HOUSTON (AP) – The NCAA Tournament started on March 15 with Florida Gulf Coast handing Fairleigh Dickinson a 96-65 beatdown.
It ended three weeks later with a game that will be talked about for decades – Villanova’s 77-74 victory over North Carolina on Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Exactly 33 years after North Carolina State beat overwhelming favorite Houston on Lorenzo Charles’ dunk at the buzzer, Jenkins came up with his shot for the ages. As many times as we’ve seen North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano run around the court in The Pit in Albuquerque looking for someone to hug, we’ll see the Wildcats rolling on the court, covered in confetti as they celebrated what will go down as the most important 3-pointer since they put the line down on the court.
North Carolina State’s game-winner was a broken play with Dereck Whittenburg taking a 35-foot shot that missed everything and Charles was there for the rebound dunk. To this day, Whittenburg swears it was a pass and not an airball but that doesn’t matter, the Wolfpack won the game.
Villanova’s was a set play called in the Wildcats’ final timeout of the season.