This article is satirical and fake. It is a part of our annual Rectrum special April Fools edition.
Most people’s brackets are probably busted now after No. 16 seed North Dakota State fought off No. 1 seed UConn on Thursday night by six points after being down by 18 in the first half at the Barclays Center.
Boden Skunberg led the Bison with a season-high 30 points and 8 assists. Freshman Noah Fedderson added 19 points and 7 rebounds. Jacari White and Andrew Morgan both scored 10 points.
The first half started scrappy for the Bison, with UConn scoring the first 10 points of the game. Skunberg put the first points on their side at 15:15 with a three from the corner and a jumper following right after. With a few minutes left until halftime, the Huskies were ahead of the Bison by 18 points after going on a 12-0 run. The Bison finished the half with jumpers from Morgan and Damari Wheeler-Thomas and a three from White within the last two minutes. NDSU trailed for all 20 minutes of the first half. It wasn’t looking promising for the Bison, but they were still in it as of halftime with a score of 36-25.
NDSU was determined to come back during this second half, and they showed it in the first few minutes. Skunberg made back-to-back three-pointers at 19:24. Following that, Morgan put in a layup with Fedderson scoring right after. At the ten-minute mark, the Bison got it down to four after Tajavis Miller drained a three. The Bison took the lead for the first time in the game with a dunk by Fedderson at 8:35, making the score 57-56. In the next seven minutes, there were four lead changes. With three minutes left and the Bison being down once again, NDSU went on a 6-0 run with a layup by Morgan, jumper by Skunberg, and layup by Wheeler-Thomas. After the run, the Bison kept the lead throughout the rest of the game. The final score of the third-ever 16 over 1 upset in NCAA Tournament history was 71-65.
The Bison shot 65% from the field and 55% from behind the arc. The Huskies shot 59% from the arc and 55% from three. The game consisted of six lead changes and three ties. This is the second time ever that NDSU has made it to the round of 32 as they beat 5th-seeded Oklahoma back in 2014.