Northern Iowa's half-court buzzer-beater against Texas in super slow motion.

Watch Northern Iowa's Half-Court Buzzer-Beater in Super Slow Motion

Watch Northern Iowa's Half-Court Buzzer-Beater in Super Slow Motion

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The Slatest
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March 19 2016 10:56 AM

Watch Northern Iowa's Half-Court Buzzer-Beater in Super Slow Motion

Paul Jesperson
Paul Jesperson of Northern Iowa takes a half-court shot at the buzzer against the Texas Longhorns at the 2016 NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City. It went in!

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

On Friday night in Oklahoma City, Texas’ Isaiah Taylor made a floater in the lane to tie Northern Iowa 72-72 with 2.7 seconds left in regulation. And then Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson caught a long outlet pass, took one dribble toward the middle of the court, and threw up a half-court heave. It went in!

Here’s the view from the crowd:

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Here it is in super slow motion:

Northern Iowa grad Kurt Warner was excited:

And so were Northern Iowa’s radio announcers. “Oh, baby! I love this team!”

Jesperson matched Arkansas’ U.S. Reed for the longest buzzer-beater in NCAA Tournament history. In 1981, Reed made a half-court shot to give the Razorbacks a win over Louisville. Arkansas was down by 1 at the time, so give Reed bonus points for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. (Note that NBC almost missed the shot, but studio host Bryant Gumbel threw to Marv Albert just in time.)

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In the cold light of day, Jesperson’s shot may not be the best moment in Northern Iowa’s tournament history. In 2010, the No. 9 seed Panthers beat tournament favorite Kansas thanks in large part to Ali Farokhmanesh’s ill-advised but awesome three-pointer. Farokhmanesh!

Finally, let’s take a moment to lament that Gordon Hayward’s shot didn’t bounce in off the backboard, and did not lead Butler to a miraculous win in the 2010 title game against Duke.

That would’ve been very cool.

For more buzzer-beater goodness and sadness, read Alan Siegel’s interviews with players who made and missed NCAA Tournament buzzer-beaters.