Mar 20, 2026
The Story: On Thursday night, March 19, 2026, at the Moda Center in Portland, 12-seed High Point upset 5-seed Wisconsin 83-82 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the Panthers' first tournament win in program history. The hero was Chase Johnston — a seventh-year senior, 26 years old, on his fourth school, wearing jersey number 99.
Johnston is a 3-point specialist. Going into that game, he was 68-of-138 from behind the arc this season — and 0-of-4 on two-pointers. He literally had not made a single shot inside the line all year. Then, with High Point trailing by one and 11.2 seconds left, teammate Rob Martin grabbed a defensive rebound and flung the ball across the court. Johnston had an open lane. He drove and laid it in — his first two-point basket of the entire season — and it won the biggest game of their lives.
"It's a feeling you can't put into words," Johnston said afterward. "To be on this stage and play a game like this is something you dream about." The Panthers had been down eight with five minutes left. Johnston pulled up from the logo for a three to cut the lead. Then another. Then another. Eleven of his 14 points came in those final five minutes. But it was the layup — the one shot he couldn't make — that ended it.
Johnston's journey to this moment was a scenic route through American college basketball's lower tiers. He started at Purdue Fort Wayne in 2019, transferred to Stetson mid-year, played there through 2022, moved to Florida Gulf Coast, got injured, then finally landed at High Point for his final two seasons. He has the second-most three-pointers among active Division I players (415) and the fourth-most games played (165). His coach, Flynn Clayman, had asked him to accept a bench role this season because the team was too small to start him. He said yes.
The radio call that went viral said it best: "Throw on the glass slipper." We took that literally. This is a pop-punk anthem about the fairy tale fitting when it shouldn't — about 15 straight wins nobody noticed, a gym too big and lights too bright, and the one thing you couldn't do becoming the thing that saves you. The bridge asks what happens if the slipper shatters. The answer: you walk barefoot to the crown.
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Youthful urgency meets underdog defiance. Galloping rhythm captures the adrenaline of an impossible comeback. Gang vocals build communal triumph on "Can you hear us now?" — the scrappy, shouldn't-be-here energy of pop-punk is the perfect vehicle for a team nobody knew. The bridge strips to piano for the vulnerability, then explodes into the biggest chorus of the song.
Nobody knew us, just a seed
Fifteen wins they refused to see
The gym's too big, the lights are wrong
We don't belong, we don't belong
But we laced up like we owned the floor
Little school knocking on the big time's door
They wrote us off before we played
But the underdog turns a different page
Glass slipper — yeah it fits
Glass slipper — we exist
Tore up every bracket, every line
The fairy tale is OURS this time
Glass slipper, can you hear us now?
Can you hear us now?
Down ten with the whole world looking past
Spotlight chasing favorites running fast
But the kid who couldn't buy a bucket all year
Rolled the only one that matters in right here
One shot from a ghost they'd overlooked
And a giant fell — the whole earth shook
They wrote us off — biggest mistake
Now the fairy tale is wide awake
Glass slipper — yeah it fits
Glass slipper — we exist
Tore up every bracket, every line
The fairy tale is OURS this time
Glass slipper, can you hear us now?
Can you hear us now?
What if the clock strikes midnight?
What if we shrink back down?
What if the slipper shatters
And nobody sticks around?
Then we'll shatter it ourselves
And walk barefoot to the crown
Glass slipper — YEAH IT FITS!
Glass slipper — WE EXIST!
Tore up every bracket, every line!
The fairy tale is ours — it's OURS this time!
Glass slipper — YOU HEAR US NOW!
YOU HEAR US NOW! YOU HEAR US NOW!
Throw on the glass slipper
Throw on the glass slipper
We were always here