Thursday, March 16 marks the fifth anniversary of the one victory by a males’s 16 seed in a non-play-in NCAA match sport.
College of Maryland Baltimore County not solely upset top-seeded Virginia, it disposed of the Cavs in a style that a lot of the earlier 132 high seeds had eradicated 16 seeds. The sport was tied 21-21 at halftime, however UMBC — behind 23 second-half factors by Jairus Lyles — dominated the ultimate 20 minutes in a 74-54 rout, Virginia’s most lopsided lack of the season.
The Retrievers almost didn’t attain the match in any respect, needing a last-second three-pointer by Lyles to defeat Vermont within the America East championship sport. UMBC would fall to Kansas State within the second spherical of the Dance 50-43. The Retrievers stay the one 16 seed to win a non-play-in match sport.
There have been a handful of near-upsets of high seeds within the opening spherical, most notably in 1989, when Princeton and East Tennessee State each misplaced by some extent within the opening spherical, to Georgetown and Oklahoma, respectively. A 12 months later, Murray State pushed Michigan State to additional time, in the end shedding 75-71.
The 15 seed has loved barely extra luck within the opening spherical because the match went to a 64-team discipline in 1985, successful 9 instances, most not too long ago final 12 months, when St. Peter’s beat Kentucky 85-79.
UMBC wasn’t the primary 16 seed to win an NCAA match sport. In 1998, the Harvard girls’s basketball staff shocked Stanford 71-67 within the opening spherical. The Crimson stay the one girls’s staff to have pulled off the 16-1 upset.
