The March Madness drama has already begun.
Old Dominion, which finished in last place in the Sun Belt and was the No. 14 seed in the conference tournament, thought it had stunned No. 11 Texas State Tuesday night with a buzzer-beater.
The ESPN+ broadcast was convinced there were several seconds remaining.
But the clock on the broadcast turned out to be way off, and with the announcers calling the game remotely and not in Pensacola, Fla., there was confusion before the referees waived off the buzzer-beater, pushing the game into overtime.
Texas State went on to win 92-83, ending Old Dominion’s season and advancing to the second round for a matchup with No. 6 Southern Miss on Thursday.
When Old Dominion’s Chaunce Jenkins launched a shot from beyond the half-court line and the score tied 74-74, the ESPN+ broadcast showed there were about five seconds left.
Immediately it seemed there was a mistake because the horn from the arena went off, and the red lights around the backboard were lit up.
“There will be time put on the clock,” one of the broadcasters said.
Awful Announcing confirmed that the broadcast team of Matt Stewart and Nate Ross were calling the game remotely.
Even if the clock on the broadcast had been correct, it wouldn’t have been immediately clear that the shot wasn’t good as Old Dominion celebrated as if it had won.
ODU ran out of steam in overtime as, according to the team website, half the roster was dealing with the flu.
“Six or seven” players were on IVs and getting vitamins.
“Had the game been a half second longer, it would have been a very different result,” interim head coach Kieran Donohue said.
Head coach Jeff Jones had a heart attack in December, and while recovering was informed he needed prostate cancer treatment for the fourth time. He retired last week after 11 seasons with the school.
Mike Jones was hired as the team’s new coach.
