Colorado's KJ Simpson says defender slipped on shot to win NCAA tournament game - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — What happened in the final seconds of Friday's NCAA men's tournament game between Colorado and Florida depends on the perspective.

On one end of the court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, it looked like a shove. On the other, the defender fell.

What isn't up for debate is how the game ended. With Florida guard Zyon Pullin defending him, Colorado's KJ Simpson rattled in a baseline jumper to give the Buffaloes a 102-100 win over 7-seed Florida.

The shot came with just over a second left. The Buffaloes survived a desperation heave from Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., who hit almost everything else in the closing minutes during the Gators' furious rally.

The way Simpson saw it, the space created for the final shot came with a bit of luck.

«I noticed the defender slipped a little bit,» said Simpson, who scored a team-high 23 points for the 10th-seeded Buffaloes. «I don't think I did any off-arm or nothing. Once I saw it open up, that's just a wide-open shot for me.»

Florida coach Todd Golden, however, appeared to indicate that Simpson might have played a hand — or a forearm — in creating the space for his game winner.

«I thought ZP did his job,» Golden said of Pullin. «Stayed in legal guarding position, stayed between the ball and the basket. And again, somehow Simpson just created about 7 feet of separation to get that shot off.»

Both teams had a prolific scoring night. It was the first men's tournament game since 2005 in which both teams scored 100 or more points. It was the second time in tournament history that such a game included a game winner in the final 10 seconds, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The other came in 1992, when Duke and Christian Laettner beat Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

Florida (24-12)