‘An inch away’: Vanderbilt’s buzzer-beater that wasn’t brings out peak…

‘An inch away’: Vanderbilt’s buzzer-beater that wasn’t brings out peak…

As the final shot hung in the air, Rienk Mast had the good view.

He watched in horror from his seat on Nebraska’s bench as Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner let fly from past mid-court, and his shot appeared alarmingly true.

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“It was right on line,” Mast said.

What would have been one among the best NCAA tournament buzzer beaters of all time will instead be remembered as the final near-miss. Tanner’s prayer hit the backboard, circled every a part of the rim and bounced out, preserving fourth-seeded Nebraska’s 74-72 second-round victory over fifth-seeded Vanderbilt.

When his shot didn’t fall, Tanner fell flat on his again, put his arms on his head and then slammed the area ground in frustration. Heartbroken Vanderbilt teammates and coaches bowed their heads or cried out in anguish as their program-record 27-win season ended one victory shy of the NCAA tournament’s second weekend.

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Asked by reporters later if he thought his shot was getting in, Tanner nodded.

Voice barely above a whisper, he added, “It hurts pretty bad being that close.”

For Nebraska, the sight of Tanner’s shot rimming out elicited far different feelings. The Huskers went from having their NCAA tournament life flash before their eyes to celebrating their faculty’s first-ever Sweet 16 journey.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg was still shaking with nerves and adrenaline minutes after the game ended.

“When that thing was up in the air, I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s going in,'” he recalled

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Nebraska point guard Sam Hoiberg also assumed the worst.

“My heart sank as that ball went in the hoop and then went out,” he said. “I think it took me half a second to register that it didn’t go in.”

Nebraska main scorer Pryce Sandfort was even more dramatic when describing his feelings as the shot almost went down.

“Yeah, I just about died,” he said.

Nebraska was definitely due some success on the basketball ground after many years of abject distress. This is famously the only power-conference program that had never received an NCAA tournament game previous to Thursday’s first-round annihilation of Thirteenth-seeded Troy. The Huskers had only even made the NCAA tournament eight instances previous to this season.

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A large turnout of Nebraska followers descended upon Oklahoma City to observe the best team in program historical past end the drought on Thursday and then win a back-and-forth nail-biter against Vanderbilt two nights later. There was a lot crimson in the constructing that you’d have thought each games had been performed in Lincoln.

While Nebraska will stay up for attempting to continue its run against both top-seeded Florida or ninth-seeded Iowa next week in Houston, Vanderbilt will stew at dwelling about how shut it got here. Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington first said the Commodores had been “a play away” from successful. Then he corrected himself and said they had been “an inch away from being in the Sweet 16.”

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“It’s going to take awhile for us to get over, ” Byington continued, “but I think there’s going to be a point where we’ll look back and think of the unbelievable journey this season has been.”

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