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As sports fans geared up for March Madness, the NBA and college basketball world understood the memo. On Selection Sunday, while many schools were celebrating their tickets getting punched into the NCAA basketball tournament, fans of the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks were celebrating game-winners courtesy of Bam Adebayo and Kyrie Irving, respectively. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Sunday was the first time since April 9, 2017 that multiple game-winning NBA buzzer-beaters occurred on the same day. On the college basketball side, the Yale Bulldogs punched their ticket in dramatic fashion. The No. 1 Drake Bulldogs joined the party, defeating the No. 3 Missouri State Lady Bears in the closing seconds, to win the women's Missouri Valley Conference final. The day prior, the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers secured a 76-75 overtime victory over the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers in the men's Big Ten semifinal. Here's a look at the buzzer-beaters delivered this past weekend.
Dallas Mavericks On the West Coast, Irving made an incredible play that lifted the Mavericks over the defending-champion Denver Nuggets. Irving received the pass on the right side of the basket and curled to the free-throw line area. Then, he threw up a running lefty hook shot over Nikola Jokic, giving the Mavericks their fifth win in six games.
Miami Heat In Detroit with the score tied, Heat guard Terry Rozier grabbed the rebound after Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham missed a 3-point attempt. Rozier flipped the ball over to the trailing Adebayo, who drained the 3-pointer. It was Adebayo's only made 3-pointer of the game. He is shooting 18.8% from 3-point range this season.
Yale Bulldogs With the Ivy League Championship on the line and a chance to go dancing in March, the No. 2 Yale Bulldogs took down the No. 4 Brown Bears. Down one, the Bulldogs moved the ball around and found senior forward Matt Knowling all alone on the left block. Knowling quickly threw up a floater to seal the 62-61 victory for the Bulldogs.
Drake Bulldogs In a similar scenario, the MVC women's final saw a buzzer-beating finish Sunday. Junior forward Anna Miller received the ball, took one drop step, and finished a layup to secure the ticket for the Bulldogs in a 76-75 victory.
Wisconsin Badgers On Saturday, in a shocking upset, the Badgers took down the Boilermakers after sending the game into overtime. Junior guard Chucky Hepburn received the ball after coming off a double-curl action and beat his defender, converting on the layup to tie the game at 66. Wisconsin outscored Purdue 10-9 in overtime for the semifinal victory.
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