For as frequently as half-court shot contests occur, it’s pretty rare to see someone actually sink it. It’s even more unlikely that someone will make the shot on their first attempt.
But amazingly, that’s exactly what happened Saturday during the Kentucky-Auburn game with this Wildcats fan winning $10,000 for the basket.
Nearly midway through the first half of the game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky fan Nick Hostetter — a local resident who graduated from the school in 2019, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader — had three tries in the half-court shot contest to make a basket. But he only needed one.
He nailed his first shot, won 10 grand and celebrated spectacularly in front of the home crowd like he just hit a buzzer-beater in the national championship game.
We learned something today: When you hit a half-court shot to win $10,000 at Rupp, you go WILD. #WeAreUK pic.twitter.com/MuFwweh20M
— Kentucky Athletics (@UKAthletics) February 29, 2020
It’s not exactly the full-court shot a Montana State student made last weekend, but this is still pretty impressive.
And perhaps his shot offered some inspiration or helped wake the Wildcats up in the game between the top-2 teams in the SEC. They were down, 20-11, when Hostetter stepped up for the contest during a timeout, as the Lexington Herald-Leader noted. But after he made it, they went on a 20-3 run and had a slight halftime lead.
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