The Big Lead

On This Day in Sports History: Alex Caruso's Texas A&M Team Mounted an Incredible Last Minute Comeback Against UNI

By Stephen Douglas

NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Northern Iowa v Texas A&M
NCAA Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Northern Iowa v Texas A&M / Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
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The Texas A&M Aggies came into the 2016 NCAA Tournament as West Regional's third seed. Led by senior guards Alex Caruso and Danuel House, A&M was the 12th overall seed. They beat Green Bay in an opening round to set up a second round game against Northern Iowa late on a Sunday night in Oklahoma City.

To get to the second round and face off against A&M, 11-seed Northern Iowa had to get past 6-seed Texas. They did it in the most wonderful fashion: on a half-court game-winner at the buzzer by Paul Jesperson.

Coming off that finish, with the 3-seed on the ropes, Northern Iowa was looking a lot like Cinderella. This was a Texas A&M team was ranked as high as #5 in the country during the season.

Northern Iowa's lead over A&M was 12 following a pair of Jeremy Morgan free throws with 44 seconds remaining. It would take another 10 seconds for A&M to score and cut the lead to 10. UNI would then turn the ball over four times in the final 30 seconds and A&M would capitalize each time until Admon Gilder finally tied the game at 71-71 with three seconds left in regulation.

It was the biggest last-minute comeback in tournament history.

Of course, it would be but a mere footnote if A&M didn't actually win. The teams traded buckets in overtime before A&M finally pulled away and won, 92-88, in double overtime. Future Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso finished with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting and added 9 rebounds and 3 assists in 43 minutes. Future Houston Rockets guard Danuel House Jr. had 22 points and 8 rebounds in 46 minutes. He was also a very Houston Rockets-esque 2-of-7 from three.

Two other players from the Aggies' starting five that night went on to appear in the NBA. Jalen Jones appeared in games for the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks and Tyler Davis spent some time with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Backup forward D.J. Hogg is currently in the G-League and Admon Gilder wound up transferring to Gonzaga where he averaged 10 points per game this season.

A&M's season ended the next weekend when they lost in the Sweet 16 to Buddy Hield's Oklahoma squad, but their comeback will live on forever as a reminder that anything is possible in March Madness.