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No. 5 Vanderbilt was a mere inch away from maybe the most historic shot in program history until the ball did everything but drop.
Tyler Tanner’s beyond-half-court heave to send the Commodores to the Sweet 16 went in-and-out to give No. 4 Nebraska a 74-72 win and advance to the Sweet 16.
Nebraska entered the half with a 39-32 lead and led by as many as 10 at one point, but Vanderbilt rallied back to lead by five with 5:34 to go.
The Cornhuskers then answered back with a 6-0 run to retake the lead, but Vanderbilt led 72-70 with less than a minute to go after a Tanner layup, which gave him 27 points on the night.
Those, however, were Tanner’s and Vanderbilt’s final points of the game. Rienk Mast tied the game with a putback with 37 seconds left, and Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing missed a shot to take a late lead.
Nebraska then ran down the court, and Pryce Sandfort found Braden Frager, who made a contested layup to take the lead with 2.2 seconds left.
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Vanderbilt called a timeout, and the inbound went to the red-hot Tanner, who clearly had the groove of his shot. He pulled up from half-court, but the shot was a striking image of Gordon Hayward’s from the 2010 national title game against Duke – off the backboard, then the rim, then out.
Quite literally everybody, even the heavy-Nebraska crowd in Oklahoma City, was in disbelief, but the party was on for the red after shock and relief quickly turned into celebration.
It’s Nebraska’s first time ever making the Sweet 16 after eight prior appearances without getting there. In fact, this year is the first time they even won a game in the tournament.
Four Cornhuskers finished in double-digits, with Sandfort and Frager each putting up 15. Nebraska will face the winner of No. 1 Florida and No. 9 Iowa.
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