The NCAA Tournament saw its first number one seed fall on Saturday, as Villanova was upset by NC State in the East region after the 71-68 win against the Wildcats for the Wolfpack, putting the team in the Sweet 16 as a number 8-seed and they are on course for a matchup against Louisville on Friday in Syracuse.
Trevor Lacey led the team with 17 points and now the Wolfpack are into the round of 16 after winning in the third round against Villanova. Cat Barber had 13 points in the game and both players were clutch down the stretch as North Carolina hung on to win. Villanova was a pick by many to make it to the Final Four and potentially the championship game, but now many brackets are busted for the tournament.
The Wildcats had not lost a game in months and they had won 16 in a row heading into the game against North Carolina State. Villanova has won the Big East in the past two years, but they have disappointed in the tournament and now they head home after another strong regular season. NC State is one of the Cinderella teams at a number eight seed and they will matchup with the Cardinals after the games set on Sunday.
North Carolina State is into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2012 and they are in as a number eight seed after previously winning against LSU in thrilling fashion. The Wolfpack utilized a run at the end of the first half to take a 32-28 lead and they used that as momentum into the second half and ended up winning the game.
"We came out today with the feeling that everybody expected us to lose to a 1 seed, but we believe in ourselves and that we're good enough to beat anybody in the country, and we went down and did it,'' said Beejay Anya, according to ESPN.com.