We’ve gotten a heavy dose of hyperbole in this year’s NCAA Tournament, and with good reason. But during Sunday’s wild game between Northern Iowa and Texas A&M, hyperbole became fact.
The No. 11 seed Panthers already had used a miraculous buzzer-beater to advance to their Round of 32 matchup with the No. 3 Aggies in the West Region. And leading by 12 points with 35 seconds left in regulation, Northern Iowa looked poised to vault into the Sweet 16.
But that’s when the Panthers suffered what literally was the biggest collapse in Division 1 college basketball history en route to a 92-88 double overtime loss.
To reiterate: UNI led 69-57 with under 40 seconds to play. But over the course of half a minute, the Aggies went on an improbable 14-2 run, forcing four Panther turnovers and making all six of their field goals to somehow tie the score at 71-71 with three seconds remaining.
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Incredibly, Texas A&M didn’t commit a single foul over that span, repeatedly trapping UNI in its own end to force error after error. So just how big was the Panthers’ collapse — or, if you’re an A&M fan, the Aggies’ comeback?
ICYMI, Texas A&M's rally from 12 down w/less than 1:00 to play is the largest last-minute deficit overcome to win in college hoops history.
— David Worlock (@DavidWorlock) March 21, 2016
Old record was set in February 2005. UNLV was down 11 to San Diego St. with 59 seconds left. Also won in OT.
— David Worlock (@DavidWorlock) March 21, 2016
The crazy ending was so mind-boggling that it somehow defied the prediction models.
Here it is. 99.99%. This is an all-time sports collapse. Bar none. pic.twitter.com/A3f1iUlkXW
— FanDuel Research (@FanDuelResearch) March 21, 2016
The FiveThirtyEight graph on A&M-UNI cannot be RT’d enough. pic.twitter.com/nCK8ZUIEr5
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) March 21, 2016
One model even gave Northern Iowa a 100 percent chance of winning at one point.
ORLY pic.twitter.com/xxgR7fy38c
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 21, 2016
We should see plenty more drama in the Sweet 16, but it’ll be hard to top what happened in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
