No. 4 Kansas Upset by Unranked Dayton on Mustapha Amzil Buzzer-Beater
Nov 26, 2021
Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji defends as Dayton forward Toumani Camara, right, drives during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 26, 2021, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/Jacob M. Langston)
One of the biggest upsets of the still-young 2021-22 college basketball season came on Friday, with the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks falling to Dayton 74-73 in a thriller decided at the buzzer.
Trailing by one point with the clock ticking down, Mustapha Amzil's jumper bounced off the rim and backboard before falling through the net after time expired to give the Flyers a stunning victory over the previously undefeated Jayhawks.
Amzil only finished with four points, and the final shot was his lone field-goal attempt of the game. Four of Dayton's five starters reached double figures in scoring, and the team shot 51.8 percent from the field.
Kansas left a lot of points on the board at the free-throw line. Head coach Bill Self's team only made nine of 20 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Flyers entered this matchup with a 2-3 record. Each of their three losses came in consecutive games, to UMass Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay.
Kansas had won each of its first four games by an average of 20 points. It looked to be on track for another big win early on Friday. The Jayhawks jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the first four minutes and led by as many as 15 points in the first half.
Dayton is the 2nd team over the last 10 seasons to come from 15 points down and beat an AP Top-5 team on a buzzer-beater, joining Stephen F. Austin at (1) Duke in 2019.
Dayton upsets Kansas and snaps the Jayhawk's 35-game winning streak vs unranked non-conference opponents, which was the longest active streak in Division I.
It is Kansas' 1st loss as an AP top-5 team to an unranked opponent since Jan. 5, 2019 vs Iowa State. pic.twitter.com/uZ7tZvyGew
After a Remy Martin layup put Kansas up 49-37 with 18:13 remaining, Dayton scored 12 straight points to tie the game. The Flyers took their first lead at 51-50 on a Daron Holmes II dunk.
Dayton did get its lead up to seven points with 7:23 left to play. Kansas stormed back by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to take a 73-70 advantage in the final minute.
Malachi Smith cut that deficit to 73-72 on a layup with 45 seconds left. David McCormack was called for an offensive foul on the Jayhawks' ensuing possession, giving Dayton the ball back with 15 seconds remaining.
McCormack looked like he was going to play the role of hero on defense when he blocked Smith's layup attempt. Amzil was able to corral the ball and put up a shot as time expired.
The win gave Dayton its first victory over a team ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll since a 72-71 win over No. 3 DePaul on Feb. 18, 1984.
Dayton's Obi Toppin Named 2020 AP Men's CBB Player of Year, More
Mar 24, 2020
Dayton forward Obi Toppin (1) dunks against Davidson during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton won 82-67. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)
Dayton Flyers sophomore forward Obi Toppin was named the Associated Press' men's college basketball Player of the Year on Tuesday.
OBI. TOPPIN. The BEST player in College Basketball‼️
Dayton head coach Anthony Grant earned AP Coach of the Year honors.
The AP's Aaron Beard noted Grant and Toppin are the first Flyers to win each award, and they join former St. Joseph's Hawks head coach Phil Martelli and guard Jameer Nelson (2004) as the only duo from the same school to pull off the feat in the last 40 years.
Toppin led the No. 3 Flyers with 20.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
The 2019-20 campaign was Grant's third as head coach at Dayton, where he played from 1983 to 1987. The Flyers steadily improved under him, going 14-17, 21-12 and a program best 29-2 this season.
Toppin led Dayton's high-flying attack. According to FiveThirtyEight'sJosh Planoson Feb. 25, the Flyers' 15.1 percent dunk share ranked second among mid-majors since 2010 behind only Wyoming's 17.1 percent in 2015.
Dayton was riding a 20-game winning streak when the NCAA cancelled its men's and women's tournaments because of the coronavirus pandemic, ending the season.
"Honestly, if you had asked me, I swear we could've won a national championship and our team was so ready to play in the tournament," Toppin told the AP. "We were so locked in. But because of this virus, things happened. It's just going to be a what-if for the rest of our lives, but it's something we're going to have to live with."
Bleacher Report'sJonathan Wassermanprojected Toppin as the No. 4 pick to the Atlanta Hawks in his latest mock draft released last week, though Toppin has yet to officially declare for the 2020 NBA draft.
Iowa junior center Luka Garza finished second to Toppin in the AP Player of the Year voting. Marquette senior guard Markus Howard, Kansas senior center Udoka Azubuike and Oregon senior guard Payton Pritchard finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Grant edged Baylor's Scott Drew and San Diego State's Brian Dutcher for Coach of the Year.
