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March Madness: Northwestern's Ryan Langborg becomes second player to score at least 20 in tourney for multiple teams

Langborg had two 20-point games in the tournament a season ago for Princeton

Northwestern’s Ryan Langborg took over in overtime as the No. 9 Wildcats took down No. 8 Florida Atlantic 77-65 on Friday.

Langborg scored 12 of Northwestern’s 19 points in the extra period as the Wildcats got the game to overtime thanks to a Brooks Barnhizer layup with nine seconds to go. Barnhizer’s bucket came after Northwestern was scoreless for over four minutes after taking a 56-50 lead with 4:52 to go in the second half.

Langborg finished with a game-high 27 points and became just the second player in NCAA tournament history to score at least 20 points for multiple teams in the NCAA tournament, according to CBS Sports research. A season ago, Langborg had 22 points in No. 15 Princeton’s second-round upset of No. 7 Missouri and 26 points in the Tigers’ Sweet 16 loss to Creighton.

Before Langborg went 11-for-19 from the field on Friday, former Arizona State and Alabama player Jamal Faulkner was the only player to score at least 20 points for two teams in the tournament. Faulkner scored 29 for Arizona State in the 1991 NCAA tournament before he scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games for Alabama in the 1994 NCAA tournament.

Given the current college athletics landscape, you can expect the territory that Langborg and Faulkner occupy to get less and less rare in the coming years. As players are allowed to transfer without sitting out a year and can transfer multiple times thanks to legal action against the NCAA, it’s becoming more and more common for players to make tournament appearances for multiple schools. Especially for very good players.

Northwestern's Ryan Langborg scored 27 in the Wildcats' win over Florida Atlantic to begin March Madness. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Northwestern's Ryan Langborg scored 27 in the Wildcats' win over Florida Atlantic to begin March Madness. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

As college athletes can capitalize on their image rights, it can be a more lucrative decision for certain players to transfer and keep playing college basketball instead of going pro. Many athletes in all different kinds of sports are making more money playing sports during college than they would professionally.

Langborg will have a chance to be the first player to score at least 20 points in multiple games for different teams on Sunday when Northwestern takes on the winner of No. 1 UConn and No. 16 Stetson.