Chaos ensued Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden for the 31st Jimmy V Classic which included a buzzer beater and a highly-anticipated ranked rematch from March that came down to the wire.
Robert Wright III scored an eruptive buzzard beater to cap off the BYU Cougars 20 point comeback over the Clemson Tigers and Solo Ball with the UConn Huskies held on in their neutral home turf against the defending champion Florida Gators.
Hosted by ESPN, The Jimmy V Classic is a yearly double header played at Madison Square Garden to not only honor legendary college basketball coach Jim Valvano but to raise money for the V-Foundation, a cancer-research charitable organization that was founded by Valvano and ESPN in 1993. Valvano, who coached NC State to the 1983 National title, delivered one of the all-time great speeches at the 1993 ESPY’s, before losing his battle to metastatic adenocarcinoma, or known other as Glandular Cancer two months later. Every year since 1995 (Minus 2020, COVID-19 Pandemic), a double header has been played every year in efforts to raise money for the V Foundation. Since being established, the foundation has raised over $250 million in cancer research.
The first tipoff of the night was Clemson vs No. 10 BYU. Despite being on pace for a low scoring half, the Tigers finally broke free from the close score and constant lead changes on a 21-0 run. Jestin Porter led the charge, scoring three three pointers in the stretch, to add to his 14 points and 4-of-5 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
It was safe to say the Cougars didn’t look like the 10th ranked team in the nation. Scoring 9-of-32 field goals (FG) and 2-of-13 threes (3 PT), they not only struggled to score, but played far from clean basketball as constant fouls let Clemson score 9-of-10 from the free throw line (FT). BYU’s leading scorer AJ Dybansta didn’t have a strong first half, only scoring 2-of-6 FG and 6 points and a plus minus of -17.
The second half was a literal flip flop. The Tigers, who had just taken a 20-plus point lead, became a shell of themselves at the snap of a finger. In the first 10 minutes they only scored four points, making the Cougars’ 20 good enough to get them right back in it. Dybansta had awoken. Despite a sloppy start, the true freshman went on to have the best game of his short college career, scoring 22 second half points in the comeback win.
“This was my first time stepping foot in this garden, I’m from Boston so we have a garden [TD Garden] over there that I’m pretty much used to,” Dybansta said, “This is the Mecca so it was a surreal feeling to play here.”
Continuing the push, BYU took the lead at 3:17 with an alley-oop from Dybansta to Keba Keita. It was their first lead since being up 17-15 with 9:14 left in the first half and Keita’s second of three dunks in a two and a half minute span. Finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, the big man center channeled his inner Shaquille O’Neal, damaging the basket on a dunk minutes earlier, causing a 15-minute delay for it to be fixed.
The Cougars jumped out to a six point lead with about a minute left but the game was far from over. A pair of Clemson threes in between BYU free throws made it 64-62 before a Dillon Hunter lay up was good enough to tie it with five seconds remaining off a missed one and one free throw by Dybansta.
But in the end, the hero of game one was Robert Wright III, who with 1.3 seconds left, found enough space in between two blocking Tigers to throw up a three, making the basket on a swish. Down 22 at one point, the Cougars came all the way back and stole the win at the very end. “I’ve never had a buzzer beater three,” Wright III said. Wright III’s game winner was three of 17 points on the night, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. “In the play AJ wasn’t open he was getting double teamed so I told Mihai [Mihailo Bošković] I’ll be coming back to the ball and he just trusted me and passed it to me and put the shot in the net. It’s a surreal feeling.”
This was a brutal loss for Clemson. Losing a game despite being up 22 points is something that doesn’t leave your mind quickly. I asked Clemson head coach, Brad Brownell, how he will keep his team focused despite losing a game like this early in the season. “Focused isn’t a problem,” Brownell said. “You put yourself in these games to have opportunities for great wins but you also learn a lot right?”
The triumphant ending set the tone for what was to come. The second game of the night featured a heavy-weighted matchup between No. 18 Florida and No. 5 UConn. The 2025 National Champions, who prevented the Huskies from a three peat by knocking them out of last year’s NCAA tournament’s second round, were walking into what can be argued as UConn’s second home arena: Madison Square Garden.
It wasn’t like the game before where one team was practically in control. While UConn was up 39-32 going into half time, it never seemed like the Gators would fall away.
“They’re as good as anybody,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said referring to Florida. “They’re as good as anybody we’ve played or anyone I’ve watched on film”
What kept Florida in it were the constant fouls by the Huskies; Despite shooting 9-of-30 FG and 2-of-8 from three, the Gators were consistent at the free throw line, scoring 12-18. Xaivian Lee was the scoring leader for Florida, scoring 13 points off 3-of-8 FG, and 6-of-7 FT in the first 20 minutes. His 13 first half points were part of 19 in the game for Lee.
It was a different story for UConn shooting wise. As a team, they shot much better than the Gators, scoring 17-of-27 FG and 5-of-10 3P. They were led by Solo Ball, who had 12 first half points on 5-of-9 FG. He ended with a team leading 19 points.
Both teams were neck and neck from the second half all the way to the end. The Huskies’ seven point lead at the start meant nothing, as Florida would quickly make it a one score game only a minute and a half in. They would take their first lead since 7:25 in the first half at 11:49 when a Thomas Haugh three would make it 49-46.
It remained close with only a two score lead at most until a Malachi Smith layup gave the Huskies an eight point lead with four and a half minutes remaining. With time running out, UConn was doing everything they could to sustain a healthy lead with the Gators trying to bang down the door.
Florida would attempt one more push, when a Boogie Fland layup brought them within three with only 13 seconds remaining. The Gators forced a turnover only to have a turnover of their own, setting up Ball for the game sealing free throw to go up by four. The Huskies got their revenge on the team that knocked them out in last year’s tournament and it’s their fourth win against ranked teams this season.
“That’s like the moments you play for, the moments you come to UConn for,” Senior Forward Alex Karaban said. “To play in a game where it’s the last three national champions going at it in the worlds most famous arena and to have that special moment was awesome.” Playing 39 minutes, Karaban had 13 points in the victory.
This isn’t the start Florida wanted. After winning it all last season, their hike back to the top is only going to get harder as a 5-4 start isn’t ideal. “I’m a pretty positive guy,” head coach Todd Golden said. Despite the slow start, the reigning championship head coach isn’t worried. “We’re close man. We’re right there and I think if we can get 5 percent better here over the next couple weeks we’re gonna do pretty good in SEC play.”
