Where does Portland's 'David vs Goliath' win over Gonzaga rank? You might be surprised originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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One projected easy win for No. 6 Gonzaga turned into disaster on Wednesday night. The 87-80 win for Portland could be one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history. Right up there with No. 1 Virginia getting knocked off by No. 16 UMBC in the NCAA Tournament.
The Pilots (11-14, 4-8 West Coast Conference) from the Pacific Northwest came into the game with an injured coach. A week ago, there were so many players sick for Portland that Shantay Legans had to play scout team. It did not go well. He ended up tearing his Achilles, which has him limited. However, his team taking care of business will help ease the pain.
"Going through the motions, I tore my Achilles , but that's life. I shouldn't be out there," Legans said after the game. "I tore my other one seven years ago playing one-on-one with one of our players. This one was worse, though. But it's okay. It worked out. We won the game. I'll take an Achilles for a couple of wins."
When this was a win for the ages, there were no lies detected.
How bad was Portland before the Gonzaga win?
The Pilots snapped a 30-game losing streak against AP top-10 teams, while the Bulldogs (22-2, 10-1) lost to a team with a losing record for the first time since Jan. 22, 2011, ending a streak of 141 straight wins, according to ESPN Research.
Just thinking about that factor alone is outstanding. Nobody around Mark Few's program thought a trip to Portland was going to end this way. The Bulldogs were 22.5 favorites before tip-off and ended up losing by seven.
This was a game the Pilots dominated throughout with Gonzaga not holding a lead past the 6:55 mark of the first half. Joel Foxwell led the way with 27 points and 8 assists. On the other side, Graham Ike had 24 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists in a losing effort for the Bulldogs.
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