Best Buzzer Beaters In Utah Basketball History

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – On the heels of Parker Van Dyke’s buzzer beating three-pointer to give the Utes a 93-92 win over the UCLA Bruins, it ranks up there with the best buzzer beaters in Utah basketball history.

The Utes came back from 22-point with 13 minutes left in the game to pick up the victory in Westwood, California.

Here are some of the best buzzer-beating moments in Utah basketball history.

1985 – Manny Hendrix WAC Tournament

The Utes played the Wyoming Cowboys in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament when Wyoming had a 60-59 lead with one second left in the game and they had possession.

Wyoming inbounded the ball on the sideline and launched it towards their basket, but it was too hard of a throw and sailed out of bounds, giving the Utes the ball at the same spot but their hoop was on that end of the floor.

Utah passed the ball in to Hendrix in the corner when he nailed the three-pointer as time expired to give the Utes a 62-60 win. They beat Air Force 66-64 in the second round but lost to UTEP in overtime in the semifinals.

The Utes finished the season with a 15-16 record. Hendrix was the teams’ third leading scorer with 14.7 points per game, Kelvin Upshaw was the leading scorer with 17.4 points per game that season.

1997 – Keith Van Horn WAC Tournament First Round

The Utes were 0.3 seconds away from one of the biggest upsets in conference tournament history when they were trailing SMU 58-57. Up to that point, Utah lost just one conference game during the entire season.

Utah had the ball underneath their basket when Andre Miller lobbed the ball up to Keith Van Horn, who tipped the ball into the basket to avoid the upset and pick up a 59-58 win.

The Utes won the conference tournament and went all the way to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament when they lost to Kentucky.

Van Horn averaged 22 points and 9.5 rebounds per game during that season.

1997 – Van Horn Again

After hitting the game-winner against SMU the previous night, Van Horn was the hero against New Mexico. The game was tied at 70 with 8 seconds left when Andre Miller missed a floater off the backboard. Van Horn collected the offensive rebound and made the game-winning jump shot around the free throw line as time expired.

2016 – Bonam Sends Game To Overtime

The Utes entered their semifinal match up in the Pac-12 Tournament as a No. 2-seed when they faced No. 3-seed Cal. The Golden Bears made two free throws to take a 70-68 lead with 4 seconds left. Lorenzo Bonam went coast-to-coast and made the game-tying layup to force overtime.

Utah outscored Cal 12-8 in the extra period to pick up the 82-78 win. Bonam finished with 18 points, while Jakob Poeltl led the team with 29 points and 11 rebounds. The Utes lost to Oregon in the championship game, but they won two games in the NCAA Tournament before finishing the season with a 27-9 record.

2019 – Parker Van Dyke Against UCLA

Utah trailed by 22 points with 13 minutes left in the game when they made their run. It was capped off by Sedrick Barefield handing off to the trailing Van Dyke, who drilled the game-winning three-pointer as time expired to give the Utes the win.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! @UtahMBB rallies from 22 down to shock UCLA at Pauley Pavilion thanks to a 25 foot buzzer beater by Parker Van Dyke. #Utes #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/yZ0h95oNNc

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) February 10, 2019