Northern Iowa guard Paul Jesperson acknowledged his buzzer-beating three-pointer from half court to dramatically win the team's first round matchup with the Texas Longhorns as "lucky," but the NCAA Tournament is not termed "March Madness" for nothing.
Northern Iowa was one of six double-digit seeded teams to upset their single-digit seeded opponent on Friday's slate of first-round games alone. Throughout the entire first round, the number rises to 10.
However, none of those upsets ended with the drama and sheer unlikelihood that Northern Iowa's 75-72 win over Texas game did. See for yourself.
"I don't have a way to describe it," Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson said afterward, "and I don't have an answer."
The Panthers were only in the NCAA Tournament because of a buzzer beater that one guard Wes Washpun hit to beat Evansville for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. But with a half-court heave, Northern Iowa managed to upstage an upset hailed as the "biggest" in the NCAA Tournament's history.
"I told those guys I thought it had a chance when it left my hand, because I got it more toward the center of the court," Jesperson said after the game. "But, yeah, when it went in, I looked at my parents, I saw my brother there, both my brothers, and I was extremely happy and grateful that that thing went in."
Texas guard Javan Felix, who scored 12 points for the Longhorns, thought the worst when Jesperson got the shot off but hoped for something, anything to go wrong for the Panthers' guard.
"I was right behind him when he released it, so it looked good all the way," Felix said. "I was just really hoping it didn't though."
Ironically enough, Jesperson hit his half-court walk off shot on the same court (Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City) Stephen Curry hit a game-winning 40-footer to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Panthers now have to put all the excitement behind them to prepare for third-ranked Texas A&M on Sunday.
"The most exciting thing is we get to play Sunday," Jesperson said. "We can sit back at the end of the season and reflect for moments like this. But we're gonna enjoy this one for a little bit and then be ready to play again."
