CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The slipper had been gathering dust since the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, with No. 16 seeds a pristine 0-135 all time until Friday, when UMBC became college basketball’s ultimate Cinderella.
The Retrievers, champions of the America East, pulled off the impossible, the most stunning upset in tournament history, the first 16 seed to upend a No. 1, sending Virginia into ignominy 74-54.
But it wasn’t just that UMBC won. They dominated.
They jumped out to an early lead.
They stifled Virginia’s offense at every turn.
They had answers to every Cavaliers run.
They never trailed in the second half.
It was stunning not just in its unlikelihood, but in the insanity of how certain the outcome seemed for the final 15 minutes of action.
The slow start for Virginia was hardly shocking. The Cavaliers have hardly relied on a dynamic offense this season, and the injury that kept guard De’Andre Hunter out removed one more scorer from the lineup. The game was tied 21-21 at the half, and the buzz all surrounded Virginia’s woeful performance and the inevitable second-half adjustments.
When the second half tipped, however, it was UMBC that had found the spark.
The Retrievers opened the second half with a 17-3 run that energized a crowd that became more raucous with each bucket. Players on UMBC’s bench held aloft “March Madness” towels with each shot, and indeed, this was madness.
UMBC point guard K.J. Maura, all of 5-foot-8, scuttled Virginia’s smothering defense, draining 3s and dishing for easy buckets. Madness.
Every small Cavaliers run was quickly answered by a Retrievers team that seemed utterly unshakable on this big stage. Madness.
During the under-12 timeout, highlights of the eight No. 15 seeds to advance flickered, but that was child’s play. What was unfolding on the court below was the real Cinderella story. It was the best kind of madness.
The hefty contingent of Virginia faithful stood in shock, hands on on their heads and mouths agape as fans in purple and blue and red — all here to see other teams — became rabid devotees of the Retrievers. This was history, after all.
With 3:29 to play, Arkel Lamar drained a 3 from the corner, the crowd erupted, and he danced back down the court as Tony Bennett called for a timeout. The dejected Cavaliers convened on the sideline — ostensibly to find answers, but perhaps more to contemplate their role in history. The Retrievers led by 17.
In terms of point spreads, this was not the biggest upset in tournament history but in sheer exhilaration, sheer ridiculousness, the brazen confidence of the underdogs, it’s hard to consider UMBC’s win anything other than the most unlikely victory in the tournament’s history.
There have been close calls before, of course. Georgetown escaped Princeton by a point in 1989. Oklahoma edged East Tennessee State by a point in that same tournament. But 1996 — before nearly every player on the court Friday was born — marked the last time a final score of a 1-16 matchup was decided by even a single possession.
For more than three decades, it was the surest bet in sports — until UMBC showed up in Charlotte with a confidence that loomed far larger than seeding, than matchups, than history.
UMBC does the unthinkable by becoming the first 16-seed to beat a No. 1 seed
UMBC does the unthinkable by becoming the first 16-seed to beat a No. 1 seed
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Source: ESPN SPORTS