CLEVELAND — On Thursday, the Mid-American Conference tournament witnessed a stunning 87-83 upset, as UMass handed No. 20 Miami (Ohio) its initial loss in their first game, thereby ending the final perfect record in Division I men’s basketball.
With merely 29 seconds left on the clock, Daniel Hankins-Sanford’s decisive layup secured the triumph for the Minutemen in a quarterfinal contest that had seen 12 lead changes and 10 stalemates.
Having achieved a 31-1 standing, the RedHawks represented the fifth men’s Division I team this century to maintain an unblemished regular season record. However, they are now only the second to stumble in their respective conference tournament. For instance, St. Joseph’s, after falling to Xavier in the 2004 Atlantic 10 quarterfinals, nevertheless secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Miami stood as the initial team, subsequent to Gonzaga in the 2020-21 season, to enter a conference tournament without having sustained a single defeat.