Barry Goheen Saves Vandy! Vanderbilt/Pittsburgh 1988 NCAA Midwest Regional 2nd Round

NCAA Midwest Regional 2nd Round - Lincoln, NE - 3/20/88 - The Vanderbilt/Pittsburgh matchup in the 2nd Round of the 1988 Midwest Regional of the NCAA tournament was billed as a battle of All Americans: Will Perdue for Vanderbilt & Charles Smith for Pittsburgh, but in the end it was Vanderbilt guard Barry Goheen who made the difference. With Vanderbilt trailing by 4 points with 12 seconds left, Goheen hit a big 3 pointer to cut the lead to one, and then after two Pittsburgh free throws, hit a buzzer-beating 3 pointer with two defenders on him to put the game into overtime. Vanderbilt would go on to win 80-74.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Vanderbilt
• basketball
• NCAA
• Tournament
• Barry
• Goheen
• Will
• Perdue

[NashCub1]

Barry Goheen...perhaps one of the greatest clutch players, ever.

[raiders1967]

If I was a Pitt fan, I would definitely feel that way. Howwever, as a Vanderbilt fan who attended the game, Barry Goheen's game-tying three-pointer was probably the best moment in Vanderbilt basketball I have witnessed.

[kfodom]

One of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history!  Why it is not re-aired every spring on ESPN Classic is, frankly, beyond me.

[kfodom]

Vandy's next game-a 77-64 loss to eventual national champion Kansas in the Sweet 16-is the answer to the trivia question, "When was the only time that future Basketball Hall-of-Famers Larry Brown and C.M. Newton coachied against each other?"

[reillyhilda]

Amazing this happened at a time when a hard foul in the act of shooting was still only two shots. Paul Evans was an awful coach, so no surprise he underachieved in the NCAAs. Still sickening to watch all these years later, but Goheen was clutch.

[Briggsy3365]

ESPN sports columnist Bill Simmons should incorporate the "Paul Evans Face" into his dictionary for his writing. This game set Pitt basketball back for at least 15 years. Pitt would have been better off with Linda Evans coaching them.

[a7b7c78]

One of the worst moments in NCAA tournament history.

[Buseystwosubs]

To make matters worse for Pitt, at the time you could foul the guy in the act of shooting and it was only two foul shots, not three like it has been for a number of years now. Paul Evans was a bad coach and rode David Robinson's coattails to land the Panther job.

[bigkdog9119]

@tjgorman66 In John Feinstein's book chronicling the season, Pitt coach Paul Evans said he told his guys to foul, just someone didn't get the message.

Ironically enough, one of Pitt's young assistants was a guy by the name of John Calipari, and their point guard was Sean Miller, both of whom were burned by this same scenario in recent NCAA tournaments as head coaches (and of course in Calipari's case, for a national title.)

[tjgorman66]

This is why you foul instead of letting the other team chuck 3's