We may not be in the NCAA Tournament, but the March Madness has certainly arrived already. The No. 9 Houston Cougars took down the Memphis Tigers 67-64 on Sunday, in what was one of the wildest (maybe *the* wildest) finishes in college basketball this season.
First, Memphis tied the game 64-64 on this wacky sequence which ended with Boogie Ellis nailing a long three with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Memphis ties it with a 3 on a crazy sequence! pic.twitter.com/EeZqsChUxE
— The Comeback NCAA (@TheComebackNCAA) March 7, 2021
With Houston needing to go the length of the floor, it seemed like this game was quite likely headed to overtime. But Tramon mark received a bounce pas at half-court, dribbled a few feet, and banked in a three from the Houston logo to beat the buzzer.
But Houston tops it with an even crazier 3 for the win! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/PsuOxTfPu4
— The Comeback NCAA (@TheComebackNCAA) March 7, 2021
Amazing. As CBS hoops analyst Bill Raftery would put it: “Onions! Double order!”
Along with being an incredible basketball game (that featured plenty of lead changes and was crazy enough before this finish), it was also a hugely important basketball game. Unfortunately that was the case much more so for Memphis (No. 53 in the NET), who entered the game in the Next Four Out on the latest NCAA Tournament predictions from ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That would’ve been a massive Quad 1 win for Memphis over a top-10 team on the road, and instead it’s a loss that could end up keeping them out of the NCAA Tournament field. The cruelty of March.
For Houston (No. 5 in the NET), it’s a win they’ll never forget, and it’s also a win they needed to keep their No. 1 seed hopes alive.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at Awful Announcing and The Comeback.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@awfulannouncing.com.