Jairus Lyles, left, and teammate Jourdan Grant of the UMBC Retrievers react Friday night to their 74-54 victory over the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlotte, N.C.
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has included 64 teams every year since 1985, split into four quadrants and seeded 1-16. In all those years — in 135 tries — no 16 seed had ever beaten a top-seeded team.
Until the University of Maryland-Baltimore County beat the stuffing out of Virginia, the best team in the country, 74-54 on Friday night.
All of which is to say, if anyone claims they picked against Virginia in their tournament pool, you should feel comfortable not believing them.
The Retrievers — who made half their three-point shots against easily the best defensive team in the country — were led by 28 points from senior guard Jairus Lyles, and also presumably every four-leaf clover along the shoulders of I-95.
UMBC outscored Virginia 53-33 in the second half, and also outrebounded the Cavaliers despite giving up a lot of height.
Virginia entered today allowing 53.4 PPG.
It allowed 53 points in the 2nd half to UMBC. pic.twitter.com/8RW2cxuzei
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 17, 2018
University of Maryland-Baltimore County advances to play ninth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday.
The Virginia Cavaliers advance to wincing at trivia questions for the rest of their lives.
“I told our guys we had a historic season,” coach Tony Bennett said after the game. “And then we go and make history as the first top seed to lose.”