McNeese State upsets Clemson in school's 'biggest day' - ESPN

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — McNeese State president Dr. Wade Rousse said school officials had discussed adding extra support for its website if its 12th-seeded men's basketball team upset No. 5 Clemson in the NCAA tournament Thursday.

The Cowboys delivered with a 69-67 win. Then the website crashed anyway.

«It's a wonderful thing for us,» Rousse said after the Cowboys opened a 31-13 lead at halftime and then held on after Clemson made a charge in the final two minutes. «Biggest day in our school history, or one of them, for sure.

»We've heard all the stories about other teams, that they get an upset and their website crashes because there's so much interest in the school. We were trying to be proactive before we left. We put the IT team on standby — 'Hey, be there, just in case.'"

It was the first NCAA tournament victory for McNeese State, which is located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The Cowboys earned a tournament berth for the second straight year as champion of the Southland Conference. But unlike last year, when coach Will Wade said they treated the tournament like a «field trip» because they were happy to be there, this was more business-like — in more ways than one.

Wade is departing whenever the Cowboys' tournament run ends to become head coach at NC State, and he had been transparent about his interest in other jobs with players leading into the tournament.

«Whatever else is happening, that's of no distraction to us. I know everybody else thinks there's distractions and stuff, [but] we operate the same way all the time,» he said. «We have broken every record in the book. This was the last one to get.»

The moment marks another step in the career revival of Wade, who was fired in 2022 the wake of a three-year NCAA