Madness! After 135 gimmes, a No. 1 falls
UMBC the first 16 seed to win a game in the NCAA Tournament
CHARLOTTE, N.C.— So how do you top winning your conference tournament on a buzzer-beater three-pointer? Well, knocking off the No. 1 team in the country by 20 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament should do it.
UMBC’s magical season rolled on Friday night when it throttled Virginia, the tournament’s top overall seed 74-54 to become the first 16th seed to upset a No. 1 in the history of the men’s tournament, a victory that set the sports world ablaze and easily ruined thousands of brackets.
“We didn’t know what seed we would be when we won the America East championship,” Retrievers guard Jairus Lyles said. “Once we saw that No. 16 seed, we knew we had a chance to make history. It’s a very surreal moment.”
It was Lyles who got the Retrievers here, so it was only fitting he carried them to a historic win.
The six-foot-two senior guard knocked down the 3 from the top of the key as time expired to lift UMBC — University of Maryland, Baltimore County, if you haven’t already looked it up — to a 65-62 win over Vermont in the conference championship game, propelling the team into the NCAA Tournament for only the second time. He scored 27 points that night as the Retrievers ended a 23-game losing streak against the Catamounts by erasing a nine-point second half deficit.
That was supposed to be their big upset. Yeah, right.
Lyles scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half against the Cavaliers, but UMBC would need no come- back this time. It led by double digits most of the second half and outscored Virginia 53-33 after intermission.
“We were talking about it before the game, just trying to go out here and make history, doing it for our program, our teammates, our coaching staff,” Lyles said. “We just wanted to make history.”
In so doing, UMBC (25-10) ended the No. 1 seed’s reign of terror against No.16 seeds at135 wins.
135-0. That’s where No. 1 seeds stood in NCAA Tournament history against No. 16 seeds.
Sure, there had been a few close calls — most notably Georgetown surviving against Princeton in 1989 for a 50-49 win when a freshman named Alonzo Mourning blocked Kit Mueller’s final-play shot.
But there had been nothing like this before. Virginia (31-3) arrived at the NCAA Tournament with a school-record win total and five straight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 — the program’s first time atop the AP rankings since the days when seven-foot-four great Ralph Sampson roamed the paint.
So how did a team that starts a five-foot-eight, 140-pound point guard and lost by 44 points earlier this season to Albany, beat the No. 1 team in country?
With heart, according to coach Ryan Odom.
“These guys have passion, these guys love to play this game,” Odom said. “This game means a lot to them and, you know, just a special, special effort.”
It’s hard to imagine a bigger upset will ever take place in college basketball, the kind of win for everyone who has ever been an underdog.
Underdogs such as five-footeight K.J. Maura, who despite giving up six or seven inches to Virginia’s guards, made several big shots and passes and harassed the Cavaliers non-stop on defence. His family was there to celebrate, waving a Puerto Rican flag and holding up a big cardboard cut-out of his face.
“I carry Puerto Rico in my heart,” Maura said of the U.S. territory. “It’s a very special moment for them right now, making history as a team, but I’m also making history for my country. I play for them, especially after what happened with the hurricane. We’ve been hurting lately. This moment gives a little bit of life to my country, and I’m very proud and happy for that.”
So what’s next in UMBC’s bag of tricks?
They’ll face No. 9 Kansas State on Sunday with a chance to go to the Sweet16. Given their confidence level is through the roof here at the Spectrum Center after beating the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP poll, there is nothing they feel they can’t accomplish.
“We go into every game thinking we have a chance to win,” said guard Joe Sherburne, who had 14 points after provided a huge spark early in the second half. “Kansas State won, right? They’re a really good team too. We have another big challenge ahead of us on Sunday.”
Hey, are you going to count them out again?