NCAA Basketball Review

Minnesota enters Big Ten semis virtue of Hoffarber’s buzzer beating shot

March 17th, 2008 Posted in basketball, ncaa basketball

Blake Hoffarber scored the winning shot right at the sound of the buzzer to help his team Minnesota to enter into the semi finals of the Big Ten NCAA tournament by upsetting the No. 22 Indiana 59-58 in a close quarter final match. The night that was filled with turns, twists, lead chances and last second shots was a thrilling quarter final that upset the applecart of the Indiana team. Travis Busch of the Minnesota team heaved a huge 75 foot pass to Hoffarber in the dying seconds of the game and Hofarber caught the pass, made a quick spin move and shot a perfect left handed right into the basket at the stroke of the buzzer to script an incredible victory for Minnesota.

Hoffarber, the three point shooting specialist for Minnesota, later revealed that he was to be just a decoy, but when he saw the ball going through the middle, he made a grab at it and tried to shoot the ball. The pass from Busch was extremely appreciated by the Minnesota coach as he had to find a way to reach Hofarber. D.J. White, the outstanding player for the Indiana tem with 23 points, four blocks and 13 rebounds said that losses like these really hurt a team and will not be the ones that can be easily forgotten.