Wright State and Miami had Philly fans’ backing, but Virginia and Tennessee stopped their upset bids
Wright State gave Virginia all it could handle before the favorites took control late. After that, Miami of Ohio ran out of magic and fell hard against Tennessee.
Virginia coach Ryan Odom was on the other side of this kind of game in the past.
In fact, he did it quite famously to the Cavaliers in 2018, when Maryland-Baltimore County became the first men’s No. 16 seed to topple a No. 1. That feat took him to Utah State, Virginia Commonwealth, and ultimately to the big stage in Charlottesville last summer.
Now here he was with the third-seeded Cavaliers, in South Philadelphia after finishing second to mighty Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last season, sent sideways by coach Tony Bennett’s sudden retirement. Nor had they gone past the first round since 2019, when they won the national title in one of college hoops’ great redemption stories.
» READ MORE: Live updates from the NCAA Tournament in Philly
Well, there might have been an old ghost in one of the equipment bags.
Wright State gave Virginia all it could handle, and the full-house crowd a thrill, before the favorites took control late for an 82-73 win Friday afternoon in the Midwest Region game.
“It’s not meant to be easy,” Odom said. “It’s meant to be hard, and you’re going to have to fight for something that you want, and you have to go for it in these moments. And I think that’s just what our guys did.”
The Raiders led by 43-38 at halftime and 61-58 with 11 minutes, 8 seconds left in the second half before Virginia scored the game’s next nine points. Wright State then charged back take a 70-67 lead with 5:32 left, helped by a technical foul on Virginia guard Sam Lewis.
» READ MORE: Philly has hosted plenty of drama in the NCAA Tournament. We rank the top 10 games of all time here.
That proved the turning point. Cavaliers guard Jacari White scored eight of his game-high 26 points from there on, while his team’s defense held the Raiders to just one made basket.
“The first game is always the hardest,” said Virginia forward Malik Thomas, whose 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting included three three-pointers. “I think that as a team, we were a little bit nervous. … After we got those jitters out and we started to play our basketball and come together, we were able to string some stops together and hit some big shots.”
Michael Imariagbe was one of four Wright State players in double-figures, tallying 19 points and 10 rebounds in his final college game.
“I wish we could have done a few more things to get them over the hump in this game, but I am proud to be their coach,” head coach Clint Sargent said. “I’m proud and thankful to get to do life with them. I told them I’d do anything for them, and [this is] a hard one to swallow.”
» READ MORE: Villanova can’t slow down Utah State’s guards, loses 86-76 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
It was no surprise that Wright State had all the neutral fans in their corner, including the Miami (Ohio) and Tennessee fans who showed up early at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Raiders were in their first NCAA Tournament in four years after winning the Horizon League. They had a 15-18 record last season.
But it was a good kind of surprise to see a big crowd in the early afternoon. Though the four teams’ campuses aren’t unreasonably far from Philadelphia, there was uncertainty about how well the fan bases would turn out. They did in the end, along with plenty of others, and they almost got what they wanted.
Tennessee ends Miami’s magic run
When Brant Byers hit two shots for Miami in the first two minutes against Tennessee, it seemed as though the RedHawks’ magic had traveled to Philadelphia. The crowd was clearly on their side, including plenty of red-clad supporters who had come to town from Ohio.
Sadly, it didn’t last. The No. 3 seed Volunteers seized control soon after that and never let up in a 78-56 rout. They’ll face Virginia on Friday, with the time and TV channel to be set later Friday.
“It took maybe our best half of the year [after] the start of the game to beat them today,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “But hats off to them, as we were getting ready for them basically yesterday — and you just had to be so impressed with how they played together. They put on a show in Dayton [in the First Four].”
Ja’Kobi Gillespie poured in 22 of his game-high 29 points for Tennessee in the first half, finishing the day with 11 of 21 shooting, including six three-pointers.
Peter Suder led No. 14 Miami with 27 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 4-for-7 from long range. Byers, a native of Chambersburg, Pa., who graduated from the Perkiomen School in Montgomery County, made just one more field goal after his early pair. He shot 3-for-12 from the floor, and was 1-for-6 from beyond the arc.
The RedHawks also made too many mistakes with the ball along the way, especially in the first half.
» READ MORE: Miami brought the NCAA Tournament’s biggest story from Ohio to Philadelphia
“Our team has had a heck of a journey,” Miami coach Travis Steele said. “The quality of human beings that we have in our locker room, man, we’re everything that’s right about college athletics in my opinion.”
Barnes congratulated Steele for “an incredible season,” as happy as anyone that it captivated the nation. Miami went 31-0 before losing its conference tournament opener, then beat Southern Methodist in the First Four.
“Miami of Ohio should have been the darlings, the talk of the tournament,” Barnes said. “You win 32 basketball games, I don’t care what league you play in, I don’t care what anybody says. And they would win some games in our league, make no bones about it. But this game is a difficult one.”
Steele hopes to keep Miami’s momentum going. The RedHawks have some history, with NBA products including Ron Harper and Wally Szczerbiak, and now there’s a new chapter.
“It does make me feel proud where we were [this season], but we’re not done yet,” Steele said. “My goal is to get this thing to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Fell short of that goal this year, but we’ll be back. I’m very confident of that.”
