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No. 13 UC-Irvine posts first major upset of March Madness, knocking off No. 4 Kansas State

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

The first major upset of the NCAA Tournament has been recorded.

On Friday afternoon, No. 13 seed UC-Irvine knocked off No. 4 seed Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament 70-64. It was the first ever tournament win for the Anteaters in program history.

Four different players reached double figures for UC-Irvine, led by Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard who scored 19 points apiece. Robert Cartwright added 10 points and Elston Jones gave the team 11 off the bench.

There was one other significant upset in the tournament, with No. 12 Murray State knocking off No. 5 Marquette in convincing fashion, but those 12-over-5 seed have become far too common to be surprising.

UC-Irvine was 31-5 on the season was picked my many experts to be a team capable of pulling off a major upset. The Anteaters proved those people right.

Now, UC-Irvine will play either Wisconsin or Oregon with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB