MARCH MADNESS – After Ali Farokhmanesh nailed the 3-point shot that was heard around the world with 35 seconds
left in regulation to seal a victory over the No. 1 overall seed, Kansas Jayhawks, the Northern Iowa Panthers are officially on the map and heading to the Sweet 16 round for the first time in the school’s history.
The Jayhawks entered March Madness as a heavy favorite to win the tournament but that is why the tourney’s last name is “Madness.”
“We never doubted we could play with them at all,” said Panthers’ Adam Koch. The team backed up that comment and came out with a vengeance, leading the favored Jayhawks a majority of the first half.
This 69-67 game creates a lot of what-ifs for the Jayhawks and their fans, like any other two-point game in NCAA ball would, but this one is going to hurt for quite some time. The Jayhawks (33-3) had a hard time finding the net from outside the arch shooting a dismal 6-of23 from long range.
Farokhmanesh finished with a team-high 16 points while center Jordan Eglseder scored 14 and Jake Koch added 10 of the bench for the Panthers. Marcus Morris led the Jayhawks with 16 while Cole Aldrich scored 13 and had 10 boards.
“Obviously, everybody is disappointed on our team,” Aldrich said. “To work so hard and to go through so much adversity … it’s disappointing that we couldn’t have let Sherron go out in a better way.”
As the 9th seed in their bracket, Northern Iowa (30-4) was the first team to defeat a No. 1 seed in the second round since UAB and Alabama won against heavily-favored teams Kentucky and Stanford in 2004.
Note: Here is a free website where you can watch all the NCAA March Madness games live for free on your computer.
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