University of Chicago loses on ridiculous last-second shot

The University of Chicago is a world-renowned school, but their basketball program doesn’t normally get a whole lot of attention. Sunday they turned some heads, but not for the right reason.

Up by three points with 2.7 seconds left in the game against the University of Rochester, it seemed the Maroons would get the win. Mack Montague was at the line shooting a free throw for Rochester and would intentionally try to miss in order to give his team a last second shot if they could get the rebound.

That’s a strategy that almost never works. While it’s the right thing to do, a lot of things have to go right for a team to pull it off.

Then, things got weird.

[iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ko0XET1g7ds” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>]

It’s tough to even be critical of UofC for their defense. They didn’t really do anything wrong outside of failing to put a body on the free throw shooter.

For Chicago, it’s a missed opportunity. Instead of moving into a three-way tie with Rochester for second place in the University Athletic Association, they fall three games back of first place. It can’t be easy walking off the court listening to tens of fans screaming in excitement.

H/T Deadspin