OKLAHOMA CITY – In an NCAA tournament full of upsets, Northern Iowa pulled off the biggest one: The Panthers took down mighty Kansas.
Playing with poise down the stretch and getting another big 3-pointer from Ali Farokhmanesh, Northern Iowa pulled off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas from the bracket with a program-defining 69-67 win on Saturday.
Northern Iowa (30-4) won the tempo tug-of-war, grounding the high-flying Jayhawks with in-their-jersey defense, then withstood a furious rally to become the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the second round since UAB and Alabama did it to Kentucky and Stanford in 2004.
There have been 10 double-digits seeds to pull upsets this year; eight in the first round. No. 10 Saint Mary’s beat Villanova on Saturday, and No. 11 Washington beat New Mexico.
But the ninth-seeded Panthers pulled the shocker of them all.