The upset that everybody saw coming came. Middle Tennessee, the No. 12 seed in the South region, outplayed Minnesota from opening tip to final buzzer and took out the fifth-seeded Golden Gophers Thursday in Milwaukee.
In fact, so many people saw the classic 12-5 upset coming that it wasn’t really an upset. Minnesota opened as a 1.5-point favorite, but with so much money coming in on the underdog, the line swung in favor of the No. 12 seed for the first time since 1999.
The Blue Raiders proved Vegas — and the majority of bettors backing them — correct. One year after shocking Michigan State, the Big Ten’s best team, as a No. 15 seed in the first round of the NCAA tournament, they outshot, outdefended and outplayed the Big Ten’s second-highest-seeded team, and cruised to a 81-72 victory.
But never mind its first-round favorite status — Middle Tennessee can now re-assume the role of Cinderella as a double-digit seed in the second round. The Blue Raiders will get a crack at Butler, and at the Sweet 16, on Saturday.
They’re also the only lower seed to win a game on the first afternoon of the 2017 NCAA tournament. No. 12 seed Princeton gave No. 5 seed Notre Dame a scare in the day’s first game. In the second, No. 12 UNC Wilmington came up just short against Virginia. No. 4 seeds West Virginia, Butler and Florida held off Bucknell, Winthrop and East Tennessee State respectively. In that sense, the Blue Raiders scored the first upset of this year’s March Madness.
But this was anything but a surprise. The opening stages of Thursday’s game were tight, but Middle Tennessee took a lead with just over five minutes to play in the first half and never looked back.
Minnesota’s pick-and-roll coverage and rotations were shaky early on. Middle Tennessee got multiple wide-open dunks on slips to the rim:
Middle Tennessee takes it HARD to the rim! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/m8YmeQBkh2— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 16, 2017
The Gophers weren’t aided by early foul trouble for center Reggie Lynch, the best shot-blocker in college basketball. Lynch swatted away three shots in the first 10 minutes, but then picked up two quick fouls with eight minutes to play in the first half. Middle Tennessee scored 19 points over those final eight minutes to lead 37-31 at halftime.
Lynch then picked up his third foul early in the second half. Forwards Eric Curry and Jordan Murphy also had three early in the second half. With their minutes limited, Middle Tennessee was dominant on the boards. At one point early in the second half, the Blue Raiders were outrebounding the Gophers 23-13. They finished plus-13 on the glass.
The Blue Raiders extended their lead to 17 midway through the second half. Minnesota looked to be done. But the Gophers fought and scrapped, and cut the 17-point deficit to four.
Reggie Upshaw responded with the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer to push the lead back to seven with six-and-a-half minutes to play. Middle Tennessee got back into its rhythm thereafter and recaptured a double-digit lead.
Minnesota never got back into touching distance, and Richard Pitino was hit with a technical foul in the final two minutes. He was furious with the refs, and had to be restrained by assistants.
Good ole Pitino, Like father like son.. pic.twitter.com/Rp9T3FU6xs— Dylan (@dteague23) March 16, 2017
Upshaw led Middle Tennessee with 19 points, one year after dropping 21 on Michigan State in the first round.
After that upset of the Spartans, Middle Tennessee fell flat against Syracuse and lost by 25. This team is far better prepared to give Butler a better fight in the second round.
No comments:
Post a Comment