WATCH: How Charles Barkley Celebrated Villanova’s Win

The former Sixer literally jumped for joy after Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beating three won the national championship for Villanova.

Villanova won the national championship last night on a Kris Jenkins three-pointer at the buzzer. It was a thrilling basketball game with an incredible finish, as ’Nova hit a three just five seconds after UNC had tied the game on a three of their own.

After the game, TNT shared video of Charles Barkley reacting to the game-winning shot. It’s amazing! Let’s talk about it.

  • Barkley — along with Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Ernie Johnson — usually do an NBA studio show. During the NCAA tournament, though, they switch over to the college game for a few weeks. Barkley has been criticized for not knowing the players in college well enough, but here he shows he’s at least really into it.
  • The studio set-up was behind the basket the buzzer-beating shot went into. But instead of turning to watch the play, Barkley is watching on a monitor in front of him with his back to the court. That’s okay — it’s probably a better view — but it looks pretty funny seeing him turned away from the biggest shot in college basketball in a long time.
  • Barkley’s lean-in to get a better look as the shot goes up is pretty cool. It’s not like it’s going to help him see the play that much better; he’s already looking at a screen right in front of him. But it’s the same reaction anybody watching the game had when Jenkins took that shot. He wants to make sure he doesn’t miss it.
  • Is dancing with your hands in the air unprofessional for a broadcaster? Yes. Is this still great? Yes, again. Why is Barkley even so excited? He went to Auburn. Okay, he got a taste of upper-crust life in Philadelphia from his time with the Sixers in the ’80s and early ’90s, and Villanova’s on the Main Line. Or, you know, maybe he gambled on it. But I think it goes to the reason the NBA on TNT studio show is so good: These guys all just love basketball so much.
  • UPDATE: Barkley’s daughter went to Villanova. “My daughter was living and dying with every game for the last three weeks, so I was really more excited for her, to be honest with you,” he told USA Today.
  • Of course the best part is the leap for joy after his little dance. Who knew Charles still has some ups — no wonder he was such an amazing rebounder. Nike should release a big-and-tall clothing line that has this Charles Barkley leap in the place where the Michael Jordan Jumpman usually is.
  • Then, you see Smith walk by dejected. Smith actually went to North Carolina, so he was pretty sad about the finish. That could’ve been another reason Chuck was so excited: He got the one-up on his broadcast partner.
  • The fists at the end! Charles Barkley really liked that last shot.

I’ve isolated the best part of the clip below.

Be sure to check out more reaction videos of Villanova fans.

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