Mississippi State stands up to Connecticut in epic upset
DALLAS -- The strangest thing was that you couldn't hear the final buzzer. Only the roar.
You can always hear the final buzzer when Connecticut plays. It echoes through stands long since emptied on the road or mixes languidly with the sounds of a satisfied crowd at home.
It was only a rumor this night, its presence assumed because of precedent.
You couldn't hear it after Mississippi State guard Morgan William's shot arced through the air and dropped through the net with no time remaining in overtime. Not after No. 2 seed Mississippi State beat No. 1 seed Connecticut 66-64 to reach the first national championship game in program history. Not after the Bulldogs ended Connecticut's NCAA-record winning streak at 111 games and its run of consecutive national titles at four.
Mississippi State had a chance to end the streak a year ago, to cut it short before the celebrations and commemorations that defined this season. To halt history in its tracks.
The Bulldogs lost by 60 points. In the Sweet 16. They epitomized a sport without balance.
They found those 60 points somewhere in the intervening year. Well, 12 months and five days. For most of that time the number "60" hung in the team's weight room as a reminder. They made up all 60 points in 40 minutes of regulation in the American Airlines Center.
Then they played five more minutes to find the final two points needed to complete one of the most remarkable year-to-year reversals -- and one of the greatest games -- in tournament history.
William's shot silenced Connecticut. And brought the rest of women's basketball to its feet.
"I feel like we earned respect tonight," said William, whose 13 points this night will be as famous as her 41 in the regional final against Baylor. "You know, people didn't believe in us. But it didn't faze us. We just had to go out there and play. I feel like it showed we're better than what everybody thinks."
The sound that instead rolled through the arena Friday night was one of adrenaline and amazement. It was the product of more than 20,000 people watching a team stand up to Connecticut. Of seeing a team that could so easily have been a valiant loser refuse that, too.
This wasn't a well-placed stone from a slingshot felling a giant. Mississippi State had to take down this Goliath by hand. The hard way.
