OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� Tyler Tanner was inches away from immortality.
After Nebraska’s Braden Frager with 2.2 seconds left to give the Cornhuskers a two-point lead over Vanderbilt in a second-round NCAA Tournament thriller on Saturday night, Tanner had no choice but to chuck one toward the basket.
was on target. The ball crashed off the center of the backboard and dropped halfway below the rim 鈥� and then, somehow, it rattled out, and Nebraska escaped with
鈥淢y heart sank as that ball went in the hoop and went out,鈥� Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg said. 鈥淚 think it took me a half a second to register it didn鈥檛 go in, and then I just screamed in elation. I thought it was in.鈥�
Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort summed it up: 鈥淚 just about died.鈥�
Instead, Nebraska advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.
Tanner, a 6-foot sophomore, scored 27 points in front of a hostile crowd of scarlet-and-cream-clad Nebraska supporters who made the roughly 6 1/2-hour drive from Lincoln.
And for a split second, he thought he would send them home in stunned silence.
鈥淚t hurts pretty bad being that close, especially (in a) hard-fought game,鈥� he said.
Tanner made 9 of 21 field goals and had four steals and four assists.
鈥淭hat last shot, man, it just took my breath away,鈥� Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. 鈥淭hat kid is an unbelievable player. When that thing was up in the air, I was, like, 鈥極h, man, that鈥檚 going in.鈥� Then hit every part of the rim. Thankfully bounced out, and we鈥檙e looking forward to next week.鈥�
All because of a ball that went part of the way, but somehow not all the way, through the hoop.
鈥淭he hardest thing when you鈥檙e in a tournament like this is there鈥檚 a side of it with hurt and dejection, and you put everything into it,鈥� Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. 鈥淲e were a play away, an inch away, from being in the Sweet 16.鈥�
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