College Basketball 2013-14: Big Buzzer Beater
In a back and forth battle of top 15 teams Monday night, UConn’s senior guard Shabazz Napier hit the game-winning shot beating the Florida Gators 65-64.
With 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Napier dribbled out of a double team, missed a shot and promptly recovered his own rebound. The ball left his fingertips with less than a second left and netted a jumper from the foul line. He finished with 26 points, making five of eight three-pointers.
The one-point victory keeps the Huskies undefeated (8-0), but this win didn’t come easy. The two teams battled down the stretch swapping the lead six times in the last six minutes. The Gators outscored the Huskies 32-14 in the paint and outrebounded them 34-26. Connecticut also committed 14 turnovers.
Napier explained in a postgame interview, “Coach Ollie said during the game, we aren’t going to win the rebound battle. As you can see we didn’t. But he told us we have to find other ways to win.” And that is exactly what he and his team did.
After last night’s win, Napier’s chances to win the National Player of the Year award have definitely gone up. It will be hard for him to take the crown ultimately because of the conference switch and the amount of talent in the league this year. UConn was moved to the American Athletic Conference this season and their schedule doesn’t consist of the best teams. And with players like Marcus Smart, Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, and Jabari Parker, who are all very skilled and in better conferences, it will be a challenge. But if he keeps playing like he did tonight and winning big games, it is definitely a possibility.
