The Loop
The largest comeback in D1 college basketball history now belongs to ... Drexel?
In order to go down by 34 points in a Division I college basketball game, you have to be a pretty bad team. In order to erase that 34-point deficit, you have to be facing an equally-bad team. This was the case on Thursday night when the Drexel Dragons hosted the Delaware Blue Hens at Daskalakis Athletic Center.
Trailing 53-19 with just over two minutes to go in the first half, things looked dire for the Dragons. But a 10-3 run to end the half cut the lead to "just" 27 points as the teams went into the locker room. Little did Drexel know that run was the beginning of the biggest comeback in D1 college basketball history, as the Dragons came storming back in the second half to win the game 85-83. Check out the full highlights:
Drexel outscored Delaware 66-30 in the final 22 minutes, led by guard Tramaine Isabell, who scored 27 of his 29 points during that span. His biggest shot attempt came with two seconds remaining, when he was fouled as he launched a three-pointer. Isabell hit two of three from the line, which ended up being the difference.
"They (Delaware) shot almost perfect from the 3-point line," Isabell told ESPN. "He (Drexel coach Zach Spiker) told us it could happen the exact opposite way."
Speaking of the coach, what do you even tell a team that's trailing by nearly 30 points at halftime ?
"Our approach at halftime was, let's make it happen," Spiker said. "Look, this has a chance to be the craziest comeback, a perfect storm."
During the course of Drexel's many second-half runs, Spiker reiterated the message.
"I told them, just get a stop, there's no 30-point shot, 20-point shot, 15-point shot. Let's just be poised here. We turned up the tempo, made it more full-court. Let's make it a crazy game."
Think he nailed that crazy part. Another wild comeback in college basketball coming from a game you least expect it, and we're still a week away from March.