Bryant University freshman guard Ikenna Ndugba may want to take the opportunity to brush up on some math courses after his colossal screw-up on Monday night.
With less than 15 seconds left in Bryant's game against Brown, Ndugba's teammate Nisre Zouzoua made a three-pointer to give his team a 90-89 lead. That lead was extremely short-lived, though, as Brown's Tavon Blackmon dribbled down the court and converted a layup, which subsequently allowed Brown to retake the lead 91-90. And that's where Ndugba comes in.
Instead of trying to make his way down the court for a buzzer beater after receiving an inbounds pass following Blackmon's layup, Ndugba dribbled the remaining four seconds that were left on the clock out—apparently undeterred by the fact nobody was trying to foul him—before tossing the ball up towards the rafters in celebration and attempting to high-five a teammate. It seems he didn't realize that his team was down a point and not up a point. But his teammate quickly realized his mistake and shut down Ndugba's high-five attempt, at which point the freshman took a look at the scoreboard and saw the score. Brown's players then ran on to the court to celebrate their win because they're Ivy Leaguers and therefore know that 91 is a greater number than 90.
You have to feel for Ndugba here. The loss probably won't make much of an impact on Bryant's season. They're now 2-5 and won't be in the mix for an NCAA Tournament berth in March, regardless of the outcome of this particular game. But still, this is not the kind of thing you want to end up on ESPN and all over the internet for. Fortunately, Ndugba has almost four years left to make everyone forget about his boneheaded play, but it's definitely going to take some time before he gets over this.
