No. 4 Virginia Upset by Unranked San Francisco, 61-60
November 27, 2020
The No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team was upset 61-60 by the unranked San Francisco Dons in the HomeLight Classic at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Friday.
Senior guard Jamaree Bouyea led San Francisco in the shocking victory, as he scored a game-high 19 points.
Virginia fell to 1-1 after opening the campaign with an 89-54 win over Towson, while San Francisco is 2-1 after previously losing to UMass Lowell and beating Towson.
Despite trailing 61-54 with just over two minutes remaining in the game, the Cavaliers had a chance to win it after San Francisco's Josh Kunen missed the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds left while the Dons were clinging to a 61-60 lead.
Senior forward Sam Hauser launched a three-point shot with two seconds left, but it was off the mark, which allowed San Francisco to secure the win.
Adam Zagoria of the New York Times noted San Francisco hadn't beaten a Top Five team in nearly 40 years before Friday's upset:
Virginia held a 24-21 lead at halftime in what was a defensive slugfest, but San Francisco turned up the heat in the second half with 40 points thanks largely to some hot shooting from beyond the arc, as the Dons went 13-of-28 from three while Virginia made just three of 13 attempts.
The Cavs had three players score in double figures Friday, but their leading scorers had just 11 points apiece, as Justin McKoy and Reece Beekman shared that distinction.
Virginia is no stranger to being on the wrong side of a massive upset. The Cavaliers became the first No. 1 seed in the history of the NCAA tournament to lose to a No. 16 seed in the first round when they fell 74-54 to UMBC in 2018.
Head coach Tony Bennett's team overcame that loss in a big way, however, as Virginia won its first national title in school history the following season.
Last season, Virginia was 23-7 and finished as the No. 16 team in the nation before the remainder of the campaign was called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, San Francisco has not been ranked since going 25-6 during the 1981-82 season.
The Dons won national titles in 1955 and 1956 with the legendary Bill Russell to lead the way, but the West Coast Conference team has not reached the NCAA tournament since 1998.
With a win over Virginia under its belt, San Francisco may be on its way to ending that drought.