North Carolina’s Luke Maye sends Tar Heels to the Final Four with a buzzer beater

With his team desperately trying to respond to the Kentucky Wildcats’ late-game surge, an unlikely hero emerged for the Tar Heels. Luke Maye established his presence in Carolina’s win over Butler with his first career double-double. He’d do himself one better in the Elite Eight matchup.

With 7.2 seconds left in the game with the score tied after a Kentucky three-pointer, Theo Pinson found Maye just inside the three-point line. Maye tossed up a floater that found nothing but net to give the Tar Heels a two-point edge with just 0.3 seconds remaining.

For a guy who was originally set to come to Carolina as walk-on, and without any of the fanfare of his teammates, Maye has turned in the two most important games of his career. His 17 points off the bench nearly led the way for UNC, coming in just two behind leading scorer Justin Jackson.

There are a lot of moments known as The Shot in basketball, but this is ours for now. It won’t soon be forgotten. Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke.