From across the court, Johnny Moran saw it all.
He watched Ali Farokhmanesh catch a pass from Northern Iowa teammate Kwadzo Ahelegbe. He saw Farokhmanesh then gather himself as Kansas’ Tyrel Reed shuffled back into the lane.
Moran, a sophomore guard for the Panthers, knew what was coming next.
“I was like, ‘Oh, yeah,'" Moran recalled, '"he’s shooting this.’’’
Hit or miss, this would be a defining scene in Northern Iowa athletics.
Farokhmanesh, Ahelegbe and Moran experienced the emptiness of an early NCAA Tournament exit the year before, in 2009. In fact, two decades had passed since Northern Iowa celebrated much of anything in March.