It took only two hours or so of first round action on Friday to remind us of why we missed the NCAA Tournament so much last year.
Virginia Tech looked like their championship hopes had all but ended when they were trailing 64-61 with 11 seconds remaining against Florida. Nahiem Alleyne missed a three-pointer and Florida’s Anthony Duruji grabbed the defensive rebound. Duruji was fouled with 7 seconds left, and all he had to do was hit one free throw to ice the game.
Unfortunately for the Gators, he missed both. That gave Virginia Tech one last chance to tie the game, and Alleyne came through the second time. The sophomore buried a three-pointer to force overtime.
VIRGINIA TECH TIES IT WITH 1.4 SECONDS TO GO!!!!
This is March. pic.twitter.com/vj1XmdsbdF
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 19, 2021
Florida almost certainly felt they had the game in hand when Alleyne missed the first three-pointer, but March had other plans.
The Gators ended up winning 75-70 in overtime. They came from 10 down in regulation and managed to survive the OT scare, which speaks to their resilience.
