Just four 15th-seeded teams have ever defeated a second seed in the NCAA Tournament. UMBC hopes to make that five.
The Retrievers (24-8) face Georgetown (27-5) at the RBC Center at 2:25 p.m. today, hoping to pull off one of the most improbable upsets in tournament history. The Hoyas, winners of the Big East regular-season title, have won eight of their last 10 games, and are trying to improve upon last season?s Final Four appearance.
UMBC understands it faces long odds. But the America East champions don?t have to look far for inspiration. Fellow Baltimore school Coppin State was a 15th seed when it knocked off South Carolina in 1997. Also, UMBC can look to its own conference, as Vermont, playing as a 13th seed, knocked off fourth-seeded Syracuse in 2005.
“We?re all ready for them,” UMBC junior guard Jay Greene said. “This is something you dream about as a little kid, and we?re all excited about having the opportunity to show what our team can do. We?re proud to be here, and we?re ready to play.”
UMBC has won a school-record number of games this season, thanks in large part to its offense, which averages 75.1 points per game. But UMBC will need to have all of its offensive weapons working when it takes on Georgetown, which is one of the best defensive teams in the country.
The Hoyas are led by 7-foot-2 senior center Roy Hibbert and sophomore forward DaJuan Summers, a former McDonogh standout who averages 11.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Hibbert, who averages 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds, anchors a Georgetown team that leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense (36.3 percent) and is fifth in scoring defense (57.5 ppg). The Hoyas have allowed more than 60 points only 10 times this season.
“We?re obviously outsized,” UMBC senior forward Cavell Johnson said. “I feel like we haveto take a team defense approach against them.”
Although no UMBC player has ever participated in the NCAA Tournament, coach Randy Monroe believes his team is as battle-tested as any in the tournament. The Retrievers are 16-7 this season in games decided by 10 points are less.
“To be in those kind of games, it tests your will,” Monroe said. “It gets you to see [that] you can play in a game like that. Sometimes, teams that play in blowouts a great deal of the time don?t know how to play in close games.”
Georgetown coach John Thompson III can relate to UMBC. Prior to coaching the Hoyas, Thompson spent four seasons at Princeton, one of the lower-ranked teams in college basketball, which he led to two NCAA Tournaments. Thompson has stressed to his players the importance of not taking any opponent lightly.
“We?ve gone about preparing for this game the same as we would any other game,” Thompson said. “If we don?t play well, if we don?t do what we should do, if we don?t execute, we could have lost every game we played this year.”
