This is how Northwestern fans reacted to the Wildcats’ thrilling NCAA tournament win

No. 8 Northwestern beat No. 9 Vanderbilt 68-66 on Thursday afternoon, and the game ended in thrilling fashion. For a little bit of historical context here: Northwestern had never made it to the NCAA tournament before. A number of famous Northwestern alumni celebrated the big win afterward.

One of the coolest moments was seeing former NBA head coach Doug Collins watching his son, Wildcat head coach Chris Collins, as the final buzzer sounded to seal the victory.

There was also an awesome moment honoring Northwestern alum Craig Sager.

Let’s chronicle some of the emotions of Northwestern fans throughout the game, shall we? The SB Nation Northwestern team blog, InsideNU, opened a live game thread for the First Round matchup, and let’s just say Wildcat fans went through all sorts of emotions throughout the course of the game.

Wildcat fans were a little nervous, but excited at the start of the game.

The Wildcats’ led the Commodores for most of the first half, and they went to the locker room with a 34-27 lead. Northwestern fans were pretty pleased at how their team was looking with the start.

At the start of the second half, Northwestern continued to hold a comfortable lead. But inside about the nine-minute mark, the Commodores started to make a comeback. A big reason for that included Northwestern missing free throws — the Wildcats finished with a 10-of-18 mark from the line.

Fans weren’t too happy with the officiating, either.

Once we were inside five minutes, a Vanderbilt three-pointer made it a two-point. Northwestern fans got just a bit uncomfortable as the close score continued to hold.

With less than one minute left and holding a 64-63 lead, Northwestern’s Vic Law was sent to the line, and he proceeded to miss his free throw.

With 17 seconds to go, Vanderbilt scored a layup to take a 66-65 lead. Then, inexplicably, Vanderbilt’s Matthew Fisher-Davis fouled Bryant McIntosh, who went to the line to shoot free throws. He made them both with 14 seconds left, and Vandy missed its last real look, forcing them to foul. This would end up sealing the Wildcats’ thrilling 68-66 victory.

Northwestern alumnus and ESPN broadcaster Rachel Nichols was onboard with this idea.

Congrats, Northwestern fans. Given that this is the first NCAA tournament win in program history, you all deserve to celebrate this one.