The Madness continued last night when the University of Michigan’s version of “Swaggy P,” Jordan Poole hit a 28 foot desperation three pointer as the clock hit zero to send the Wolverines to their 14th Sweet Sixteen appearance. However, Poole’s near-30 footer at the buzzer wasn’t what made the win so unbelievable. It was the few plays before that really set up the drama.
Prior to the big shot, Michigan missed two shots that were all but in. First Charles Matthews tip looked like a million shots that eventually touch the bottom of the net, but somehow didn’t roll in. On the next play, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman attacked the basket and a layup he’d hit thousands of other times, was just a bit strong. Davis rebounded that miss and that
After starting off the night hitting all eight of his free throws, Houston’s Devin Davis started to falter at the line regressing to his season’s FT average of 67%. He split a pair before the two big free throws with Houston up 63-61 and 3.9 seconds left. That’s when the impossible started to happen, Davis missed both free throws and the ball fell right into Moritz Wagner’s arms. Wagner would call timeout before he hit the floor — losing only 0.3 seconds. We all know what happened next.
Relive Michigan’s Buzzer Beater and Celebration
It was particularly joyful to watch the Freshman Jordan Poole running all over the court playing literally playing keep away from his teammates trying to grab him to celebrate. “I saw everybody celebrating,” Michigan’s Poole said later, “and I always thought if I hit a shot like that, I didn’t want to get tackled. So I tried to avoid everybody.”
The Other Side of Happy
When there’s this much celebration in sports, there’s always another side to it — usually on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. In this case, it was the Houston Cougars, who fought and clawed their way enough to win 99% of games, and their rugged forward Devin Davis.
Jordan Poole running to celebrate in front of Houston’s bench is the most savage thing you’ll see today pic.twitter.com/VKmKdrNt9i
— Barstool Blue (@BarstoolUofM) March 18, 2018
As Michigan players chased Poole all around the court, Davis laid splayed out on the floor; full knowing that two made free throws would have sent the Cougars to the next round. Davis would emerge from Houston’s locker room later in the night to practice free throws by himself.
Who would have put money on Michigan being able to get the ball across half court and get a good shot with 3.6 seconds? I’m not sure of the odds, but I know it was very, very unlikely that Michigan pulled out that win. That’s why we have casinos like www.casumo.com. In most cases, the game ends with a player heaving the ball from around half-court that doesn’t come close to the rim – and many of the times, it soars over the backboard.
This is perhaps the greatest moment in Michigan Wolverine basketball history. Poole’s shot is right up there with Rumeal Robinson‘s two free throws that locked up the 1989 championship for a Steve Fisher-led Wolverine team, Trey Burke’s 30-footer three pointer from 2013 that forced overtime vs. a Kansas Jayhawks, and let’s not forget when five Freshman (Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson) “shock(ed) the world” by advancing to the national championship game, to name a few.
