Juwan Morgan, Indiana storm back in final minutes to upset No. 18 Notre Dame
No. 18 Notre Dame lost to Indiana in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday.
The Irish blew an eight-point lead in the last two minutes, all at the hands of IU’s Juwan Morgan, but still had a chance to win the game in the final second of regulation.
With the game tied at 65, Notre Dame’s Matt Farrell found fellow senior Austin Torres down low with the clock ticking toward zero. Torres quickly got a shot off but was fouled with just 0.8 seconds remaining.
Torres, a reserve who averages just over six minutes per game, could win the game by hitting one of his two free throws. Torres was just 0-of-2 from the line on the season and just 17-of-40 (42.5 percent) for his career, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when he bricked both to force overtime.
From there, Notre Dame held a lead for much of overtime, but Morgan would not let his team lose.
First, with the Hoosiers trailing 77-74 with under 15 seconds to go, Morgan drove into the lane and hit a tough runner, absorbing contact for an and-one. But when Morgan, who scored a career-high 34 points, missed the game-tying free throw, Zach McRoberts was there to pick him up. McRoberts corralled the miss, gathered himself and, as he fell to the floor, found Morgan cutting to the basket for what was ultimately the game-winning dunk.
Archie Madness!
Juwan Morgan brought buckets to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, converting on several crucial late chances to give @IndianaMBB the comeback victory over Notre Dame: pic.twitter.com/cBMeCfgoOI
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 16, 2017
But the madness didn’t end with Morgan’s dunk. As you can see in the clip above, IU added two Devonte Green free throws after a Farrell missed 3-pointer to increase its lead to 80-77.
Down three, Notre Dame inbounded from under its own basket with 2.3 seconds to go and Bonzie Colson launched a prayer from beyond half court.
It was this close to going in and forcing double-overtime:
Instead, Colson’s miss gives Indiana its first win over a ranked opponent under first-year head coach Archie Miller. With the win, the Hoosiers improved to 6-5 on the year. Notre Dame dropped to 8-3.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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