NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament upsets since 2000
By Joey Loose
20. #7 South Carolina 88, #2 Duke 81 (2017 Round of 32)
Usually buried by the Kentucky Wildcats or the Florida Gators in the SEC, it was a bit of a surprise that the South Carolina Gamecocks had a standout year in 2017.
The Gamecocks made their first NCAA Tournament in 13 years, with the program revitalized under head coach Frank Martin and senior guard Sindarius Thornwell. They won a few great games over teams like the Michigan Wolverines and Florida, but Thornwell and these Gamecocks didn’t really start shining until March.
Late in the first half, the Duke Blue Devils held a 10-point, but this South Carolina team had plenty enough offense to climb back into this game. A seven-point halftime lead for Duke was erased pretty quickly and track meet was on.
After scoring 23 in the opening half, the Gamecocks exploded for 65, taking the lead for good with 12 minutes left in the game. Down the stretch, they hit enough shots and played just enough defense to hand the Blue Devils the upset loss.
The aforementioned Thornwell was a star, scoring 24 points to lead the Gamecocks. Chris Silva (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Duane Notice (17 points) stood out as well. The Blue Devils got 20 points off the bench from Grayson Allen and shot 41 percent as a team, but 18 turnovers and porous defense doomed them in the second half. Duke depended greatly on 3-pointers, but making 37 percent of those shots simply wasn’t enough on this night.
South Carolina came essentially out of nowhere to secure this stellar upset over the potent Blue Devils, but they weren’t quite done yet. The following week they would upset the 3-seed Baylor Bears and 4-seed Florida to make the program’s first Final Four. Their offensive explosion flustered the Blue Devils, making this Gamecocks squad the darlings of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.