March Madness: Providence’s Clifton Moore posts 1-in-a-million miss on free throw vs. Kentucky

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 17: Clifton Moore #21 of the Providence Friars defends against Oscar Tshiebwe #34 of the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at The Fieldhouse at Greensboro Coliseum on March 17, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Clifton Moore’s shot should have counted for something. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

With 8 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half of a first-round game against Kentucky, Providence senior Clifton Moore made the most improbable play of the NCAA tournament.

On the official game play-by-play, the play only reads «Clifton Moore misses the first free throw.»

In practice, however, Moore accidentally did something much harder than make a free throw. He put up a shot that, somehow, resulted in the ball sitting on the neck of the rim. Which really should count for something more than just a miss.

The crowd in Greensboro, and the announcers, immediately went wild over the «sitter.»

The sitter came one day after the NCAA men’s tournament saw an improbable five wedgies, the more common but still quite rare play in which the ball is stuck between the rim and the backboard.

Moore made his next free throw, and that wound up being his only point of the game to go along with three rebounds. Kentucky beat Providence 61-53 to advance to the round of 32.

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