NEW YORK — Don’t consider the hype. Or the shortage thereof.
Yeah, James Madison feasted on the weakest regular-season schedule of any NCAA males’s match crew this facet of McNeese State. True, the Dukes wanted to win the Solar Belt convention championship simply to e-book a spot on this yr’s discipline.
However JMU does one factor, and does that one factor very effectively: win basketball video games.
“I really feel like we have had confidence, simply within the work we put in,” mentioned guard Michael Inexperienced III. “Like, we all know we’re a very good crew and we all know that we will beat any crew in any league, so we put together for something.”
The No. 12 Dukes (32-3) led No. 5 Wisconsin by double digits at halftime after which held the Badgers at bay for a 72-61 victory that validates the crew’s lofty report and obliterates the speculation that they weren’t prepared for the brilliant lights of match play.
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“I am pleased with them however not stunned,” James Madison coach Mark Byington mentioned. “You recognize, these guys compete. They arrive to win. They play to win. And We type of heard issues about our schedule not being powerful and who we’re, and we knew we belong. We all know we’re good. We all know we will compete.”
JMU by no means trailed towards an opponent that has missed the match simply twice since 1998 and completed this season tied for fifth within the Large Ten, one of many high leagues in Division I.
“I would just say we aren’t frightened of competitors,” ahead T.J. Bickerstaff mentioned. “We proved that time and again. We’re not frightened of like completely different experiences as a result of we’ve got been via all of it.”
The upset sends this system into the second spherical of the NCAA males’s match for the primary time since 1983. The Badgers are the best seed JMU has overwhelmed in 5 match wins, coming in forward of No. 7 Georgetown in 1981, No. 8 Ohio State in 1982, No. 7 West Virginia in 1983 and No. 16 Lengthy Island within the 2013 play-in recreation.
And based mostly on the efficiency of each groups right here on Friday night time, JMU appears greater than able to scoring the most important win in program historical past within the second spherical towards No. 4 Duke, which didn’t look the a part of a championship contender in a sluggish 64-47 win towards No. 13 Vermont.
The Dukes led 33-20 at halftime after holding the Badgers to simply 6 of 23 taking pictures from the sector whereas scoring 20 factors off 13 pressured turnovers. Whereas Wisconsin would clear issues up from there, turning the ball over simply six instances the remainder of the best way, JMU had solutions for the Badgers’ temporary spurts of competency on offense and by no means led by fewer than six factors within the second half.
Guard Terrence Edwards Jr. led JMU with 14 factors to go along with 5 rebounds and two assists. He was joined in double figures by Inexperienced III (11 factors), Bickerstaff (12 factors) and ahead Julien Wood (12). Seven gamers scored at the very least 5 factors and eight performed at the very least 13 minutes.
Fright night time’s win comes after an everyday season that noticed JMU face simply two groups in Quad 1 of the NET rankings — the Dukes beat one, Michigan State, within the season opener — and go 22-0 towards Quad 4 competitors. JMU misplaced to Southern Mississippi and to Appalachian State twice, however missed the Mountaineers within the Solar Belt match.
The unimposing non-conference schedule and a Solar Belt slate brief on high quality groups did little for the crew’s standing with the match choice committee, which undervalued the Dukes on the No. 12 line regardless of the actual fact JMU is tied with top-ranked Connecticut for essentially the most wins within the nation.
However operating via the common season with simply three losses goosed the Dukes’ confidence. That was on full show towards Wisconsin, which couldn’t sustain with JMU’s power and didn’t advance out of the primary spherical of match play for simply the second time since 2007.
“I do know we had been checked out as underdogs, however we by no means felt that means,” Byington mentioned. “We felt that we had an opportunity to compete. We knew it was going to be a tricky recreation, and that is one thing that these guys like. I imply, they don’t seem to be frightened of challenges. They embrace them.”