2017 NCAA Tournament: Middle Tennessee State scores another first round upset
Middle Tennessee State scores another upset against a Big Ten: this time it came in the 2017 NCAA Tournament against Minnesota.
Maybe in the future, the tournament selection committee will consider seeding Middle Tennessee State higher than a 12.
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For the second straight year, the Blue Raiders knocked off a Big Ten opponent, this time defeating the Minnesota Gophers, 81-72, in the first round of the South region Thursday afternoon.
MTSU had a big game thanks to the efforts of Reggie Upshaw Jr., who scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Upshaw also stepped up for the Blue Raiders in their first round upset win last year. He scored 19 last season against Michigan State when MTSU won as a No. 15 seed, 90-81.
The Blue Raiders took a six-point lead into halftime this year and expanded it into the second half. At one point, MTSU led by 17.
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However, the Gophers refused to go away quietly, they battled back and got the lead down to four points.
Four Gophers finished in double-figures, led by Amir Coffey, who had 17 points. Dupree McBrayer had 16, Jordan Murphy had 15, and Eric Curry scored 11.
However, the Blue Raiders pulled through to get the victory.
This will be viewed as an upset because MTSU was seeded 12th, while Minnesota was seeded fifth, and it is an upset if you go strictly off the seeding. However, MTSU was favored in Vegas.
The fact is, the Blue Raiders came into the tournament having lost just one game in the 2017 calendar year. They came in with a 10 game winning streak.
Minnesota did come into the tournament with a little momentum, winning nine of its last 11 games, including the upset win Feb. 22 over Maryland.
Regardless, it will be the Blue Raiders moving onto the next round, while the Gophers head back home.
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MTSU will be back in action Saturday when they take on Butler, who defeated Winthrop in the first round 76-64. The Blue Raiders hope this second round match-up goes better than last year when they fell to Syracuse.