014

No. 7 Oregon 87, No. 10 BYU, 68
No. 2 Wisconsin 75, No. 15 American 35
No. 7 Texas 87, No. 10 Arizona State 85
No. 2 Michigan 57, No. 15 Wofford 40
No. 2 Wisconsin 85, No. 7 Oregon 77
No. 2 Michigan 79, No. 7 Texas 65

2017

No. 5 Iowa State 84, No. 12 Nevada 73
No. 4 Purdue 80, No. 13 Vermont 70
No. 12 Middle Tennessee 81, No. 5 Minnesota 72
No. 4 Butler 76, No. 13 Winthrop 64
No. 4 Purdue 80, No. 5 Iowa State 76
No. 4 Butler 74, No. 12 Middle Tennessee 65

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal .

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Best March Madness games in Milwaukee features Wisconsin basketball

Mobilize your Website

View Site in Mobile | Classic

Share by: