Arike Ogunbowale is now a sports legend with back-to-back game winners in the Final Four

There’s clutch shooting, and then there’s what Arike Ogunbowale has done in Columbus for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish over the course of the Final Four.

Friday night against No. 1 and undefeated UConn in the semifinals, the Irish and Huskies were tied at 89 in overtime with 14.6 seconds left. Then, this happened:

Ogunbowale finished with 25 points on 9-for-21 shooting (3-for-6 from three), but no shot was bigger than the game-winner.

Until Sunday night.

Notre Dame trailed 30-17 at halftime after scoring just three points in the second quarter. The Irish fell behind by as many as 15 points in the second half, but never gave up and climbed back into the game, taking a 43-41 lead just eight seconds into the fourth quarters.

The fourth quarter saw tense action, but when Mississippi State took a five point lead with just over two minutes remaining thanks to a huge Roshunda Johnson three, things looked bleak for the Irish.

They weren’t done. Tied at 58 with three seconds left, Ogunbowale got open and somehow managed to find pure net, cementing herself as a legend in college basketball.

“I work for this in practice...it just felt right” Ogunbowale told Holly Rowe in post game.

This game-winning shot made no sense. Let’s dissect it and watch in slo-mo

Victoria Vivians is 6’1 with a long reach. Her outstretched arms in Ogunbowale’s face could hardly have been better positioned. I mean look at this.

Ogunbowale’s ability to wind up off-balance, fade away from the hoop and launch the most No Way This Goes In three-point shot over a future first-round pick to win the National Championship is the kind of thing only a legend does. This shot had no business going in. I’m not sure many humans on Earth could have hit that, especially given the circumstances.

LOOK AT THE TRAJECTORY OF THE BALL.

Case closed. Ogunbowale will live on an island alone as The Clutch Goat.

Has there ever been a moment in sports like this?

Ogunbowale’s back-to-back game winners will go down as one of the most incredible feats we have ever seen. It’s so unheard of we started wonder if there has ever been something this clutch before?

Aaron Rodgers’ double Hail Mary game in 2016?

High stakes in the playoffs and maybe one of the greatest throws ever made, but the Packers lost that game in OT. That can’t beat Arike.

Aaron Harrison’s three game winners in the 2014 NCAA tournament?

These were big shots indeed, but the first one came with over 30 seconds to go. Kentucky also didn’t win it all, so it falls just a bit short.

David Ortiz in the 2004 ALCS?

Huge walk-offs in back-to-back games, including a home run, coming back from being down 3-0 in the series. Huge, no doubt. But it wasn’t in the World Series, so that’s out too.

There may never have been anything as clutch as what we just saw from Arike Ogunbowale.

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