Here's why Melo Trimble had to nail a 3 for Maryland to beat Wisconsin

Melo Trimble hit an in-your-face three-pointer over Zak Showalter to lift Maryland over Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. But you already knew that. You've seen that shot on ESPN, Twitter and everywhere else on the internet.

Thanks to that shot, Trimble was trending on Twitter despite the game coinciding with NFL Wild Card Weekend. But for most of the day, it didn't seem like Maryland would need a last-minute shot to beat Wisconsin. The Terps were in control for most of the game, and seemed primed to extend their lead as seconds kept ticking off the clock. Why didn't that happen? Let's fast-forward to the good part, SportsCenter-style.

When Diamond Stone slammed home this dunk off a pick-and-roll pass from Trimble, Maryland held an eight-point lead.

4:44 left in the second half: Maryland leads, 58-50.

The Terps had chances to put the game away soon after, but weren't able to find the bottom of the net. After that dunk, the teams went the next three minutes without scoring. Trimble and Bronson Koenig each missed two threes, and both teams tended to settle for outside shots, which they missed.

After a scoreless three minutes, Koenig and Robert Carter Jr. finally broke the drought by trading free throws.

1:27 left: Maryland leads, 60-52.

The Terps had an eight-point lead with under 90 seconds remaining. How exactly did this become a tie game? Let's examine.

After Carter's made free throws, Koenig dished the ball to Zak Showalter on the wing. The sophomore drove by Jake Layman, and into the chest of Carter, who was waiting for him down low. There was some uproar from Maryland fans after Carter was called for a blocking foul, but upon further examination, it looks like the right call was made. The forward's feet were juust still moving when Showalter left his feet. He made the layup but would miss the free throw to make it a six-point game.

1:18 left: Maryland leads, 60-64.

The Badgers fouled Carter as he grabbed Showalter's miss, but the transfer from Georgia Tech missed the front end of his 1-and-1 to give the ball right back. Wisconsin was shooting all of 26 percent from three up to that point, but Showalter drained a trey right in the face of a leaping Jake Layman when he got just enough space on the perimeter of Maryland's zone.

1:05 left: Maryland leads, 60-57.

On the Terps' next possession, Rasheed Sulaimon drove to the hoop and drew a foul on Ethan Happ. However, and this is very important, the foul was called on the floor. This meant Sulaimon was only shooting a 1-and-1. Like Carter, he missed the front end, and Wisconsin now had the ball with a chance to tie it up. Bronson Koenig didn't give the ball up, and hit step-back three that was arguably more difficult than Trimble's shot 20 seconds later. If Melo hadn't hit the game winner, chances are we'd be talking about this shot a lot more:

22.2 left: TIE GAME.

We all know what happened after that.