Northern Iowa Stuns Texas On Halfcourt Buzzer Beater

Northern Iowa guard Paul Jesperson just gave us the moment of the NCAA Tournament so far.

After Texas tied up the late night contest at 72 with 2.7 seconds to go, Jesperson caught an inbounds pass near half-court, dribbled once and heaved up a shot as the buzzer sounded.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he called “bank.”

The 11th-seeded Panthers pulled of the upset with that amazing shot, which will go down as an all-time moment for Northern Iowa’s program.

It reminded us of U.S. Reed’s buzzer-beating halfcourter for Arkansas against Louisville in the 1981 NCAA Tournament. That game, oddly enough, was played at the University of Texas. Weird.

Speaking of Texas, Shaka Smart and his sixth-seeded Longhorns will go home much earlier than they thought they would. Obviously they were hoping for a matchup with third-seeded Texas A&M in the second-round, but Northern Iowa earned a shot at the Aggies instead.

That was a great way to cap off a fantastic first round of the 2016 tournament.