Unless you were a Northern Iowa fan, it was indeed a blessing from the hoops gods to be reminded for at least the seventh time in this tournament that every single second matters comes March.
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Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. With Sunday’s matchup against Texas A&M on the horizon, Jacobson felt the Panthers had earned the right to enjoy the moment for more than a few minutes.
The Aggies advance to face No. 2 seed Oklahoma next week in Anaheim, Calif., in the Sweet 16.
Third-seeded Texas A&M erased a 12-point deficit against 11th-seeded Northern Iowa in the final 34 seconds of regulation and completed its incredible comeback by winning, 92-88, in double overtime.
One final word about the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry, which hasn’t had a regular-season meeting since 2011-12.
Texas A&M’s Alex Caruso hit several key shots down the stretch in regulation and in the first overtime to finish with a team-leading 25 points while Danuel House scored 22 points despite not scoring until 5:14 remaining in regulation.
This time, it was Texas A&M’s turn to deliver a miracle inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. Northern Iowa won its only previous game against the Aggies when the Panthers claimed an 82-70 victory on December 28, 1996, in El Paso, Texas. But he didn’t need to. In 1981, Reed made a half-court shot to give the Razorbacks a win over Louisville. “So we’re still thinking about it a little bit, but we’re getting around to that time now where we focus on Sunday”. They missed their first three shot attempts and one of two free throws. Caruso charged to the basket for an easy layup to pull the Aggies back within one before Jeremy Morgan split a pair of free throws to push the Panther lead to two. But obviously, the player of the game was UNI’s Jesperson who added 14 points behind four three pointers, including the game victor. He produced two steals, two layups and an assist in those final, frantic seconds.
No sure things in that bunch of games. It got no closer.
At the exact moment Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson made a halfcourt buzzer-beater to shock Texas in the earliest moments of Saturday morning, one thought surely crossed the minds of college hoopniks the nation over.
Film is now being looked at on the Aggies, as the Panthers look to get past the 3rd seeded teams and head to the Sweet 16.
But with the lead at 71-66 after Klint Carson’s dunk with 17 seconds left, it also stood to reason the Panthers would not commit a foul while Caruso drove through the lane for what should have been a relatively painless layup.
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Washpun averaged 16.3 points in the MVC conference tournament and hit the game-winner against Evansville that put the Panthers into the NCAA Tournament. “If you can imagine Power 5 schools playing one Division I home game things may change”. Texas is a 15-to-2 favorite to win the West Regional. It’s not really even madness. “They got blessed last game, we got blessed this game”.
