March Madness: 25 greatest buzzer-beaters in NCAA Tournament history

HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 04: Kris Jenkins #2 of the Villanova Wildcats takes a shot over Joel Berry II #2 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the NCAA College Basketball Tournament Championship game at NRG Stadium on April 04, 2016 in Houston, Texas. The Wildcats won 77-74. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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23. Cameron Ridley: No. 7 Texas vs. No. 10 Arizona State – 2014 Round of 64

Another somewhat recent 7-10 seed matchup makes the list, as these first matchups of the tournament always seem to provide the drama we love from March. This time, a Texas team that was looking to make a name for themselves almost lost the game one a terrible last-second shot but turned it around thanks to Cameron Ridley finding a ball sitting on the floor. It was the first full day of the NCAA Tournament, and it got things off to a fast start.

It had been three years since Texas won an NCAA Tournament game. Going two straight years without a postseason win (not even an NIT win) makes the Longhorns fans very desperate. This was huge for them.

This isn’t the most spectacular buzzer-beater, thus why we see it in the 20s here. The Longhorns took a 14-point lead with 12 minutes to go in the game. Then, they immediately gave up 17 of the next 22 points. This was an unspectacular performance by an unspectacular team. The buzzer-beater was just that as well, but this makes it much more fun in the end. If it was a perfect shot, it wouldn’t be Texas basketball.

Instead, it was Cameron Ridley desperately grabbing on the floor after a missed shot. He gets the ball from a hoard of Sun Devils and throws it in the net as time expires. Texas didn’t go very far after the game, but they did get this one signature win, which is more than we’ve seen from recent Texas basketball.

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