Little Caesars gives out free pizza thanks to bracket busters

Thanks to the University of Maryland Baltimore County men's basketball team, Little Caesars locations throughout the suburbs served up free lunches Monday.

It mirrored images across the country of long lines outside participating franchises of the pizza chain, which announced at the start of the NCAA tournament that it would give away lunch combos of pizza and pop if a #16 seed beat a #1 seed.

After the UMBC Retrievers beat the Virginia Cavaliers 74-54 March 16, Little Caesars said on its social media platforms that "because crazy happened," everyone in America was entitled to its 4-slice DEEP!DEEP! dish pepperoni pizza and a 20-ounce Pepsi product from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, April 2. The lunch combo normally retails for $5.

At the Little Caesars at the Rolling Meadows Shopping Center on Kirchoff Road, hungry patrons lined up Monday to take advantage of the free offer. Some people said they read about it on social media; others said they were just driving by and saw the line starting to form. At this location, customers walked away with a full-sized pizza.

• Daily Herald photographer Mark Welsh contributed to this report.