UMBC campus quiet after historic Virginia NCAA upset: 'This isn’t supposed to be happening'

CATONSVILLE, Md. -- With the exception of people stopping to pay respects to the statue of UMBC’s mascot, True Grit, outside of the recreational center, there was little sign on the University of Maryland-Baltimore County campus Saturday that the basketball team had upset No. 1 seed Virginia only 12 hours before.

After all, it’s spring break, and even with the epic victory, everything on campus is closed.

This created a problem for Breck Robinson, a former basketball player who graduated in 1986 and made a rare trip to campus in hopes of getting UMBC gear from the campus bookstore to celebrate the occasion (after all, he said, there's a lot of Virginia fans in the area), only to find the doors locked.

“It’s always been more of an academic school and with a light emphasis on sports, especially basketball,” said Robinson, who is in the school's athletic Hall of Fame. “So it’s nice to see them have success on the basketball court because it creates a different type of environment.”

The win was so unexpected that despite Robinson’s ties to the school, he picked against them in his NCAA tournament bracket.

“Mind over heart,” he explained.

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Alex Sanchez, a senior, said he watched at his off-campus home and even his friends who didn't attend UMBC were "just as hyped as I was."

“Anyone who is from Catonsville was excited about the win.”

He said the win was so unexpected that none of the students had even thought to plan any post-win celebration.

“We thought we were going to get crushed,” he said.

Naomi Mburu, a senior who is the first UMBC student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, was one of the few students still on campus during the break. She said she watched in student apartments community center. “It was packed, they had catered food, we were screaming the whole time. It was really amazing – we were all just cheering together,” she said.

Around halftime, when the score was tied, she made a bet with her roommates – half thought they were going to pull out the win while half were still doubtful. And then, with about nine minutes remaining, they all started to believe.

“We were realizing wait a second, this isn’t supposed to be happening – what is going on? And the whole audience was on the edge of their seats like, 'Oh my gosh, this is crazy, this isn’t happening’  -- just in total disbelief. But we’re so so happy for the team.”

To celebrate, she said, she and her roommates drove around campus blasting music.

“We were blasting ‘God’s Plan’ by Drake and ‘All I Do Is Win,’” she said. “There were just a lot of students going around campus and signing. It just felt like the campus was really unified.”

For many around campus, the win didn’t come out of nowhere – even if UMBC were always better known for its championship chess team and its STEM programs.

The university hired Ryan Odom in 2016 and opened a new $85 million facility for games in February – a noticeable improvement for a team that had played its games in a gym inside the student recreation center. The new facility seats 4,600 and has attracted performers including the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Retrievers play Kansas State on Sunday, and administrators and students said they’re scrambling to figure out some sort of watch party plans.

“Honestly initially UMBC wasn’t much of a sports school, but I’ve really noticed how it’s grown over the years – especially with the new events center. The enthusiasm on campus towards sports has really changed over the years,” Mburu said. “This is just the icing on the cake.”