‘I Just About Died,’ Nebraska Star Pryce Sandfort Says About Vandy’s Half-Court Shot

The ball left the talented hand of Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner in a true, beautiful arc. Tanner’s two-handed push shot was launched on the other side of half-court. In that fateful journey travelled the unprecedented hopes and aspirations of Nebraska’s basketball team.

The Huskers were helpless. All they could do was watch. Living their best season and their best lives weren’t enough for Nebraska in that moment.

Their fate was in someone else’s hands and it was the guy who had already scored a game-high 27 points. Nebraska was ahead by two points and a game-winning, three-point shot was in the air, apparently laser-locked on the basket.

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Tanner’s buzzer-beating shot looked right on target. The closer the ball got to the basket, the better it looked. Tanner’s shot first hit the backboard, then the front rim, then the back rim, then it spilled out.

The shot just as easily could have gone in the basket. It did not. There is no explanation why. Now, it's on to the Sweet 16.

Nebraska 74, Vanderbilt 72.

“When that thing was up in the air I was like, ‘Oh man that’s going in’ and then hit every part of the rim,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference. “Thankfully bounced out and you know we’re looking forward to next week getting the opportunity to continue to compete.”

College basketball can be a cruel life. Had Tanner’s shot gone in, the Huskers’ season would have ended in that split second. Poof, just like that a historic Nebraska season would have disintegrated, and so would have Husker hearts.

What the Husker players saw

Senior guard Sam Hoiberg and his twin brother Charlie, a Husker graduate manager for the basketball team, received the best birthday gift of all time when Tanner’s shot missed — barely. Happy 23rd birthday, right?

“My heart sank as that ball went in the hoop and then it went out and I think it took me half-a-second to register that it didn’t go in and then I just screamed. Inhilation. But yeah, I thought it was in,” said Sam Hoiberg, who scored eight points, had six assists, four rebounds and one steal.

Huskers forward Braden Frager, who screamed at Pryce Sandfort for the ball on what turned out to be the Huskers’ winning basket, a slashing drive down the middle for a layup, couldn’t believe what he was seeing as Tanner’s shot was in the air.

“I had a perfect shot on it from the bench and I was like, I just froze for two seconds,” said Frager, who scored 15 points. “I thought it went in. I didn’t know how to react. I was just — everybody started celebrating.

“I was like, he actually missed it.”

Sandfort, Nebraska’s leading scorer, had 15 points, five rebounds and two assists, and the key pass to Frager for the game winner.

“So yeah, I just about died,” Sandfort said. “I was on the side so I didn’t know that the angle it was on. But man, I just want to thank the good Lord Jesus Christ for that one.”

Rienk Mast scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 3-of-6 shooting from distance. Mast, who had five rebounds and four assists, helped the Huskers jump out to an early lead.

“Yeah. I just like just went completely blank like like Braden said just on the bench, we had a perfect view,” Mast said. “It was right on line and it just luckily rolled out.”

Nebraska's Rienk Mast (left) and Braden Frager celebrate following the Huskers' win over Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

March marches on for Huskers

Nebraska now is 28-6, the most wins in its history. The Huskers will play the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 1 seed and defending national champions Florida, and old friend Iowa, the ninth seed. Nebraska’s next game will be Thursday in Houston.

And for Tanner, the pain of the defeat isn’t going anywhere soon.

“That one, it’s probably going to haunt me forever,” Tanner told Sports Illustrated in a postgame interview. “I want to just focus on being grateful for how good of a year it was for this team.

“We made history in a lot of ways. But, I’m definitely gonna end up thinking about this a good amount, just because that was the last play of this season.”

Fred Hoiberg appreciated the huge Husker crowd in Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center this weekend.

“So for us to come out of here with the win is huge,” Fred Hoiberg said. “A crowd once again was an unbelievable factor. I think they're all driving down to Houston in the morning and we expect another big turnout again next weekend.”

And one game after ending Nebraska's 0-8 streak in NCAA Tournament games, these Huskers did something to top that. If the players thought the win over Troy was joyous, they hadn't seen anything yet.

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