Mr. March, Ryan Langborg, goes off in OT to lead NU over FAU
BROOKLYN-You can call Ryan Langborg Mr. March because he’s done this before in the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, playing for Princeton, he scored 26 points in a tournament game. On Friday, at the Barclays Center, he one-upped that personal best, scoring 27 to lead the Wildcats to a 77-65 overtime win over FAU in the first-round of the Big Dance at the Barclays Center. His output set the Northwestern record for points in a March Madness game, beating now-assistant coach Bryant McIntosh's previous mark of 25 points in a first-round win over Vanderbilt in 2017.
But what makes this one special is that Langborg had just two points in the first half. He kicked it up a notch with 13 crucial points in the second-half. But, in overtime, he found the zone that basketball players of all ages dream of while shooting in driveways across America.
“Every shot that went up, I knew it was going in,” said Langborg with a smile on his face in the Northwestern locker room after the game.
Players go on heaters regularly in college basketball, but Langborg was out of his mind. Given the context – overtime of an NCAA Tournament game – it may have been the greatest five minutes of basketball in Wildcat history.
Langborg went 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and 2-for-2 from the line in the extra session. You can’t get a much better stat line than that.
In 300 seconds, he scored 12 of Northwestern’s 19 points. He outscored the entire FAU team 12-7.
Langborg said that he got the feeling that he just couldn’t miss on his second shot of the extra period. He had just hit a jumper from the wing to open Northwestern’s scoring in the extra period.
“The second pullup I hit in overtime, I jumped and I got up in the air a little funny, and it just went in,” he said. “I felt great. I was like, ‘Oh boy.’”
Oh boy, indeed. That shot, from the other wing, didn’t hit anything but net. Everyone in the arena could see that Langborg had a hot hand. He went on from there to hit two straight three-pointers as the Wildcats pulled away by outscoring the Owls 19-7 in the third period.
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said that he recognized that FAU was trying to deny Boo Buie the basketball, so he started running plays for Langborg. The Owls were switching on screens, so the Wildcats used a series of pin-downs, “specials” and handoffs to get Langborg the ball where he liked it.
And for Langborg, at that moment, every shot was a good one.
“You know, as a shooter, when a guy gets going, you can see it in his eyes. He was really hot,” said Collins. “I kind of emptied my Langborg package within the playbook.”
"That’s how I roll as a coach,” he continued. “If somebody’s got it going, I’m going to ride that player."
Buie, who struggled at the end of regulation with three straight missed shots but came back with four points of his own in overtime, put it this way.
“Man, Ryan was balling today!” he said.
Langborg was quick to credit his teammates. First, it was Brooks Barnhizer who hit a driving layup off the glass with nine seconds left to send the game into overtime. That bucket set the stage for Langborg.
“These guys all got me open,” said Langborg. “So it was a great, great game and it was a lot of fun hitting those shots. But I’ve got to give credit to them.”
Did he feel like he couldn’t miss? “Absolutely.”
On the podium after the game, Langborg even took a shot at himself for a celebration that was a little out of character for the normally reserved grad transfer from Princeton.
“I usually don't celebrate a lot when I make shots, but I know I had my tongue out and things like that,” he said with a laugh.
Collins couldn’t explain Langborg’s OT heroics. He doesn’t care to, either. All that matters is that it happened, and Northwestern, now battle-tested with their fifth OT game of the season, is moving on to the second round of March Madness.
There, they will likely run into defending national champion UConn.
“I don’t know what it is about the NCAA Tournament and Ryan Langborg, but I’m sure glad he’s on my team in this go-around,” he said.