UMBC Basketball Team Credits Fortnite for Historic Upset
By Nicholas Barth ·
After a history defining win, the UMBC men's basketball team credited Fortnite in helping them achieve the victory.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County men's basketball team pulled off the greatest upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament yesterday, as they defeated the number one overall seed Virginia Cavaliers 74-54 in the first round of the tournament. This was the very first time that a 16 seed had ever defeated a number one seed and not only did the UMBC team win, they dominated with a 20 point victory. The victory made history, and not surprisingly Fortnite was able to make its way into the conversation, as it has become the game to insert itself into all areas of society.
UMBC bench confirmed HUGE Fortnite guys pic.twitter.com/j78XXrh759
— Barstool Colorado (@CUBarstool) March 17, 2018
The connection to Epic Games' Battle Royale title came during the game, as people began to notice that members of the UMBC team were performing Fortnite emote dances to celebrate during the game. From the best mates dance to throwing the pickaxe around, it became very clear that a few of the players for UMBC were huge Fortnite fans themeslves.
UMBC actually credited Fortnite for their win last night pic.twitter.com/LkHShHq9tf
— 12up (@12upSport) March 17, 2018
Once the upset had been completed, the players of UMBC stated that they are big fans of the game and gave a shotuout to famous Fortnite player Tyler "Ninja" Belvins and Drake, who recently broke a Twitch record together. Revealing that they had gotten two Fortnite victories before the game had started and claiming that pulling off the biggest upset in college basketball history felt like your first Fortnite victory, it was clear that the UMBC men's basketball team spends alot of their free time playing the insanely popular title.
It seemed like it wasn't possible for Fortnite to get any more popular, but now it can claim the title of being the favorite video game of the college basketball team that will go down in history as the owners of the biggest upset the sport has ever seen.
(cover photo courtesy of Sporting News)