The Colorado Springs and Denver Gazette will have full coverage of today’s four NCAA regional games at Ball Arena. Paul Klee, Vinny Benedetto, Tyler King and Brent Briggeman are on site along with photographers Tim Hurst and Christian Murdock.

We’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest developments here.

10:24: TCU wins it. 72-70. JaKobe Coles hits a runner with about 2 seconds left. Arizona State’s desperation heave from about 3/4 quarter misses.

All four games in Denver go chalk. Sunday should be a lot of fun. No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 6 Creighton and No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 6 TCU.

10:22: BOOM! Arizona State’s DJ Horne hits a game-tying 3 with 12.4 seconds left.

Timeout TCU.

10:18: Damion Baugh draws a foul, hits two free throws. TCU leads Arizona State 69-67 with 32.6 seconds left.

Sun Devils led by 8 with 4:30 remaining.

10:16: Tied again, 67-67. Both teams have led by 11 points at one point. 1:10 remaining.

10:10: We’ve got a good one. No. 11 Arizona State 67, No. 6 TCU 62, 3:00.

TCU just missed two free throws with a chance to cut the deficit to 3.

9:53: It was all tied up… for a few seconds. Arizona State in front of TCU 57-54 with 8:33 remaining.

9:26: We haven’t had an upset or an exciting finish yet today. Could that change with the nightcap?

No. 11 Arizona State leads No. 6 TCU 52-41 with 16:31 remaining.

Gonzaga ignores distractions on Ball Arena video board in avoiding upset

7:34: Well, that escalated quickly. Gonzaga did what Baylor did earlier in the day, allowing the underdog to hang around for 20 minutes and then speed away.

Bulldogs up 82-70 with 23 seconds left, but the game wasn’t as close as that score would suggest.

6:41: The second half will begin in 4 minutes. Gonzaga leads Grand Canyon 40-36. The Antelopes, with a giant student section, are staying in this.

No crazy, unsustainable stats that suggest Grand Canyon can’t keep this up. They could still fade, of course, but this is interesting.

6:07: Grand Canyon up 23-17 over Gonzaga, 7:50 1H.

GCU has beaten the shot clock buzzer on multiple occasions and has shrugged off five blocked shots from Gonzaga.

5:49: Grand Canyon fell in a 12-10 hole but now leads Gonzaga 12-10, 14:30 1H.

Maybe they’re just all positioned behind me, but it sounds like a huge following for the Antelopes here.

5:36: Session Two is underway. No. 3 Gonzaga scores on its first possession against No. 14 Grand Canyon.

Gonzaga ignores distractions on Ball Arena video board in avoiding upset

3:59: Final: No. 6 Creighton 72, No. 11 NC State 63

3:55: Creighton has pulled away, leading 71-61 with 53 seconds

The chants of CU are strange to hear, given how close we are to Boulder.

3:51: Two minutes remaining. Creighton leads by 4.

3:43: Good one going here. NC State just got a thunderous dunk from Terquavion Smith to pull within 58-55 of Creighton with 4 minutes remaining.

Smith has 26 points.

3:17: Creighton missed 16 consecutive 3-pointers before the streak was broken by, of all people, 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Game is tied 37-37, 14 minute remaining.

Fun note. NC State director of player personnel Steve Snell was a longtime Air Force assistant (2007-14). The last two years were spent as associated head coach under Dave Pilipovich.

Snell’s son, Jordan, was a constant presence at Clune Arena as a kid, shooting after Falcons’ games.

Jordan is now a freshman on NC State’s roster.

2:36: Creighton 28, NC State 26, 0:39 1H

Creighton hit a 3 12 seconds into the game, since then the teams are 0-for-17 from deep (with Creighton missing 17 of those).

2:02: NC State finally on the board after more than 4 scoreless minutes to open the game. Creighton leads 7-2, 15:35 1H.

1:55: Post-game press conference was upbeat. Baylor happy to have survived, pointed to depth in helping it surge in second half. UCSB focused on a program-record (by four) 27 wins and the experience of an NCAA Tournament.

1:26: No. 6 Creighton and No. 11 NC State are on the floor for warmups.

Baylor Scheierman's late shots serve as kiss of death as Creighton defeats North Carolina State

Baylor putting the finishing touches on an impressive first round win over UCSB. I thought the Bears’ bad defense could lead to an upset, but they’ve just got too much firepower for that to matter today. #MarchMadness

— Tyler King (@King_TylerB) March 17, 2023

1:23: Final, No. 3 Baylor 74, No. 14 UCSB 56

Bears outscore Gauchos 39-20 in a dominant second half.

The Big 12 is good.

1:15: Denver won’t see a big upset in the early game. No. 3 Baylor has extended its lead to 71-54 with 2:25 remaining.

1:08: Former Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, a current announcer with the team, makes an appearance on the scoreboard during a timeout. Spilly opens his jacket, Superman-style, revealing a Santa Barbara shirt underneath.

Spilborghs is from Santa Barbara and played as UCSB.

12:57: Props to the scoreboard operator at Ball Arena, who has to be the quickest operator in the business. The ball barely drops through the cylinder and the scoreboard is updated. It’s really something to observe.

12:52: Scoreboard at Ball Arena showing the end of the Xavier/Kennesaw State game.

Suffice to say the attention of the crowd is divided.

12:51: Baylor’s lead out to eight points at 51-43.

12:43 p.m.: Seven-point run from Baylor puts the Bears up 46-41, 15:48 2H.

UCSB ball out of this timeout.

Get the feeling the Gauchos need an answer here or this could snowball quickly.

Photos from the first half (courtesy of Christian Murdock)

Halftime: UCSB 36, Baylor 35

Shot from well beyond halfcourt just misses for UCSB to close the half.

Baylor’s Adam Flagler leads all scorers with nine points. Ajay Mitchell leads UCSB with six.

UCSB shooting a staggering 61.5% through 20 minutes. The law of averages suggest that won’t continue, but tournaments see crazy things.

12:14: UCSB up 34-31, 1:15 1H. Too early to suggest an upset is brewing, but this is certainly interesting.

11:36 a.m.: No. 3 Baylor and No. 14 UC Santa Barbara tip are underway on TNT.

Broadcast crew is Lisa Byington, Steve Smith, Avery Johnson, Andy Katz

Ready for a full day of NCAA basketball at Ball Arena.⁦@DenverGazette⁩ ⁦@csgazette⁩ ⁦@CSGazetteSports⁩ pic.twitter.com/J2nolsaYkD

— Brent Briggeman (@BrentBriggeman) March 17, 2023

11:20 a.m.: The building isn’t entirely full, but it’s pretty darn close. Tickets sold out in January, the fastest sellout for a regional this season.

Tough to tell if all the green is for Baylor or St. Patrick’s Day.

Thursday’s NCAA Tournament notebook at Ball Arena: Gonzaga, Baylor, conference realignment and… Nikola Jokic?

Creighton’s Mason Miller returns to Denver where dad helped Nuggets, hung out with Nikola Jokic

Paul Klee: Behind the scenes with the Grand Canyon Antelopes at the NCAA Tournament

Paul Klee: Denver wins the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend, Arizona wins the NCAA title

Time to Ball: Get to know Gonzaga, Baylor, Creighton, other big names assigned to Denver for NCAA Tournament

TCU leaning on All-Big 12 guard Mike Miles Jr. in second straight NCAA Tournament appearance

Star Baylor freshman Keyonte George ready to create own March Madness memories