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March Madness is the most exciting postseason playoff in all of sports. The Big Dance provides incredible viewing pleasure to college basketball fans yearly.
Unexpected upsets and electrifying buzzer beaters have grown synonymous with the NCAA Tournament. With that being said, there have only been five national championship games to ever be decided on a last-second shot across an 85-year history.
Those games represent some of the most iconic moments in sports. Many are replayed time and time again each and every season.
5 March Madness buzzer beaters that won national championships.
There are a few requirements needed to be met in order to make this list. They are as follows:
(1) Each of these shots came on the winning team’s final possession with under five seconds left on the clock. (2) They were also the game’s final basket that put their team ahead for good after being tied or trailing. And (3), they all came in the national championship game resulting in a title win.
Here, we’ll list those game-winners in order from oldest to most recent. Without further ado…
Herb Wilkinson helps Utah beat Dartmouth (1944)
Utah won its first and only NCAA Tournament championship in 1944 over Dartmouth. The Utes did so in dramatic fashion.
Herb Wilkinson’s two-point shot with three seconds left on the clock gave his team a 42-40 victory. It provided a thrilling end to a game that needed overtime to be decided.
Utah trailed in that game 18-17 at the halftime break. They evened the score at 36 with a strong second half. The two sides traded buckets in the extra session leading to a 40-40 tie before Wilkinson’s heroics.
Interestingly enough, the Utes weren’t even supposed to play in the NCAA Tournament. They were picked as a last-minute replacement for an Arkansas team that had two players injured in a car accident.
Utah lost its NIT opener to Kentucky a few days prior. It then went on a March Madness run to capture a national championship.
Vic Rouse lifts Loyola over Cincinnati (1963)
Loyola (IL) beat Cincinnati in 1963 to earn the program its first and only NCAA Tournament championship. It did so on a buzzer-beating tip-in by Vic Rouse.
The Ramblers rolled through Tennessee Tech, Mississippi State, Illinois, and Duke to advance to the final where it would battle the top-ranked Bearcats.
Loyola-Chicago trailed 29-21 at halftime. It forced overtime with a second half scoring explosion. Each side notched four points in the extra period to set the score at 58-58 before Rouse’s putback fell through the basket as time expired.
Rouse had a game-high 12 boards to go along with 15 points. Surprisingly, the Ramblers were outrebounded 45-34 while shooting just 27% from the field (compared to Cincy’s 49%).
They forced 17 turnovers to overcome the shooting woes and emerge victorious.
NC State downs Houston on Lorenzo Charles’ dunk (1983)
Arguably the most recognized play in NCAA Tournament history, Lorenzo Charles’ buzzer-beating dunk to lift North Carolina State over Houston was the third game winner in a championship matchup.
With the score tied at 52 in the final moments, Wolfpack guard Dereck Whittenburg heaved a prayer from inside midcourt after a near-turnover. That shot landed well short of its intended target, and right into the hands of a waiting Charles.
The forward snatched the errant shot and quickly slammed it through the net as time expired. The aftermath showing head coach Jim Valvano running onto the floor is a scene that will forever be linked to March Madness.
NC State’s surprise NCAA Tournament run and upset of the top-ranked Cougars gave the Wolfpack its second national title. It also kept Houston from securing its first ever.
Keith Smart digs Indiana out of a hole vs. Syracuse (1987)
Indiana needed a massive second half effort to overcome a late deficit and force overtime against Syracuse in 1987. Keith Smart provided the Hoosiers fireworks in the final moments.
Trailing by one point on the team’s final possession, Smart lifted up for a long jump shot which swished through the net with four seconds left on the clock.
It was a game the Orange let slip away. Jim Boeheim still believes the better team lost that day.
“We outplayed Indiana,” he said when thinking back to the championship matchup. “We played great. We had an eight-point lead, and we tried a three-point shot on a 3-on-1 fast break with five minutes to go in the game.
“If we’d just gone for the layup, we’re up 10. We miss the three, they get a long rebound, throw it down, and (Steve) Alford makes a three… It was stunning.”
Syracuse also had a chance to put the game on ice with late free throws. It failed to do so. Indiana took advantage with a game-winner.
Kris Jenkins and Villanova sink North Carolina (2016)
The last buzzer beater seen in a college basketball national championship game came in a 2016 matchup between Villanova and North Carolina. The Wildcats ended a UNC comeback attempt thanks to Kris Jenkins’ last-second three.
It was a game of heavy momentum swings. The Tar Heels held a five-point lead at the halftime break. Villanova stormed back to flip the script in the final 20 minutes.
Leading by 10 with less than five minutes left to play, the Wildcats appeared to be in control. North Carolina had other plans.
The Heels used a 17-7 run to tie the game with just 4.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Jenkins then responded with his buzzer-beating dagger.
The three-pointer gave Villanova its second of three national titles. It remains one of college basketball’s most iconic plays.