Maryland-Baltimore County Pulls Off Biggest Upset in College Basketball History

“We got our butts whipped.”

So said Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett after his Cavaliers, the number one seed not only in the South Region but also in the NCAA tournament as a whole, lost to the 16th seeded University of Maryland—Baltimore County Retrievers in Charlotte on March 16th. It is the first time ever that a 16 has beaten a one seed in the tournament.

UMBC finished second in the America East conference, but won the conference tournament and earned the school’s second ever trip to the NCAA tournament. In 2008, the Retrievers were a #15 seed and lost to Georgetown 66-47 in the first round.

The Retrievers were up against the team with the number one defense in the country in terms of fewest points allowed. The Cavaliers were not a high scoring team, but methodically shut down other teams and had enough offense to win. The teams were tied at 21 apiece at halftime; it’s not unusual for a low seed to be competitive with a higher seed in the first half, especially when the opponents are unfamiliar with each other. Typically, the higher seed makes adjustments at halftime and its experience and athleticism takes over and pulls away for the victory.

Not this time. The script was reversed, and UMBC came out and went at the vaunted Cavaliers defense outscoring Virginia by 20 points in the half for a 74-54 victory. It was the most points allowed by Virginia all season. The retrievers were almost scoring at will later in the half as Virginia’s defense completely broke down. Teams that seldom play with big deficits are often unable to play catch up, and that is especially true with defensive minded teams. The defense is supposed to prevent that sort of thing, and when it doesn’t, there is no answer.

UMBC moves on to play #9 Kansas State on March 18th. No matter what happens the rest of the way, UMBC has made history and is on the college basketball map.