Duquesne University pulled off the first upset of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament, which had one NBA icon over the moon.
The Dukes’ 71-67 win over BYU had Lakers star LeBron James posting on X in celebration.
The victory was almost six decades in the making, as it was Duquesne’s first NCAA tournament win since 1969.
“AYYYYYYYEEEEE!!! First tournament win in 55 years! @CoachDambrot @DuqMBB. Keep it going,” James wrote with five clapping emojis.
“YEAAAAHHHH @DruOnDemand LFG!!!! Go Dukes @DuqMBB,” he added in another post.
There is a connection there as Duquesne’s head coach, Keith Dambrot, coached James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio.
After coaching there from 1998-2001, Dambrot had a long tenure at Akron before joining the Dukes in 2017.
Before the tournament began, Dambrot announced he would retire at the end of Duquesne’s season to take care of his wife, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The win over the sixth-seeded Cougars means Dambrot will coach at least one more game.
Prior to the tourney, James gifted each of Duquesne’s players a pair of shoes to acknowledge Dambrot’s role in his life and celebrate the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1977.
At one point in Thursday’s game, Duquesne held a 14-point lead that eventually evaporated in the waning minutes.
But the Dukes hit their free throws down the stretch — they went 11-for-12 from the line after the game was tied at 60 — and held on to pull off the upset over BYU.
Duquesne held the Cougars, the second-highest-scoring team in the Big 12 this year, to 67 points.
Duquesne will play Illinois in the round of 32 on Saturday.