On Thursday night in Philadelphia, the University of the Sciences Devils did something no other NCAA Division II mens basketball team has been able to do in 226 tries. They beat an NCAA Division I basketball team on the road.
Seriously, before Thursday, D-I hoops teams were 226-0 at home against D-II teams in the regular season. In fact, they were 232-1 overall. The only other loss came last week, when Alaska-Anchorage beat Rice in the Great Alaska Shootout. But that was in Alaska, and Rice is from Houston. You can understand how a trip like that could throw a team off. The Drexel Dragons hosted the Devils in the comfort of their own court at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
True, the University of the Sciences is right down the street from Drexel. And true, Drexel is not a college basketball powerhouse. Since joining Division I in 1973, they’ve made just four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, the last coming in 1996. However, as the previous 226-0 record should make clear, the difference between Division I and Division II is huge. Even in the lowly Colonial Athletic Association, Drexel faces stiffer competition than the University of the Sciences. This is a major upset.
So how did it happen? Garret Kerr is how it happened. The Devils’ 2014 Division II All-American had 10 rebounds and 27 points, three of which came on this game-winning three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the game:
After the game, Drexel coach Bruiser Flint (real name, swear to God) was pretty candid about the outcome.
“Honestly, I would have felt bad if [Kerr] missed it, because we didn’t deserve to win the game,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Those guys played harder than us and tougher than us, they really did.”
We would have felt bad, too.
Hat Tip – [SB Nation]