Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
PITTSBURGH, Pa.– Nothing delivers on its promise like the NCAA tournament.
Last night the totally unexpected became reality when the University of Maryland-Baltimore County from the America East Conference became the first 16th seed to beat a No. 1, totally dismantling AP top ranked ACC champion Virginia, 74-54, in the South Region first round at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
UMBC now stands for U Must Be Cinderella, according to a sign in the stands.
This is easily the biggest upset in the history of the tournament.
Senior guard Jarius Lyles, fighting through cramps, scored 23 of his 28 points on a combination of perimeter and pull up jumpers and six slashing drives to the basket as the Retrievers, who had the 212th best offense in the country, broke a 21-21 halftime tie with six straight points and went onto score 53 in the second half, overwhelming a team that had only lost two games in the regular season and arguably had the best defense in college basketball, allowing just 54.5 points a game.
“This are moments you dream of,’’ Lyles said.
Lyles attended fabled DeMatha, Md. Catholic and spent most of his school career ranked in the Rivals Top 150. He originally signed with VCU but left after a year when head coach Shaka Smart took a job at Texas. Lyles transferred to Robert Morris where he spent just one semester at the Northeast Conference school before leaving to be closer to home. He enrolled at UMBC, where he averaged 18 points and five rebounds during a three-year career.
But, nothing topped this. Before last night, 16 seeds were 0-135 against 1 seeds. That number has been changed forever.
“Unbelievable—it’s really all you can say,’’ said UMBC Ryan Odom, whose father Dave was a popular, highly successful coach at Wake Forest during the Tim Duncan era.
“I’ll see him back at the team hotel and he’ll probably tell me all the things I did wrong,’’ Ryan added.
UMBC, which defeated heavily favored Vermont at the buzzer in the America East conference championship game to earn an automatic bid to the tournament, reached the unreachable star, taking a double-digit lead when junior forward Joe Sherburne hit a three with 16 minutes to play and never letting up on the throttle.
Virginia, accustomed to play at a slow pace, wasn’t prepared to make a comeback. The Cavs, who shot just 4 for 22 from the three, continued to play at a methodical pace until time began to run out. Then they rushed shots until time ran out and UMBC raced off the floor together with one finger pointed to the sky.
Virginia coaches, players fans were in shock as brackets everywhere were busted. “We got our butts whipped,’’ Virginia’s classy coach Tony Bennett said. “And it wasn’t even close. Their offense was hard to guard and they really shot it well. We got totally outplayed.”
UMBC will have a day to soak this fairy tale before playing Kansas State in a second-round game Sunday. For now, the Retrievers are happy to defy logic and dance their way into the night.
