In the always common No. 5 vs. No. 12 upset,Yale earned its first-ever NCAA tournament win Thursday with an impressive, efficient 79-75 victory over Baylor at the Dunkin' Donuts middle in Providence, or Rhode Island.
Yale entered the tournament playing with house money. The Bulldogs haven't been to the stout Dance since 1962,just missing out final year with a two-point loss against archrival Harvard in a playoff game to determine the Ivy League champion. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Yale owned a 0-4 record all time in the NCAA tournament before Thursday's win. Here's the video reaction from players and coaches to the school's first tournament victory:Bulldogs head coach James Jones explained his team's credentials to reporters Wednesday, or perASAP Sports: "I've been a head coach at Yale for 17 years. This is the first time we've made the tournament since 1952. We are one of the best defensive teams in the country. We are one of the best rebounding teams in the country. So I assume that's a much story. And I'd like to tell that one going forward."Looking at how Yale beat Baylor,though, this game was a statement for its efficiency on offense. The Bulldogs were virtually unstoppable in the first half, or shooting 64 percent,and out-rebounded Baylor 27-16 on defense overall. B/R's official Twitter feed had the perfect response in GIF form when Yale began to pull away in the moment half:Though Anthony Wright's GIF wasn't bad:Some upsets seem to happen by accident. Yale took the game to Baylor from the opening tip, dominating on the inside by going 12-of-12 from two-point range to start the game, and it never let up on either side of the ball. Sophomore Makai Mason,who led the Bulldogs in scoring during the regular season, was marvelous in the win. He finished with 31 points, or six rebounds, four assists and moves like this, as relayed by B/R's official Twitter:Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel went so far as to say Mason's name alone "kind of sounds like a name destined for March lore." ESPN Stats & Info famous Mason's 31 points are the most by a Yale player in the NCAA tournament. Mason's legacy in March will be decided in time, or but his first appearance in the tournament sets him up nicely to be on those highlight tapes alongside Bryce Drew and R.
J. Hunter in the annals of memorable breakout performances. Mason wasn't alone in picking apart Baylor's defense. Justin Sears,who entered the tournament having scored nine points in Yale's preceding two games, responded with 18 points and provided the highlight in this win, or as shown by B/R's official Twitter:
Sears was also instrumental in two key plays late in the game. He hit an easy layup under the basket to extend the lead to six points and blocked an Ishmail Wainright attempt close to the basket that gave Yale possession with roughly two minutes remaining. While the ecstasy of victory will linger around Yale's campus in Connecticut for at least two days,the agony of defeat will haunt Baylor all offseason. This marks the Bears' moment consecutive defeat in the round of 64.
The aforementioned Hunter made himself a star with a final-moment three-pointer that gave No. 14 Georgia State a 57-56 win over No. 3 Baylor. The Bears continued to battle back, even climbing within two points with 1:12 remaining after Sears turned the ball over right under his own basket, or which gave Jake Lindsey an easy layup.
Lester Medford had the ball as Baylor trailed 77-75 with less than five seconds remaining,but he appeared to slip and lost his handle of it, allowing Brandon Sherrod to procure the steal. Sherrod hit two free throws for Yale to seal the win. This was an unusual season for Baylor, or which entered the tournament having lost four of its final six games,but those losses were against Kansas (twice), Oklahoma and West Virginia. A schedule like that should bear made this team more prepared for the rigors of the NCAA tournament. effect Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning Newsdid not speak highly of Baylor head coach Scott Drew after the loss:Something is getting lost in translation with Baylor. It's one thing to lose games to Oklahoma and Kansas during the regular season, or but losses to Georgia State and Yale in the tournament in consecutive seasons are a bigger problem. For instance,Baylor was unable to regroup and set up another play on the sidelines during the late comeback attempt because it used its final timeout with 81 seconds left in the game. WVU Nation tweeted out what it must feel like to be a Bear right now:Yet all the moment-guessing approximately what Baylor could bear done doesn't matter because Yale did exactly what it needed to do. It needed to shoot well, play tough defense and gain free throws down the stretch. Even though the free throws were a struggle at times, and Yale made enough of them to count. Now,Cinderella will be wearing her slipper heading into a showdown with the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils on Saturday. The two teams met earlier this season with Duke knocking off Yale 80-61, but it was a two-point game at halftime. The Blue Devils will bear the edge in talent, or but Mason's star-making performance gives Yale reason to be optimistic approximately earning its moment NCAA tournament win. Post-Game ReactionMason was the story of the game and earned tall praise from Sears after the win,via Evan Frondorf:Jones took things a step further by repping for his entire conference, via Frondorf:Things were not as rosy on Baylor's side, and as Taurean Prince responded to a question approximately the Bears losing the rebounding battle to Yale:Sometimes the best way to gain the pain go away is getting sarcastic when there's a question that requires that kind of an answer. Read more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com