Way back in late November, Northwestern was 20.6 seconds away from sealing a massive, potentially season-defining, statement win. The Wildcats were up 66-65 on the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the final of the Legends Classic in Brooklyn and inbounding the ball from under their own basket with two timeouts still in their back pocket. All the Wildcats had to do was successfully get the ball in play, hit their free throws and the whole college basketball world would be on notice that this could potentially be “The Year”.
Senior Nathan Taphorn, who had played a huge part in staking his team to their late lead with four second-half threes, was tasked with executing the inbounds pass.