March Madness results for St. John's, Hofstra, LIU after NYC-area teams played their 1st round games
March Madness is in full swing for the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament, which featured three teams from the New York City area.
St. John's, Hofstra and Long Island University played Friday after each punched their ticket by winning their conference tournament championship and an automatic bid.
Here's the First Round played out.
St. John's advances
The St. John's Red Storm (28-6) is the No. 5-seed in the East region after defeating UConn to win back-to-back Big East tournaments under Hall-of-Fame coach Rick Pitino.
The Red Storm, led by Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor, faced No. 12-seed Northern Iowa in the First Round in San Diego. They defeated the Panthers, 79-53.
They will face No. 4 seed Kansas on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. The game will air on CBS.
Ejiofor is averaging 16.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Senior Bryce Hopkins is not far behind, adding 13.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
This is St. John's second straight trip to the NCAA tournament. As a No. 2 seed last year, St. John's defeated Omaha 83-53 in the First Round, but got knocked out by Arkansas 75-66 in the Round of 32.
Hofstra eliminated
The Hofstra Pride (24-10) were in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001 -- when they were coached by Hall-of-Famer Jay Wright -- after defeating Monmouth in the Coastal Athletic Association tournament title game.
Hofstra, the No. 13 seed in the Midwest region, had a tough test in the First Round against No. 4-seed Alabama.
The Pride were led by CAA Player of the Year Cruz Davis, a junior guard, and CAA Rookie of the Year Preston Edmead, a freshman guard from Deer Park, Long Island.
Head coach Speedy Claxton, whose number 10 is retired at Hofstra, was the point guard of the school's last tournament team. He later played on the 2003 San Antonio Spurs NBA title team.
Hofstra won an automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament, which was ultimately canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
LIU eliminated
The LIU Sharks (24-10) clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament by taking home their 7th Northeast Conference Title.
As a 16 seed, LIU had the toughest First Round matchup of the three local teams. The Sharks faced Arizona, the top seed in the West region in San Diego.
They fell to the Wildcats, 92-58.
The Sharks, who play their homes games in Brooklyn, were led by a trio of seniors. Jamal Fuller led in scoring with 16.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game; Greg Gordon averaged 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game; and Malachi Davis averaged 14.4 points per game.
This was LIU's 8th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2018, when they were knocked out by Radford in the First Four, also as a 16 seed.
