UMBC's Historic March Madness Upset over Virginia Sparks Twitter Eruption

There are certain moments that bring fans across the country together and remind them why they fell in love with sports in the first place.

One of those moments happened Friday.

The UMBC Retrievers became the first No. 16 seed in NCAA men's tournament history to beat a No. 1 seed when they took down the ACC's Virginia Cavaliers 74-54. The South Region is wide open after the 13th-seeded Buffalo Bulls stunned the fourth-seeded Arizona Wildcats on Thursday.

Social media naturally reacted to the shocking result:

Perhaps the best part of the evening was the UMBC athletics department's Twitter page, with the social media team relishing the historic moment:

The Retrievers didn't only win the game; they handled the ACC's regular-season and tournament champions with ease. They were tied at the half and then seized control after intermission with red-hot shooting and a calm and collected approach on the offensive end, never letting the moment get too big.

Jairus Lyles was electric throughout the game, giving UMBC a critical basket whenever it needed one. He finished with 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting and was the best player on the floor Friday.

Bleacher Report's Natalie Weiner took note of his performance, and Dan Wolken of USA Today added some barely believable context to the showing:

If there's anything sports Twitter likes more than historic upsets, it's dogs, so the name Retrievers also drew some attention as well:

The win was so incredible it crashed the school's website:

Here are some of the best of the rest of the reactions:

The question now becomes how far UMBC can advance in this tournament after knocking out a juggernaut in the first round and making men's college basketball history.

Its next matchup is with the Kansas State Wildcats of the Big 12, and it would be easy to assume the magic will come to an end after just one victory given the history of No. 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

However, that history meant nothing Friday given the Retrievers took down an ACC powerhouse, and they looked like a team that could beat the Wildcats as well.