UMBC Headlines Round of 64 with Largest Upset Ever
Loyola-Chicago Ramblers guard Clayton Custer (13) celebrates with teammates after hitting the game-winning shot to defeat the Tennessee Volunteers in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at American Airlines Center. Photo by Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports
By Zach Throne
The Round of 64 was filled with upsets and just purely great basketball games. They took place on Thursday and Friday, March 15th and 16th.
Oklahoma and Rhode Island started off the NCAA Tournament action with a nail-biting, overtime basketball. Rhode Island ended up topping Oklahoma, who had the leading scorer and assister in the country in Trae Young.
The next few games of the day went according to plan when Duke, Tennessee, Gonzaga, and Kansas took home the wins as the higher seeds.
Then came the matchup of Miami, a six seed, and Loyola-Chicago, an eleven seed. Loyola-Chicago battled their way to a two point game when Donte Ingram hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning three pointer to send the Hurricanes home in defeat.
The rest of the night was filled with some close games, but the higher seed pulled them out towards the end, except for the Buffalo-Arizona game.
Arizona has a player named DeAndre Ayton, who is a dominant freshman big man that is expected to be a top-three pick in the upcoming NBA Draft this summer.
Buffalo, the massive underdog, was not scared, though. They came out of halftime in a tight game and played one of the best second halves of the tournament that led to a 21-point win, shocking millions all over the nation. Also, this game destroyed many brackets across the country.
“Not only did Buffalo beat Arizona, they dismantled the Wildcats in the second half. It was something I did not expect,” stated Waldorf student Drew Christianson.
Michigan capped off the first day with a 61-47 win over the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure.
Day 2 started with a close win by Texas A&M, and a blowout win for Purdue.
The Marshall Thundering Herd came out firing against a well-disciplined, favored Wichita State team. Jon Elmore of Marshall had a great game while leading them with 27 points in an eye-opening win over the Shockers.
Only two more games did not follow their seeds for the rest of day 2: UMBC-Virginia and Syracuse-TCU.
The Retrievers of UMBC made history on Friday night when they routed the number-one overall seed of the tournament, Virginia. This was the first time in NCAA history that a 16-seed beat a 1-seed. This game has been claimed by many as the greatest upset in college basketball history.
Jason Murray, a Communications major at Waldorf, had this to say about the UMBC win, “All records are meant to be broken, but that win by UMBC was one I will never forget.”
Syracuse boxed the TCU offense with their stifling 2-3 zone. TCU was unable to get anything going as they only scored 52 points in their defeat to the Orangemen.
Florida State concluded an action-packed, entertaining First Round with a 67-54 win over Michael Porter Jr. and the Missouri Tigers.