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Jarod Lucas played hero on Tuesday night during a matchup between Mountain West rivals Nevada and Colorado State. The guard drilled a half-court three-point shot at the buzzer to lift his Wolfpack team in a 77-74 win.
Celebration quickly followed as he took a pair of victory laps around a silent arena, ensuring those fans and opposing players knew who he was.
The fact of the matter is that everyone knew of Lucas prior to the late-game heroics. The senior is averaging a team-high 17.4 points per contest, leading Nevada to a 23-6 overall record.
This, coming after posting a 17-point average in 2022-23.
He is a known commodity in the Mountain West, but that didn’t stop him from announcing his presence in Fort Collins.
The Rams tied the game up at 74 late in the action, giving Nevada one last chance to break the tie before overtime. With just 2.5 seconds left on the clock, Jarod Lucas took the inbound pass and heaved up a Hail Mary.
The prayer was answered.
The half-court shot banked off the glass and through the net as the final horn sounded. Lucas’s excitement was on full display.
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Lucas strolled around the court a few different times, flashing the name across the front of his jersey to fans in attendance. The Colorado State bench got an up-close view of the celebration, too.
“I know opposing fans in the MW dislike him, but Jarod Lucas is an absolute showman,” one fan wrote on X after the game. “He is theater and fun to watch.”
The guard played hero for the night after locking in another conference win, but it almost wasn’t the case. In fact, the only reason the game was tied was due to Lucas missing three key free throws late in the action.
He shoots 90% from the charity stripe.
The uncharacteristic misses didn’t hurt his team, and he was able to redeem himself in dramatic fashion. Great win for the Wolfpack.