Middle Tennessee State’s 15th-seeded Blue Raiders have defeated Michigan State 90–81 in an epic NCAA Tournament upset, connecting on 11 of 19 three-pointers and closing the game out with several huge defensive plays to shock the second-seeded Spartans in St. Louis.
Michigan State was favored over Middle Tennessee in the game by 16.5 points, which makes this the fourth-biggest tourney upset of the last 20 years in terms of point spread*—but it’s possibly the most surprising first-round result ever when you consider that Michigan State was widely considered underrated as a No. 2 seed and was a co-favorite to win the entire tournament according to some Vegas odds. (It’s the eighth-ever 15-seed victory over a two-seed.)
Truly, not many people saw this coming:
Michigan State’s football team was the beneficiary of one of the most miraculous strokes of luck in modern sports history last October, defeating rival Michigan on a bizarre game-ending fumbled punt after trailing for most of the game—but, as they say, what goes around comes around.
Read more of Slate’s coverage of the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Correction, March 18, 2016: This sentence originally misstated that the game was the fourth-largest upset in tourney history by point spread; it was the fourth-largest of the past 20 years.
