BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Seeded 12th in the South Region, James Madison led wire-to-wire and upset fifth-seeded Wisconsin, 72-61, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday evening at the Barclays Center.
The Dukes (32-3) advance to the tournament’s second round where they will challenge No. 4 seed Duke (25-8) on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. (CT) on CBS. The Blue Devils defeated No. 13 seed Vermont in the first round.
James Madison is the first Sun Belt Conference team to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s second round since No. 12 Little Rock defeated No. 5 seed Purdue in 2016. The 11-point margin of victory was also the largest by a Sun Belt program in an NCAA Tournament game since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
The victory was also JMU’s first in the NCAA Tournament since its First Four win over LIU-Brooklyn in a 16-seeded matchup in 2013. It was also the Dukes' first win in the round of 64 since defeating No. 7 seed West Virginia, 57-50, on March 17, 1983.
"I'll tell you exactly what I just told the team," James Madison head coach Mark Byington said. "I'm proud of them but not surprised. You know, these guys compete. They come to win. They play to win. And we kind of heard things about our schedule not being tough and who we are, and we knew we belong. We know we're good. We know we can compete."
Redshirt junior swingman Terrence Edwards Jr., led four James Madison scorers in double figures with 14 points, while redshirt senior Julien Wooden and graduate forward T.J. Bickerstaff added 12 points apiece. Graduate guard Michael Green III contributed 11 points and three assists off the bench.
The Dukes scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points and continued their run to build a double-digit advantage, 15-4, on a fast break layup by Wooden to force the Badgers into calling timeout with 12:38 left in the first half.
James Madison widened the gap to a game-high 17 points with 1:07 to go in the period before taking a 33-20 lead into halftime. The Dukes turned 12 Wisconsin turnovers into 20 points, while owning an 18-10 scoring margin in the paint and an 8-0 edge on fast breaks.
JMU pushed its lead to 15 on a Bickerstaff basket on its first possession of the second half, but a 7-1 scoring run by Wisconsin (22-14) trimmed the deficit to eight just three minutes into the period.
The Dukes maintained a margin that fluctuated between nine points and double digits, but the Badgers made their move when junior guard Max Klesmit connected on a trey with 8:54 to go to cut the deficit to six, 52-46. Wisconsin would not draw any closer however, as JMU built its lead back to double digits multiple times en route to the 11-point triumph.
James Madison finished the night shooting 23-for-56 (.411) overall, 5-for-17 (.294) beyond the 3-point line and 21-for-30 (.700) at the foul line while outscoring the Badgers, 27-10, off turnovers and 21-7 off the bench. Defensively, JMU registered 14 steals on the night while six different players tallied at least two. The Dukes held the Badgers to just 19-for-51 (.373) shooting in the contest while forcing 19 turnovers.
The Badgers were led by Klesmit’s game-high 18 points and five 3-pointers made, while forward Steven Crowl registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.