The North Texas men’s basketball team lost to Oregon State in just about the most painful way imaginable Wednesday night in a moment that conjured reminders of one of the most iconic blunders in college hoops history.
After the Beavers tied the score with two free throws with under four seconds to go, Mean Green guard Je’Shawn Stevenson raced the ball up the court. But instead of driving toward the rim, Stevenson stopped just past midcourt and signaled for a timeout. The only problem? North Texas was out of timeouts, meaning the Mean Green were assessed a technical foul in the same fashion that Chris Webber infamously was in the 1993 NCAA championship game.
Oregon State’s Josiah Lake calmly stepped to the line and made both free throws, delighting the shocked Beavers crowd. North Texas did get the ball back, but guard Will McClendon’s desperation heave at the buzzer wasn’t close and the Beavers could celebrate.
Head coach Daniyal Robinson said he takes “full responsibility” for the gaffe in his postgame radio interview, per the Denton Record-Chronicle. He said the coaching staff mentioned not having a timeout in the huddle but should have communicated it better.
“The action that we ran to get the ball across halfcourt, we normally call a timeout,” Robinson said. “It was muscle memory.”
The disastrous sequence was a fitting end to an absolute collapse by the Mean Green in the closing minutes of the game. North Texas had a 97.1% win probability with under three minutes to go in the game but saw it all unravel in the final 108 seconds. First, leading by seven, North Texas turned over an inbounds pass that turned into a three-point play for Oregon State. Then, after North Texas missed three point-blank shots at the rim, Oregon State quickly responded with a bucket to cut the deficit to two. North Texas survived a turnover on the ensuing possession after Oregon State’s Dez White misfired on a jumper to tie, but then failed on two separate occasions to put the game away, missing the front end of one-and-one free throws twice in the final 20 seconds before the Beavers made those tying free throws.
The result continues a chaotic start to the season for the Mean Green, who were also in the thick of a wild finish Sunday against Loyola-Chicago. North Texas got the better of that one though, with center Dylan Arnett making an off-balance jumper from the foul line (after appearing to travel) as time expired to sink the Ramblers.
The college hoops season may only be 10 days old, but we may not see a finish quite like Wednesday’s all year.