Buzzer-beaters and upsets continue to dominate college basketball
The GIST: Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but It was another upset-filled weekend of hoops. In a tumultuous season, chaos is the name of the game, but even still, men’s and women’s squads had our hearts pumping with unbelievable buzzer-beaters. College basketball is the one who knocks.
The men: The shot to watch on loop? Arizona State guard Desmond Cambridge Jr.’s beyond-half-court buzzer-beater that led his Sun Devils past No. 7 Arizona on Saturday — a shot so phenomenal it may have single-handedly earned ASU a ticket to March Madness. A deal with the (Sun) Devil.
- Not to be outdone, Florida State guard Matthew Cleveland drilled a long three to upset intrastate rival No. 13 Miami 85–84 on Saturday, completing the Seminoles’ largest halftime comeback against a ranked team in 40 years.
- And finally, on Saturday, six straight three-pointers and the wordless ref complaint heard ’round the world powered Iowa to score 23 points in 90 seconds, forcing an overtime that eventually earned them the 112–106 dub over Michigan State.
The women: Although the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers bagged the conference title last week, No. 6 Iowa did revenge when Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark sank a cold-blooded three to beat the Hoosiers 86–85 yesterday. Clark’s take when asked her thoughts as she let it go? “Honestly, I thought it was money.” She is her.
Conference photo finishes: No conference ’ships were decided at the buzzer, but the last regular-season weekend for most women’s teams was a scorcher. No. 1 South Carolina unsurprisingly cruised to the SEC title, and the Big East and Big 12 are still TBD, but the Pac-12 and ACC really had us sweatin’.
- No. 8 Utah rose to the occasion, earning the program’s highest-ranked win ever by downing No. 3 Stanford 84–78 on Saturday. The Pac-12 crown? Split between the Cardinal and the Utes. And none for Gretchen Weiners.
- The ACC was also stressin’. No. 11 Duke fell 45–41 to archrival No. 22 UNC yesterday, so No. 10 Notre Dame just needed to beat a surging Louisville to secure the ’ship. The Irish (barely) got it done, but they lost star guard Olivia Miles along the way. Bittersweet.
