This year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has seen two Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs) go further than they ever have in the event’s history. Howard University and Prairie View A&M University both qualified for the 64-team first round of the tournament for the first time, setting each school up to face one of college basketball’s best squads.
Howard Bison hold on against UMBC
Howard University achieved its first-ever NCAA men’s tournament win Tuesday with an 86-83 victory over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
The win is the latest achievement for a team that has gone from years of underwhelming performance to making the First Four round in three of the last four years. This year, the Howard Bison led the UMBC Retrievers for most of their First Four game.
Howard saw an 11-point lead collapse in the final two minutes as UMBC rallied, but the Bison held on for the win as the Retrievers missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
Prairie View Panthers cap remarkable turnaround from last season
Prairie View A&M University also earned its first NCAA men’s tournament win, defeating the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 67-55.
The Panthers last competed in the First Four in 2019 but had not previously won an NCAA tournament game. The victory comes at the end of a remarkable turnaround—last season, the team won just five games.
“Losing sucks,” Prairie View head coach Byron Smith said about his team’s leap forward. “Everything is better when you win, just life is better.”
Number 1 seeds Michigan, Florida await
Now that the two HBCUs have made it to the Round of 64, they face a formidable pair of opponents.
Howard is set to face the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday. Michigan, the top-seeded team in the Midwest region, finished the season 31-3 and topped the Big Ten conference. The Wolverines’ most recent game, however, was a loss to Purdue in the Big Ten championship game. Michigan last won the NCAA tournament in 1989.
Prairie View, meanwhile, will face the top-ranked Florida Gators in the South region. Florida, 26-7 this season, is also coming off a loss after being defeated by Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference semifinals.
A win by Howard against Michigan would be a major upset in the tournament, as would a victory for Prairie View against Florida. But the Bison and the Panthers have already made it further than they ever have before—and it’s possible they’re not done making history just yet.
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