{"id":243689,"date":"2026-03-30T18:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243689\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:24:24","slug":"looking-back-at-the-best-buzzer-beaters-in-march-madness-history-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243689\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at the best buzzer-beaters in March Madness history \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most exhilarating feelings of March Madness<\/a> is when your favorite team seals the win with a buzzer-beater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although it doesn’t happen every year, the NCAA Tournament has had numerous games over the decades that were either tied up or won because of a clutch shot made at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

That was on display yet again this year, most recently with UConn rallying past Duke<\/a> on a last-second shot in the Elite Eight on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look back at some of the greatest buzzer-beater moments in March Madness history:<\/p>\n

1977 – Marquette 51, UNC Charlotte 49\u00a0(Final Four)<\/p>\n

Marquette defeated UNC Charlotte by two points in the Final Four after a full-court inbounds heave set up the game-winning bucket by Jerome Whitehead. Marquette went on to win its first ever NCAA championship under Al McGuire.<\/p>\n

1983 – NC State 54, Houston 52\u00a0(national championship)<\/p>\n

In the title game, NC State defeated top-seeded Houston by two points. Tied at 52 in the final seconds, Dereck Whittenburg launched a shot from nearly 30 feet from the basket, narrowly missing the rim. Without hesitation, Lorenzo Charles grabbed the ball and dunked it in to seal the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1990 – Duke 79, UConn 78\u00a0(Elite Eight)<\/p>\n

Duke defeated top-seeded Connecticut by a point in overtime of the Elite Eight to advance in the tournament. Christian Laettner hit a double-pump, 15-foot jumper to send the Blue Devils to the Final Four.<\/p>\n

1992 – Duke 104, Kentucky 103 (Elite Eight)<\/p>\n

In the Elite Eight, Duke defeated Kentucky by one point to give the defending champs a spot in the Final Four. With 2.1 seconds left in overtime, the Blue Devils trailed 103-102. Grant Hill launched the ball the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who faked right, dribbled once and sealed the win with a jumper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1998 – Valparaiso 70, Ole Miss 69 (first round)<\/p>\n

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Valparaiso defeated fourth-seeded Ole Miss by a point. Jamie Sykes threw the inbounds pass across the court to Bill Jenkins, who quickly passed it to Bryce Drew for the game-winning 3.<\/p>\n

2000 – Florida 69, Butler 68 (first round)<\/p>\n

Florida defeated Butler by a point in overtime in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Mike Miller scored a layup with 0.8 seconds left in the game to seal the win. Florida went on to make the national championship game that year before falling to Michigan State.<\/p>\n

2008 – Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (national championship)<\/p>\n

In the NCAA championship game, Kansas defeated Memphis by seven points after a clutch shot sent the game to overtime. Kansas guard Mario Chalmers drained a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds to tie the game at 63, and the Jayhawks went on to win in overtime to capture the national championship.<\/p>\n

2016 – Northern Iowa 75, Texas 72 (first round)<\/p>\n

Northern Iowa defeated Texas in the 2016 first round with a crazy finish. After Texas tied the game with 2.7 seconds left, senior guard Paul Jesperson banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer to give Northern Iowa the upset victory.<\/p>\n

2016 – Villanova 77, North Carolina 74 (national championship)<\/p>\n

In the national championship game, Villanova defeated North Carolina by three to give the Wildcats their first championship since 1985. Kris Jenkins hit an iconic 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal the win and avoid overtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2019 – Virginia 80, Purdue 75\u00a0(Elite Eight)<\/p>\n

In the Elite Eight, Virginia defeated Purdue by five after the Cavaliers made a buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime. After Ty Jerome missed a free throw, Mamadi Diakite tapped the rebound over to Kihei Clark, who passed it back to Diakite for the game-tying two-pointer. Virginia went on to win the 2019 national championship.<\/p>\n

2021 – Gonzaga 93, UCLA 90 (Final Four)<\/p>\n

With a perfect season on the line, Jalen Suggs delivered for Gonzaga. Tied 90-90 in the Final Four against No. 11 UCLA, the top-seeded Bulldogs improved to 31-0 thanks to a half-court shot at the buzzer by the star freshman. Gonzaga went on to lose the national championship game against Baylor.<\/p>\n

2023 – San Diego State 72, Florida Atlanta 71 (Final Four)<\/p>\n

In one of the most improbable Final Four matchups in recent memory, No. 5 San Diego State held off No. 9 Florida Atlantic thanks to a buzzer-beater by Lamont Butler. The Aztecs trailed by one with seven seconds to play as Butler dribbled up the court. He ran to the baseline, dribbled back to the wing and buried a mid-range jumper as time expired. Like Gonzaga two years earlier, San Diego State lost the national title game.<\/p>\n

2026 – UConn 73, Duke 72 (Elite Eight)<\/p>\n

With 10 seconds left in this Elite Eight matchup, UConn hit a free throw to pull within two. Duke inbounded the ball and inexplicably tried to force the ball up the court even though it didn’t have to (and it had a timeout remaining). UConn deflected Cayden Boozer’s pass before Alex Karaban passed to Braylon Mullins for a 3-pointer from nearly mid-court with just 0.4 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was first published<\/a> in March 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most exhilarating feelings of March Madness is when your favorite team seals the win with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20730,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-243689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-march-madness","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-headlines","11":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}