Marquette's Jones, New Mexico's Dent headline intriguing guard matchup in South Region

CLEVELAND (AP) — Marquette's Kam Jones and New Mexico's Donovan Dent will face each other Friday night in an intriguing NCAA Tournament first-round matchup of do-everything guards.

Jones and the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles take on Dent and the 10th-seeded Lobos in Cleveland in a South Region game.

Jones was an AP All-America second-team selection for the Golden Eagles (23-10) after being third in the Big East in scoring at 18.9 points per game and second in assists (6.1 per game).

Dent, the Mountain West Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-America pick, is the only player in Division I averaging at least 20 points (20.6) and six assists (6.4).

“I told the guys when we first started introducing New Mexico, understand this: He averages more points per game than Kam and more assists per game, in a league that’s comparable," Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. "We’ve got five teams in the NCAA Tournament, the Mountain West got four. So it’s a heck of a challenge.”

The matchup extends beyond Jones and Dent. Marquette's Stevie Mitchell will be tasked with defending Dent, while Tru Washington of New Mexico (26-7) gets the assignment in guarding Jones.

Dent said he is expecting a physical matchup against the Golden Eagles.

“We think on the defense side, they remind us a lot of San Diego State. They run a lot of 1 through 5. And we have to attack 1-on-1 to really get the matchup we want,” Dent said.

South Region play starts with an afternoon doubleheader in Milwaukee. Third-seeded Iowa State faces No. 14 seed Lipscomb, followed by sixth-seeded Mississippi taking on No. 11 North Carolina.

Region action shifts to Cleveland at night with Marquette-New Mexico first up, with second-seeded Michigan State and No. 15 Bryant as the nightcap.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has been called many things. Superstitious and a believer in omens are not two of them.

The Spartans (27-6) begin this year’s NCAA Tournament in Cleveland with a first-round matchup against Bryant (23-11). The last time Michigan State went through Cleveland, it won a national championship in 2000.

“I just wish it worked that way, but I’m not sure that’s God’s plan. It’s great. It brings back good memories. But the sad part is, none of my guys were born then,” Izzo said. “I’m not sure they’re thinking, whoa, yeah, we started back then. I’ll never forget it, even though it’s been too long ago.”

The other difference is that the Spartans' games in 2000 took place at Cleveland State's arena, which is 1.3 miles from the downtown Cleveland arena and site of this weekend's games. The home of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers is hosting games for the third time.

Izzo also knows that a No. 2 seed in no way is a guarantee out of the first round. He still has memories of a 90-81 loss to 15 seed Middle Tennessee in 2016.

Bryant is third in Division I in blocked shots (6.0) and fourth in rebounds (41.2). Fifth-year senior Earl Timberlake is the first player in America East Conference history to average at least 15 points (15.5), eight rebounds (8.2), 4.5 assists (4.7) and 1.5 blocked shots in a season.

Ole Miss encountered just about every kind of test imaginable this season from playing in the Southeastern Conference, which sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels’ first-round opponent – North Carolina – has a style of play that reminds them of one particular SEC team.

“I’d say the pace they play at – they like to get out in transition and play a really fast pace – kind of reminds us of Alabama a little bit, how they like to score in the first seven or eight seconds of a possession, kind of (get) it ahead in transition,” Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla said. “I feel like there are some similarities between them and Alabama.”

Rebels guard Jaylen Murray also brought up the Alabama comparison while talking about how North Carolina likes to get up and down the floor.

Ole Miss (22-11) got arguably its biggest win of the season on Jan. 14 when it won 74-64 at then-No. 4 Alabama. The Rebels believe that could help them prepare for what they might see from North Carolina (23-13).

This game represents an interesting matchup between North Carolina’s offense and Ole Miss’ defense.

North Carolina ranks 18th in the nation in offensive efficiency and has committed 10.8 turnovers per game, the third-lowest average in school history. Ole Miss ranks 12th in turnover margin.

“They hang their hat on the way they play defensively,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis.

North Carolina didn’t bother returning to Chapel Hill after its 95-68 First Four blowout of San Diego State on Tuesday night. The Tar Heels instead caught a 2:30 a.m. flight from Dayton to Milwaukee, where Friday’s game is taking place.

Lipscomb’s first-round game against No. 3 seed Iowa State (24-9) represents a homecoming for Atlantic Sun player of the year Jacob Ognacevic, who grew up just over an hour away from Milwaukee in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

It also could represent something of an audition for Ognacevic, a 6-8 forward who intends to enter the transfer portal after Lipscomb’s postseason run has ended. Ognacevic missed the 2023-24 season with a bone bruise in his right knee but has come back to average 20.1 points and 8.1 rebounds this season for the 14th-seeded Bisons (25-9).

“He’s going into the portal this year,” Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. “He’s graduated. I’m fine with that. He’s been a great player for us for four years. Go do it. Good for you. I felt like we were loyal to him, and it worked out as well."

For now, Ognacevic is looking forward to playing close to home in front of his family and friends. The contingent of Ognacevic fans attending Friday’s game isn’t quite as large as it might have been in other circumstances.

Ognacevic graduated from Lutheran High School, which is playing a state semifinal in Madison, Wisconsin, a little before Lipscomb’s game tips off on Friday.

AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed to this story.

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Marquette's Kam Jones (1) looks to pass during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against the St. John's in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)