5 Historic HBCU March Madness Upsets That Shocked Basketball

March Madness thrives on upsets, and historically Black colleges and universities have delivered some of the tournament’s most unforgettable shockers. With the odds stacked against them, HBCU programs have repeatedly proven they can take down the giants.

Before 1993, only a handful of double-digit seeds had toppled powerhouses in the NCAA tournament. Then, Southern shocked No. 4 Georgia Tech, setting the stage for three other HBCUs to rewrite history with stunning 15-over-2 upsets in 1997, 2001, and 2012.

As millions of fans fill out their brackets hoping to accurately predict the next Cinderella story, it’s time to revisit the legendary bracket-melting moments when HBCU teams defied expectations and changed the course of the tournament.

No. 15 Norfolk State didn’t just beat No. 2 Missouri in 2012. They left them shell-shocked in one of the most improbable March Madness bracket-busters. As any prognosticator would tell you at the time, the Spartans weren’t even supposed to be in the conversation. Fresh off a Big 12 title, Missouri was a trendy Final Four pick. Even President Obama had them going deep—all the way to the Final Four. But Norfolk State didn’t read the script.

Kyle O’Quinn, the team’s de facto heartbeat, set the tone early, piling up 26 points and 14 rebounds like he’d been waiting for this moment his whole life. Pendarvis Williams and Chris McEachin lit it up from beyond the arc, combining for eight threes. Still, it came down to the final chaotic seconds. A botched inbounds pass somehow bounced right to Norfolk. O’Quinn had a chance to ice it at the line but missed, giving Missouri’s Phil Pressey one last shot. His three-pointer seemingly hung in the air while the entire arena held its breath…until it clanked off the rim. Game over.

“Pressey got a great shot at the end,” O’Quinn admitted to The New York Times post-game. “The ball could have bounced a different way, and we could have been on the other side. Thank God we’re on this side.”

The Spartans fell to Florida in the next round, but that’s just a footnote in their surreal story. The 21-point underdogs from a school making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance had just pulled off the unimaginable.

In 2001, just six seasons after jumping to Division I, No. 15 Hampton found itself with a coveted invitation to the big dance. The Pirates’ first-ever appearance pitted them against No. 2 Iowa State in Boise, Idaho—a battle few outside the confines of their Virginia campus expected them to win. The Cyclones had been an Elite Eight team the year before and boasted future NBA first-rounder Jamaal Tinsley. But Hampton was unfazed by pedigree, track records, or Iowa State’s vaunted offense.

Hampton’s defense immediately turned the game into a slog, forcing the high-scoring Cyclones into a half-court battle. The Pirates held Iowa State to just 57 points—well below their season average—and made every possession count. Tarvis Williams racked up 16 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks while navigating foul trouble in the second half. Marseilles Brown added 14 points, four assists, and four rebounds, providing Hampton with just enough firepower to stay within striking distance.

With 6.9 seconds left, Williams flipped in a clutch floater to give Hampton a 58-57 lead.

Iowa State had one last shot. Tinsley sprinted down the court, weaving through defenders, but his layup rolled off the rim. Ballgame.

“I saw we had 6.9 seconds left on the clock and I told our guys to foul as they were running down the court because we had a foul to give,” Hampton coach Steve Merfeld revealed to ESPN.

“They didn’t hear me, thank God.”

By 1997, the NCAA tournament had only seen two No. 15 seeds take down a No. 2. No MEAC team had ever won a game in the Big Dance. No one thought Coppin State would be the one to change that. The Eagles barely made the tournament, needing two overtime wins in their conference tourney to punch their ticket. And yet, when they took the court in Pittsburgh against No. 2 South Carolina—fresh off a dominant 15-1 SEC season—Coppin State ran the Gamecocks out of the gym.

The Eagles forced 19 turnovers, crushed South Carolina on the glass with a 41-30 rebounding edge, and pulled away in the second half for a 78-65 stunner. Danny Singletary led all scorers with 22 points, Antoine Brockington added 20, and Terquin Mott delivered 11 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks. Coppin State’s bench outscored South Carolina’s 40-19, proving they had the depth to hang with a high-major squad.

The Eagles never doubted themselves. “We believed, we always believed,” Singletary said after the upset.

Coach Fang Mitchell echoed that sentiment: “It was the biggest moment of [the players’] lives. They worked hard to get to that point. Basically, they felt they could go and win. They wanted to win it all.”

Years later, ESPN cemented the moment in March Madness lore with the documentary On & Coppin, available on ESPN+.

Southern University entered the NCAA tournament in 1993 as the last team in the field. Their SWAC title was clinched so late that the brackets had already been announced. Their prize? A No. 13 seed and a first-round matchup against No. 4 Georgia Tech, the reigning ACC Tournament champions. But upsets are a March Madness staple, and the Jaguars were ready to prove they belonged.

After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Southern erupted in the second, outscoring Georgia Tech 54-34 and holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for nearly five minutes. Jervaughn Scales led the charge, finishing with 27 points and 18 rebounds, while Terry Thames added 20 points, and Leonard White chipped in 18. The Jaguars drained three-pointers and attacked the rim, turning a close game into a stunning 93-78 victory—one of the tournament’s biggest shocks.

Still, Southern refused to act like it was a fluke. “We didn’t want to jump all over the floor like it was a big upset,” Scales said. “If we win, we win. I told [the bench players], ‘Don’t come out on the floor and jump up and down. Let’s just go out and shake hands, go to the locker room—and then jump up and down.’”

Head coach Ben Jobe took the same approach. “It’s just a game,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world. It’s not the civil rights movement. It’s not the war on poverty. It’s just a game.”

But Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins knew his team had been outplayed. “Complacency set in,” he said. “We got burned, and we deserved to get burned.”

The Jaguars’ win remains one of the most talked-about moments in HBCU basketball history.