The San Antonio Alamodome rocked with Jayhawk fans as the Memphis Tigers went cold in the last minutes of overtime play, missing several key free throws and losing the NCAA championship to the Kansas Jayhawks.
Memphis all but had the game wrapped up with two minutes to go in regulation with a 60-51 lead. But the Jayhawks rallied back and tied the game with 2.1 seconds left after a miracle play by Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers. With a few seconds to go, a falling Collins got the ball to Chalmers at the top of key who hit nothing but net and tied the game at 63.

The Jayhawks’ strategy in overtime was to foul the nation’s worst free throw-shooting team and crank out three-point shots.

Memphis was absolutely exhausted in the final minutes of the game. They could either cover under the net, or challenge the shooter beyond the three-point line. They chose the former, and the unchallenged three-point shots did them in.

Memphis already ran many of their opponents into the ground when they came into this final game with a 38-1 record.

Kansas became the Big 12’s first men’s basketball national champion in the conference’s 12-year history.