The No. 16 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islanders dropped Thursday's first round matchup to No. 1 Alabama, 75-96.
The Crimson Tide kick-started the contest on a 9-0 run, before the Islanders answered with three straight buckets.
The 6-9 score was the closest TAMU-CC got to Alabama for the remainder of the contest, as the AP No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide stayed on top through the end to advance.
The Islanders shot 35 percent from the field, while they drained only three 3-pointers in the game.
Trevian Tennyson led the Islanders with 20 points in the contest.
"It just means a lot," Tennyson said of making history for the program. "Since I have been at Corpus, this has been my second home. It just mean a lot to Corpus. It means a lot to us, too. We wanted to do it for them."
Isaac Mushila was behind him in points with 16 and added 15 rebounds in the contest notching his 14th double-double on the season. The double-double breaks his own single-season record he set last season.
"It's been a great year for us," Mushila said of the Islander's season. "Coming into the season we're just focused on what we could do. And we believe that we could do this and make history. So we made it, and we're happy and proud for that."
According to TAMU-CC athletics, Mushila now has 27 career double-doubles and is now eight shy of the school record set by Rashawn Thomas.
Owen Dease chipped in 14 points off the bench in the game Thursday, and Ross Williams also had 11 on the night.
Despite the loss, second year coach Steve Lutz said his team is now on the map.
"This lets people know that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is going to be a force in the Southland Conference to be reckoned with. We have raised the bar now — we have to do the hardest thing and that's to keep it at a high level," he said. "Alabama has kept it at a high level. That's your biggest task at this point. And, you know, we have the administration behind us, we have the city behind us, so there's no reason that we can't do it."
The Islander faithful were out in full-force at Brewster's Street Icehouse-South Side to support the team.
"Clearly it means a lot to bring the community and the university together and that is the goal. Is that relationship and that momentum. So, hopefully we can build on that and create more bonds between the community and the university," Haysom Dawod. "That means a lot for us and for the university. We're very proud, very proud of how our team is doing and has done so, go Islanders!"
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