Every 13 seed to upset a 4 seed in March Madness history

Upsets are the heart of the March Madness excitement and with the familiarity of seeding, we generally now what to expect and how impressed to be by it. We, intuitively understand the different talent gaps between a No. 2 and a No. 15- seed and a No. 7 and a No. 10-seed and why an upset in the first almost never happens and at least one upset in the other is almost guaranteed.

A No. 13 upsetting a No. 4 seed isn't the most rare feat — it's happened 32 times going back to 1985, roughly once per year. There have only been 10 years in that span where we didn't see at least one No. 13 beating a No. 4. The last was the 2023 tournament when Furman upset Virginia, 68-67.

Oklahoma has been particularly vulnerable in these matchups, losing as a No. 4 three times — in 1992, 1995 and 2001. They also pulled off a win of their own as a No. 13 seed over Arizona in 1999. To date, Ohio is the only school that has pulled off two first-round wins as a No. 13 seed. However, that could change this year — No. 13 Vermont will play No. 4 Duke this year and UVM also managed an iconic win over No. 4 Syracuse in the 2005 tournament.

Who knows if we'll see one in the 2024 tournament but the rest of the matchups — No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 13 Yale in the East, No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 13 Charleston in the West, and No. 4 Kansas and No. 13 Samford in the Midwest — have plenty of potential.

Every 13 seed to upset a 4 seed in March Madness history

YEAR	No. 14 Seed	No. 3 Seed	Score
1985	Navy	LSU	78-55
1987	Missouri State	Clemson	65-60
1987	Xavier	Missouri	70-69
1988	Richmond	Indiana	72-69
1989	Midd. Tenn.	Florida State	97-83
1991	Penn State	UCLA	74-69
1992	SW Louisiana	Oklahoma	87-83
1993	Southern	Georgia Tech	93-78
1995	Manhattan	Oklahoma	77-67
1996	Princeton	UCLA	43-41
1998	Valparaiso	Ole Miss	70-69
1999	Oklahoma	Arizona	61-60
2001	Indiana State	Oklahoma	70-68
2001	Kent State	Indiana	77-73
2002	UNC-Wilmington	USC	93-89
2003	Tulsa	Dayton	84-71
2005	Vermont	Syracuse	60-57
2006	Bradley	Kansas	77-73
2008	Siena	Vanderbilt	83-62
2008	San Diego	UConn	70-69
2009	Cleveland State	Wake Forest	84-69
2010	Murray State	Vanderbilt	66-65
2011	Morehead State	Louisville	62-61
2012	Ohio	Michigan	65-60
2013	La Salle	Kansas State	63-61
2016	Hawaii	California	77-66
2018	Buffalo	Arizona	89-69
2018	Marshall	Wichita State	81-75
2019	UC Irvine	Kansas State	70-64
2019	North Texas	Purdue	78-69
2021	Ohio	Virginia	62-58
2023	Furman	Virginia	68-67

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