| NCAA tournament game | |||||||||||||
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 Spectrum Center, site of the game | |||||||||||||
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| Date | March 16, 2018 | ||||||||||||
| Venue | Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Favorite | Virginia by 20+1⁄2[1] | ||||||||||||
| Referees | Tim Nestor, Tony Greene, and Todd Austin[2] | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 17,943 | ||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||
| Network | TNT | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, and Tracy Wolfson | ||||||||||||
| Nielsen Ratings | 2.0 (national) U.S. viewership: 3.533 million[3] | ||||||||||||
On March 16, 2018, during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the University of Virginia (Virginia; also UVA) Cavaliers played a college basketball game against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Cavaliers, who were seeded first in the South regional bracket and first overall in the NCAA tournament, faced the Retrievers, who were seeded 16th in the south regional bracket. Virginia and UMBC competed for the right to face ninth-seeded Kansas State, which had already won their first-round game against Creighton earlier in the day.
After a close first half that saw the teams finish tied 21–21, UMBC took over in the second half and defeated the Cavaliers 74–54, becoming the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.[4] It was only the second time in college basketball overall, after No. 16 seeded Harvard defeated overall No. 1 Stanford in the women's tournament twenty years earlier. UMBC also earned its first NCAA tournament win in school history.[5] With Virginia set as a 20.5 point favorite heading into the game, UMBC's victory stands as the third-biggest upset in terms of point spread in NCAA Tournament history behind Norfolk State's defeat of Missouri in 2012 when Missouri was a 21+1⁄2-point favorite, and Fairleigh Dickinson's defeat of Purdue in 2023 when Purdue was a 23+1⁄2-point favorite.[1][6] Virginia finished their season at 31–3 while UMBC improved to 25–10.
UMBC coach Ryan Odom, the son of former Virginia assistant coach Dave Odom, grew up as a UVA fan, and recalled the experience of being in attendance when the Cavaliers advanced to the Final Four in 1984.[7]
- ^ a b Carroll, Charlotte (March 16, 2018). "No. 16 UMBC Shocks No. 1 Virginia With Greatest Upset in College Basketball History". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
espnboxscorewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Porter, Rick (March 21, 2018). "NCAA Tournament is all over the cable top 25 for March 12–18". Zap2it.com. Tribune Media Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
- ^ Wilco, Daniel (March 17, 2018). "Last perfect bracket busts after UMBC pulls off biggest upset in NCAA tournament history". NCAA.com. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
- ^ Wolken, Dan (March 16, 2018). "UMBC stuns Virginia to make NCAA tournament history as first No. 16 seed beat No. 1 seed". USA Today. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^ Kraemer, Mackenzie; Nelson, Rob (March 17, 2018). "Biggest NCAA tournament point-spread upsets of the 64-team era". ESPN. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
- ^ Shaffer, Jonas (March 13, 2018). "As UMBC departs for NCAA tournament, Retrievers look back at and ahead to 'special' season". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
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