On This Day: Three NCAA tournament title games and two buzzer-beaters
With the NBA, MLB, NHL and other major sports leagues and sporting events suspended or canceled, on a daily basis, we will revisit some of the most unforgettable games and sports moments in history. Welcome to On This Day.
If all were normal in the world, the NCAA Tournament would be nearing its conclusion. On Monday, a national champion would have been crowned.
However, with the tournament’s cancellation due to the coronavirus outbreak, college basketball fans are forced to live in the past whenever they want to get their basketball fix.
We can help with that.
On this day, three memorable national championship games took place: the 1983 title game, the 2011 title game, and the 2016 title game.
Let’s take a look back:
1983: NC State upsets Houston
Let’s start in 1983 with one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack entered the game as huge underdogs against the University of Houston’s ‘Phi Slamma Jamma’ squad, featuring two future NBA Hall of Famers in Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
However, the game came down to the wire and the basketball equivalent of a Hail Mary resulted in arguably the most famous rebound and putback in the history of college basketball, giving the Wolfpack a 54-52 win.
You can relive the entire game below:
2011: UConn wins the national championship over Butler
Nearly 30 years later, the Connecticut Huskies would stage an improbable run to the national championship on the back of current NBA superstar Kemba Walker.
UConn rode an unprecedented 11-game winning streak through the Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament to be crowned national champs and deliver the school its third national title with a 53-41 win over Butler.
2016: Kris Jenkins beats UNC at the buzzer
As iconic as Lorenzo Charles’ putback dunk was, it’s hard to top what Kris Jenkins did in the 2016 NCAA Championship game.
The University of North Carolina Tar Heels met up with the Villanova Wildcats in the NCAA title game in a battle of two 1-seeds and delivered what might be the best championship game in tournament history.
Villanova took control of the game in the second half before UNC fought back to tie the game on an improbable three-pointer by Marcus Paige with 4.7 seconds left.
Looked like overtime was on the horizon – but Jenkins had other thoughts.
Unreal.
