CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stunned, shocked, silenced.
The mood in the Virginia locker room was exactly what you might expect less than 20 minutes after the team's historic upset loss at the hands of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Friday night at the Spectrum Center — the first time in NCAA Tournament history a No. 16 seed knocked off No. 1.
Isaiah Wilkins and his Cavaliers teammates sat heartbroken with tears in their eyes. Devon Hall and Jack Salt looked flat-out stunned, not knowing what had just happened to them or how it had happened. At one point, all Wilkins could muster was an, "I don't know, man."
One thing that appeared clear to every Virginia player was that they were simply outplayed. And it may seem too easy an explanation, but for a top-seeded team facing a No. 16, that's something that isn't supposed to happen — and never has before tonight.
MORE: History is spelled U-M-B-C, and No. 1 Virginia is the victim
"We just got outplayed. That’s all it was," Wilkins said. "I feel like we weren’t ourselves and they came out and played a great game."
Virginia will be remembered as the first of 136 to lose a 1-16 matchup, but the Cavaliers made it apparent how prepared and skilled UMBC had been.
"We could’ve played better on the defensive end," Hall said. "They hit a heck of a lot of shots. If you don’t come to play you’re gonna be beat. That’s a heck of a team and we knew that going into it."
Salt added to that sentiment, complimenting the Retrievers on their gameplan against the Cavaliers.
"They spread the floor, they played really fast," Salt said. "Their guys were really quick, their bigs were running out there setting a lot of screens and we were just a step behind. They went small and we just didn’t do the job."
MORE: The 14 most humiliating first-round chokes in history
The Cavaliers went into halftime tied with UMBC at 21. The low score was nothing new to a Virginia squad that cemented itself as one of the toughest defensive units in college basketball, finishing this season allowing just 53.4 points per game. It was after the half, when the Retrievers started to build a lead, that things seemed to change for them.
"Reality checks in a little bit when you see the time clicking down," Salt said.
Senior Nigel Johnson admitted halftime was as normal as it ever was and that the team seemed poised for a solid second half.
"At the end of the day it was a tie game, 0-0," Johnson said. "We had 20 minutes to play and that’s what we do, that’s what we prepare for. We all came in got collected and got our gameplan back together and I think everyone was confident that we were gonna go out in the second half and execute.
"We just went out there trying to get a win, which is what we’ve been doing all year, and somewhere in the game we just got lost and we lost our head."
MORE: When Jarius Lyles can't miss, UMBC can't lose
There were small shreds of optimism still to be had from some corners of the room, though. Wilkins talked about his faith in how the team will respond next season. Salt reminisced on playing with the seniors and winning the ACC conference tournament.
In the postgame press conference, head coach Tony Bennett kept it straight forward when asked how he views his team's season.
"Remarkable. (We had) 31 wins," Bennett said. "I think this team maxed out as much as any team that I've had. We were so healthy and so good up until this last game, so we needed all hands on deck. You'll remember this. It will sting. Maybe a (No.) 1 seed will get beat again, maybe not. Maybe we'll be the only No. 1 seed to ever lose. It's life. It goes on."
For now, though, it will certainly sting. For the seniors, it's a bitter end to some excellent careers. For the returning underclassmen, it's something that will be talked about until their time in college is over. And something that will go down in NCAA basketball history
Hall quite literally said it best when asked how to describe what just happened.
"We lost by 20 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Pretty much sums it up."