South Carolina Upstate hit a (nearly) buzzer-beating 3-pointer to stay alive in Big South tournament

South Carolina State’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament as an automatic qualifier remain alive.

The four-seeded Spartans advanced to the semifinal in the Big South men’s basketball tournament in dramatic fashion on Friday, taking down five-seeded Gardner-Webb on a go-ahead three-point shot with just 0.1 seconds to play.

USC Upstate survived despite trailing by five points with just 10 seconds to play in one of our first tastes of March Madness in 2023. To make matters worse for anyone who potentially bet on the Bulldogs, they were a four-point favorite in this one.

To go from winning and covering to losing outright in the final 10 seconds? Brutal.

This is the stuff that makes you want to stop betting college basketball

Gardner-Webb was up FIVE with 10 seconds left

(via @BigSouthSports) pic.twitter.com/9bLsYeHJR6

— br_betting (@br_betting) March 3, 2023

It’s hard to sum that up any better than Upstate coach Dave Dickerson did after the game.

Dave Dickerson: “What just happened?” pic.twitter.com/kW4kBk5AON

— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) March 3, 2023

We’re all wondering the same thing.

To keep their postseason hopes alive, the Spartans will have to knock off top-seeded UNC Asheville, which sits at 25-7 on the season, in Saturday’s semifinal round.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN