From the sixteen games played on Thursday, there were plenty of great candidates for Downtown Magazine's Player of the Day, but one only had to watch the first game of the Midwest session - the first game of the day - to find the best individual game performance.In #3 Michigan State's rousing, 65-54, victory over Valparaiso, Derrick Nix was so dominant in the paint that he needed to be on the floor a mere 26 minutes to amass these incredible stats: game-high 23 points and 15 rebounds (9 offensive), an assist and two steals. Impressively, Nix, all the while battling two or more defenders, did not commit a single foul, and only turned the ball over twice.
The bulky center was 10-for-17 from the field and 3-for-5 from the foul line, his effort boosting the Spartans to a lead which maxed out at 27, less than six minutes into the second half.
The Spartans advanced to the round of 32. They meet 6th-seeded Memphis on Saturday.
Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 3/21
Through games of 3/21
| Conference (#) | W-L | Winners (wins) |
| ACC (4) | 0-0 | -- |
| Atlantic 10 (5) | 4-0 | LaSalle (1) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1) |
| Big 12 (6) | 0-1 | -- |
| Big East (8) | 3-1 | Marquette(1) Louisville (1) Syracuse (1) |
| Big Ten (7) | 2-0 | Mich. St. (1), Michigan (1) |
| PAC-12 (5) | 3-0 | Oregon (1) Arizona (1) Cal (1) |
| SEC (4) | 0-1 | -- |
| Missouri Valley (2) | 1-0 | Wichita St. (1) |
| Mountain West (5) | 1-3 | Colorado St. (1) |
| WCC (2) | 2-1 | St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1) |
| Sun Belt (2) | 0-1 | -- |
| All Others (19) | 4-13 | NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1) |
