With the entire second half left, West Virginia faced a massive challenge. The Mountaineers only had five players available.

While they looked to grind out 20 minutes with no breaks, head coach Mark Kellogg stressed two simple things.

"Believe and breathe."

At every timeout, those words were written on the whiteboard, and that's exactly what the Mountaineers did. The words helped them stay focused and calm despite the unusual situation, giving them a simple guide to follow under pressure.

West Virginia and No. 15 Duke faced off in the Greenbrier Tipoff at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, roughly three hours from Morgantown, where the Mountaineers normally play.

It's an annual tournament hosted in one of the most unique settings — a ballroom. The resort transforms it into a gym that seats roughly 1,200 fans.

It's a unique venue that was simply setting the table for how out of the ordinary the rest of the night would be.

The Mountaineers and Blue Devils went back and forth in the first half. Right before the break, West Virginia's Jordan Harrison attempted a shot and had it blocked by Duke's Jordan Wood.

Following the play, it got chippy between the two and other players started to step in. That's when it got chaotic. All but one of West Virginia's players left the bench, resulting in ejections, alongside Harrison and Wood.

That left Mark Kellogg with just five available players: Sydney Shaw, Sydney Woodley, Loghan Johnson, Riley Makalusky and Célia Rivière.

Shaw was the only starter left. Johnson hadn't checked in the game yet. Rivière was averaging just two points per game.

But none of that mattered.

Duke held a three point lead at halftime, but that vanished quickly. The Mountaineers outscored the Blue Devils in the third quarter 24-9.

"When you have nothing to lose, you might as well just put it all out there," Shaw said. "At the end of the day, when you have five players and no bench, and the other team has their entire bench, you're not exactly the first choice to win. We were definitely just playing loose."

The team adjusted their strategy, focusing on tight defense and careful shot selection, which helped them gain momentum and control the pace of the game.

Once West Virginia built a lead, it never let up. It did what felt impossible.

The Mountaineers took down Duke 57-49 in a ballroom turned basketball court with just five players.

"That was the craziest game that I've ever been a part of in my coaching career, without question," Kellogg said. "I couldn't be more proud of the resiliency, the guts, the grit, all of the things that I think our team is. We talk at West Virginia all the time about just what this state represents, and we want our teams to kind of mirror that." 

Fans applauded and cheered as they waited to high-five the ones that made it happen.

Country Roads blasted from the speakers, and even a few tears were shed. West Virginia did what looked to be impossible coming out of the locker room at halftime.

As the clock began to drain, the moment of realization hit Kellogg.

"When there was about a minute and a half left or something, maybe I took a quick little glance and thought, 'I think this is about to happen,'" the head coach said.

Shaw helped rally her teammates, finishing with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

And as for Rivière, who averaged just two points coming into the game, became a hero. The senior from Paris, France, recorded 12 points and eight rebounds.

"I'm practicing every day really hard and I'm always ready for my teammates and the program," Rivière said. "I'll just do what I do and play smart and hard."

The ones who completed the game have been deemed the "Greenbrier 5," and they completed one of the most bizarre upsets.