UNI's Buzzer-Beater sinks Texas in NCAA First Round

Lady luck was on the side of the Northern Iowa Panthers tonight as a buzzer-beater ends the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball season 75-72.

Play of the game

Well, I won’t traumatize you again but you know what it is.

Player of the game

Isaiah Taylor

Isaiah Taylor’s first half kept Texas in the game to even have a chance in the second half. He wasn’t much of the factor in the 2nd half, but he did everything he could to contribute and he did hit a big shot to tie the game. If his collegiate career does end after this game, he went out with a bang.

Epilogue

I won’t delve too much into the merits or deficiencies of this game, but it was a great one and it just didn’t fall the way the Longhorns wanted it to. Northern Iowa is a really good team. They beat North Carolina and Iowa State and they are now riding a 7-game winning streak. It wasn’t going to be an easy game and it wasn’t for Texas.

A quick recap of the season – The Longhorns finished the season with the same number of wins as they did last year. However, in last year’s NCAA Tournament they were the 11 seed with an 8-10 Big 12 record. This year, they were the 6 seed with a 11-7 Big 12 record. Year one of Shaka Smart at Texas was a success. Smart can coach, and he has a tremendous ability to motivate the team to fight hard and never give up in any game. It just didn’t happen against Northern Iowa. Since his Final Four run in 2011, Shaka Smart is 2-5 in the NCAA tournament. Does that mean anything? I don’t know but it is something.

I will break down the season in depth in a few days but the future is bright, at least that is the feeling that Shaka has instilled in Texas fans. He is going to have to make good on this feeling. In time, we’ll see if he can do it.

Stats

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Game Photos