Northern Iowa, a decade after unfathomable collapse, returns to March Madness
The Athletic has stay protection of the 2026 Men’s March Madness first round.
SAN DIEGO — Three years had handed because the worst collapse in NCAA Tournament historical past, and Paul Jesperson, enjoying abroad, alone and bored, determined he was prepared to watch a clip that he’d lengthy prevented.
The recreation was over. Northern Iowa was up by 12 with lower than 40 seconds to play. This second-round NCAA Tournament recreation had been determined — the groups simply wanted to see zeroes on the clock to make it official.
What occurred subsequent is what Jesperson watched. The most traumatic defeat, maybe on this sport’s historical past. Turnover, turnover, turnover, turnovers. Three layups, a dunk, an and-one and a clutch 3-pointer.
Somehow, Northern Iowa would go on to lose, watching a 69-57 lead evaporate in a 92-88 double-OT loss.
Only two days earlier than, Jesperson grew to become an NCAA Tournament legend by sinking a half-court buzzer beater to stun Texas. It’s a financial institution shot that is replayed in each March Madness montage. Forty-eight hours later, he’d suffered a defeat extra stinging than the enjoyment accompanying any victory.
So, he sat there and watched the replay. Then he closed his pc, and he has by no means seen it since.
“It was tough to rewatch,” Jesperson advised TheAthletic on Thursday, acknowledging the apparent. “I’m not gonna lie.”
On Friday, Northern Iowa will play within the NCAA Tournament for the primary time since that recreation. Its matchup towards St. John’s comes on the tenth anniversary of that fateful loss, one which’s nonetheless the newest March reminiscence for a program that had as soon as turn into accustomed to late-season success.
Jesperson, now a head coach for the G League’s Valley Suns, has an off-day on Friday in San Diego, along with his group enjoying Thursday-Saturday back-to-back towards the Clippers’ affiliate simply a few miles from his alma mater’s recreation. He hopes to be in attendance.
“It was a difficult time. It still is,” Jesperson mentioned. “It’s not haunting me or anything at this point. At the moment, it was tough. The weeks and months after it were tough. But now that I’m on this side of it… I have an appreciation for it.”
Jesperson mentioned he is by no means mentioned the fateful recreation with any participant he is coached on the NBA, G League or collegiate stage. But the loss that ended his storied collegiate profession nonetheless very a lot informs how he coaches and the way he views late-game conditions.
The Panthers are nonetheless led by head coach Ben Jacobson, now in his twentieth 12 months in Cedar Falls. In the primary decade, his program danced 4 instances and gained 4 NCAA Tournament video games, almost extraordinary for a Missouri Valley program.
“It took a good two, three years for me,” Jacobson mentioned on Thursday, when requested to replicate on that loss. “Just rolling through it in my mind. Because as coaches and as leaders, I think we feel such a strong responsibility to make sure our players are in the best possible position to be successful.
“It took me a while to figure out, man, what in the world could you have done differently.”
On the TruTV broadcast that night, as the clock ticked under 40 seconds, play-by-play voice Carter Blackburn was lauding Northern Iowa, contextualizing the win and the Panthers’ path to the Sweet 16 as an 11 seed.
“That lull halfway through the season, safe to say that’s over,” Blackburn boasted of UNI. “This will be 14 (wins) out of 15 (games).”
And could you blame him? Even after two turnovers, the latter committed by Jesperson, the lead was still six with 22 seconds to play, and it was Northern Iowa’s ball. Even in that scenario, the odds of a loss were under a percentage point.
But the turnovers continued, the Aggies made everything, and Murphy’s Law of everything going wrong played out in the most tangible and grueling of ways.
Fast forward to today, and Northern Iowa’s game against St. John’s has no current connection to what happened 10 years ago. The players in this game were children for that one. It’s a different season, story and collegiate basketball backdrop. But for everyone who lived that loss, watched it and was pained by it, there’s a chance to symbolically move on.
Jesperson, however, doesn’t see it as a chance to flush the memory or exorcise the demons. Those will always be there.
It’s just that, now, he’s learned to live with what happened.
“It’s not something I shy away from, or turn the conversation short when someone starts,” Jesperson said. “It’s a part of it, proper? It’s a part of sports activities.”
