Student made $10,000 shot during basketball challenge only to be denied the prize over small detail

A University of Massachusetts student has spoken out after he thought he won a $10,000 basketball halftime contest.

On Wednesday (February 5), University of Massachusetts (UMass) student Noah Lee took to the court during the halftime of a women's basketball game against St Bonaventure to try his hand at a challenge.

The challenge was to make a layup, free throw, three-pointer and half-court shot within 30 seconds - all of which Lee seemingly did, with a video shared to Twitter by Josh Schreiber showing him do so.

Lee told The Daily Collegian: "[The] half-court shot, [I] put it up and realized mid-air, like ‘Wow, that has a chance.

"When it went in, it was pretty surreal … It was a ton of fun in the moment."

However, a day later, the student received an email from the UMass athletics representative saying there wouldn't be a pay out.

Why? Well, Lee's 'foot was on the line'. "Which is obviously a little disappointing," the student added.

However, Lee has since received a compensatory offer from Umass alongside a new challenge from The Massachusetts Collective instead.

Schreiber said Lee was offered tickets 'for a four-person loge suite at a select men's basketball game of [his] choice this season' alongside being a 'participant in the on-court hot shot shooting contest' at any game he chooses with prizes including 'various gifts for making a layup, free throw and three pointer along with a half court shot that is worth $1,000' if he makes it.

"Similarly to the promo you participated in, there will be a time limitation, one attempt at the half-court shot if you make the other shots etc.," it adds.

UMass also offered Lee 'a pair of court side seats at a select women's basketball game' of his choice, '$100 in gift cards for Mullins Center concessions to be used at the basketball games' and 'a swag bag of Umass gear'.

The Massachusetts Collective took to Twitter to address Noah, noting while it wasn't 'involved in' the previous contest, it wants to give him 'another shot at $10k'.

"One half-court shot, $10k cash. Simple... Just stay behind the line!" It added.

Whether Lee takes the other challenge up we'll have to wait and see, but the student resolved: "At the end of the day, sure it really sucks with the money, who knows how that’ll play out with the $10,000.

"But, these memories that we’ve all kind of made because of this event are pretty priceless and I’ll definitely remember these for quite a while."

A spokesperson for Odds on Promotion told UNILAD: "Media coverage of a February 5 University of Massachusetts basketball halftime contest inaccurately represented Odds On Promotions, a promotions company for this contest, in the University’s decision to award prize money to a participating student.

"No formal claim or request for prize money was made by the University to Odds On in this matter. All decisions regarding a prize payout in this matter were made solely at the University’s discretion, as we had not performed our standard 30-day claims process. Odds On was not involved in the initial invalidation of the contest win and only became aware of the University’s decision to not pay the contestant through media coverage."

UNILAD has reached out to UMass Athletics for comment.