Jason Horowitz calls Michigan State’s thrilling buzzer-beating win

Michigan State defeated Maryland on Wednesday, courtesy of a crosscourt buzzer-beater from Tre Holloman. The call from announcers Jason Horowitz and Robbie Hummel certainly captured the excitement of the moment.

With the game tied at 55, the Terrapins appeared to have the final shot in regulation. But Ja’Kobi Gillespie fired his go-ahead three-point attempt with more than four seconds remaining on the clock. The shot was off target and Jaxon Kohler grabbed the rebound for the Spartans. He quickly passed the ball off to Holloman, who took one dribble up the court before firing a buzzer-beater from well short of midcourt.

“Holloman looks the clock, halfcourt for the win,” Horowitz said.

The shot then dropped, prompting Horowitz and Hummell to scream “OOOOOOHHH,” in unison.

“Oh, my goodness,” Horowitz said. “Holloman from halfcourt to win it on the road.”

The camera then showed Michigan State players celebrating along with Maryland’s players and fans, who were naturally far less excited.

After the excitement died down, Spartans coach Tom Izzo was interviewed by Andy Katz.

“That was a lucky shot,” Izzo conceded. “But nobody can say we didn’t deserve to win this game. I mean, we made some bad mistakes. Give them credit. We threw the ball away a little bit and everything. But we deserved to win this game. To come into this place. I’m so proud of my guys. Tre made the big turnover and he made the lucky shot. But we deserved to win. I’m not taking that as a lucky shot.”

When Katz asked Izzo why he thought the Spartans deserved to win, the coach had an easy answer.

“We played our tail off the whole game. Didn’t you watch it? We were up nine. OK, we made some mistakes. But we led the whole game. Our defense was unbelievable. I thought our guys did an incredible job.”