NCAA Tournament 2017: Top Social Media Highlights for Tuesday's First Four

The wait for the 2017 NCAA tournament ended Tuesday night with two First Four games played in Dayton, Ohio.

To officially begin March Madness, the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers took on the New Orleans Privateers. Then, the Kansas State Wildcats challenged the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

While the games were in progress, we tracked social media for the best highlights and reactions from the First Four showdowns.

Mount St. Mary's 67, New Orleans 66

After 48 anxiety-inducing hours between the selection show and the First Four, the battle between No. 16 seeds in the East Region opened the 2017 NCAA tournament.

Mount St. Mary's last appeared in the Big Dance three years ago, but most of the current roster wasn't a part of that team. Both programs had to fight through some early nerves.

Greg Swatek of the Frederick News-Post noted the Mountaineers started slowly, committing two fouls and missing two shots in the opening minutes.

But after settling down, they pushed ahead thanks to a 13-1 run. New Orleans finally ended the spurt and followed up the basket with a wild transition dunk.

Miles Wilson helped Mount St. Mary's retain its lead throughout the remainder of the first half. He piled up 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists before the break.

The freshman entered the night contributing 11.3 points per game, and Patrick Stevens of D1scourse said Wilson has the makings of a mid-major star in the Northeast Conference.

The Mount held a 32-29 advantage at halftime, but eight turnovers allowed the Privateers to stay close. New Orleans scored 12 points off those takeaways. Senior forward Erik Thomas led the Southland champions with 12 points at the break.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Makur Puou seemed to spark New Orleans with an emphatic rejection. Not to be outdone, Privateers forward Travin Thibodeaux threw down a powerful two-handed slam in traffic.

"

Take that rim down, young fella! #FirstFour pic.twitter.com/FCa6aYhecn

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 15, 2017"

However, the biggest story of the night was the smallest player in Division I. Junior Robinson, a 5'5" point guard, carried Mount St. Mary's with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

But even Robinson needed a little help from his friends.

Although New Orleans stayed within two possessions during the final 16-plus minutes of the game, it struggled to take a lead because of timely buckets like this impressive spin-and-finish from Elijah Long, who had six points.

The Privateers finally managed to move ahead at a nearly perfect moment. Christavious Gill knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:48 remaining for a 64-63 advantage.

Laurel Pfahler of Cox Media Ohio noted the 33-minute gap between leads for New Orleans.

But it wasn't mean to be for the Privateers.

Robinson immediately responded with a bucket, and Wilson made two free throws. After Nate Frye pulled New Orleans back to a one-point deficit, head coach Mark Slessinger elected not to foul despite only a three-second differential between the game and shot clocks.

Sportswriter Brian Leigh expressed his dismay at the poor handling of the final 33 seconds.

Instead, an errant half-court pass ultimately ended the tournament for the Privateers, who fell 67-66 in gut-wrenching fashion.

Mount St. Mary's moved on to challenge Villanova, the No. 1 seed of the East Region, in the first round Thursday night.

Kansas State 95, Wake Forest 88

The play-in game for the No. 11 seed in the South Region featured a prospect rising up NBA draft boards. Unfortunately for Wake Forest big John Collins, Kansas State hit four straight shots to begin the game—all within eight feet.

Sam Vecenie of Sporting News pointed out Collins' suspect early defense while mentioning the likelihood he'd bounce back.

Given that Collins had reached double digits in 15 straight games entering the night, that was a fair expectation. The potential problem, as Chris Lea of WXII-TV in Winston-Salem noted, is that Kansas State is stout on the defensive end.

The Demon Deacons average 82.7 points per game—which is tied with Kansas for 15th nationally—but they connected on just eight of 22 field-goal attempts in the first half. Wake Forest managed to stay close thanks to a 17-of-18 mark at the free-throw line.

Although Kansas State shot far more efficiently, 10 turnovers limited the team's ability to pull away. The Wildcats made eight straight shots in a stretch that also included five giveaways.

Wesley Iwundu provided the highlight of the half with a thunderous dunk, helping K-State take a 40-36 lead into the break.

After halftime, the Wildcats continued shooting at a high rate. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller offered a reminder about the defensive struggles of the Demon Deacons, who ranked 41st-worst in offensive rating allowed, per Sports Reference.

But Wake Forest finally found a collective rhythm from the floor, slowly atoning for its problems on the other end. A key reason for the newfound success was Collins making a larger impact, scoring 18 of his 26 points in the second half.

Collins' sensational alley-oop finish brought the Demon Deacons within two points near the five-minute mark.

That was as close as they'd get, though.

Kansas State used a 12-3 spurt to build a commanding lead then knocked down nine free throws to keep it. The Wildcats celebrated a 95-88 win, but sportswriter Kyle Kensing shared that he believes head coach Danny Manning has Wake Forest on the right track.

Iwundu paced the Wildcats with 24 points and seven assists, and Kamau Stokes netted 22 points. Kansas State advanced to a Friday night clash with No. 6 Cincinnati in the South Region.