The Michigan State Spartans pulled the upset Sunday over the Virginia Cavaliers causing a shakeup in the East region.
After the Villanova Wildcats got upset as the 1-seed in the East Region to the 8-seed NC State, the No. 7 Michigan State Spartans felt it was important to continue shaking up the region by knocking off No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers 60-54.
Here’s the updated bracket after Michigan State’s win. They join NC State, Utah and UCLA as teams that pulled off upsets to get to the Sweet Sixteen in 2015.
Michigan State was led by senior point guard Travis Trice who played a great game with 23 points, three rebounds and two assists. Senior forward Branden Dawson added 15 points and 9 rebounds to squash Virginia.
With Virginia’s loss following Villanova’s loss, it’s the first time that a No. 1 and a No. 2 seed in the same region haven’t made the Sweet Sixteen since 2004 when Kentucky and Gonzaga did it.
This was the first loss by an ACC team in the 2015 NCAA Tournament and Virginia was the second highest seeded ACC team after Duke, a one seed in the South Region. This is Michigan State’s 19th Sweet Sixteen berth and their fourth appearance in a row. Last season Michigan State lost to Connecticut in the Elite Eight who went on to win the championship.
Michigan State was thought to be under-seeded after they went 23-11 after a 12-6 Big Ten season and after making a championship run in the Big Ten tournament before losing to Wisconsin in overtime. After Michigan State defeated Georgia and now Virginia, they’ll take on the winner of Oklahoma and Dayton in the Sweet Sixteen.
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