INDIANAPOLIS – They almost went off the floor with a barbs. Johnny Jujang extended both his arms towards the roof of Lucas Oil Stadium, acknowledging UCLA fans in the audience. Jaime Jaquez paused and shook his right forefinger, the universal allusion to “We are number 1”. Three decades from now, he and his Bruins teammates will talk proudly, boast loudly, play in this NCAA Final Four game.
And they were the losing team.
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How extraordinary it was, this game between the Bruins and Gonzaga’s Bulldogs in the semifinals of the 2021 NCAA tournament. It was a game that cannot be forgotten as long as they are playing this spectacular event, and probably for a long time. It ended on a shot that made Christian Lautner’s regular routine, which made Bryce Drev like a layoff. Zags freshman Jalan Suggs forced himself into his giant with a 42-foot heat that beaten the clock, hardened by the glass, caught inside the front rim, rocketed through the net, completed Bruce’s surprise run and The team inspired him in a national championship game performance with fellow No. 1 seed boiler.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few told reporters just minutes after his 93-90 overtime victory, “what a great college basketball game it was.” “And to do it on the biggest stage is just awesome. And to come out with the win, I know we had a lucky half-courtyard at the end. But both teams batted, bat and dug deep, I think Is, as they say. ” Could. “
It was the essence of the game, in which the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Aparajeet Gonzaga, could never score more than seven points between himself and UCLA, which required an NCAA selection committee and tournament format to play the extra game. Only to earn a place in the standard bracket.
The score was tied 16 times during its 45 minutes. There were 19 lead changes. UCLA had the largest lead by six points. Gonzaga was seven years old. The two teams were eye-to-eye, chest-to-chest. UCLA shot 57.6 percent from the field. Gonzaga shot 58.7 percent. Each team had just 10 turns despite the abundance of possessions. The Suggs pulled off a ridiculous game with two minutes remaining, stopping a dunk attempt by Bruins center Cody Riley, retrieving the rebound and then a center draw for a drunk and one-basket lead to give Timee a 50-foot lead. Jumped up.
UCLA responded with a five-point overtime deficit with a 3-pointer from Jekze with an aggressive rebound by Xujang with a determined effort to follow up his own miss, but patient.
It may prove impossible to separate the two by traditional methods, so it was left to Sugs to try something supernatural.
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Sugars told reporters, “Man, this is something you practice as a kid on your mini hoop or just to mess around.” I always called a football game, the section championship against Benilde-St. is. My senior year of Margaret was my biggest sports moment that I have been a part of. It is skyrocketing. I mean, it was crazy. And I still can. “‘Speak. There are a lot of things going on in my mind. I just can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s really going to kill me until I wake up tomorrow. But, I mean, tonight was special. “
A freshman who earned second-team All-America honors, Sugg was not only assigned to run Gonzaga’s offense, but also to defend the Bruins star Xujang, whose 29 points against the Zags earned him The five-point game gave an average of 21.6.
It was Jujung, who scored 12 points in the final 11 minutes, including a short jumper that led Brookins down seven points to a tie game at the end of the regulation. It was Xujang who chased his own miss into the lane with 3.3 seconds left in the over and left to tie the score – and for the fleeting moment – to allow them to pinpoint a second extra period.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin had no time limit available to set up his defense for those last seconds. Gonzaga was not interested in calling someone to set up a Latterner style scheme, though Sugg, as a former all-state quarterback in Michigan, was available to make downcourt passes. In no time Sugg was allowed to see that he could move the ball faster and start the effort before the time was up.
“I was running to my friends to get their attention to trap the ball,” Cronin said. “I got his attention late, and they came to him late. And it’s not his fault because we trained him to come back, get back, because Gonzaga is very fast. But I knew that the clock. Was low. And I knew. That was all a frustration. I’ve lost to that before. In fact, if you look at the film, I was running to try to get them up so that it would take that shot. Could not drown in. Apparently it was still. Half of the bank was shot from the court.
“I just told them that they were allowed to play the last shot. And as much as they still want to be bastard and unhappy, they have to win because they are winners. As a coach, all you can ask of your players is They have asked you to give everything you have got.
“These people, they deserved a better end, but as I said to them, as Coach Wooden would say, true greatness is your best effort. And that’s what they did.”
Gonzaga had never been able to commit his crime properly where he preferred. The Jags lineup consists of five capable scorers. Some are more capable than others, and All-American Corey Kispert never gained comfort, hitting only 2 of 8 on 3-pointers with 15 points. Suggs got 12 shots, the same number as fourth option Joel Ayayi, who took advantage of the Bruins’ thrust to stop those two stars to finish with 22 points
Center Drew Timem wound up with 25 beautiful points, but a portion of those six quick OT points that were very similar to the Zags’ success against Bruges could not be sustained enough.
“Man, it was hard to separate,” some said. “We were acting out of some foul. We were trying to get Drew out of that thing. And lost in all of this and in the last-second shot, Jalan did an incredible job, which, along with Xujung, took the D-. Ing. He did many races. Good work for him, and he was on top of him. And Xujang is just a big-time player, hitting big-time, hard shots.
“Obviously at the end of it, you can tell how both the staff and all the players reacted that it was an all-timer.”
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Sugg’s shots shrank some when he went through the goal and offered a fist-pound of sheep from midcott to Cronin which quickly turned into a hug. After the Sogs, he charged on the sideline and leaped over the scorer’s table – “Kobe and D-Wade and people like that” – hugging Bruce with the players.
This could be called the greatest Final Four game ever. This did not include the finality of the championship game, such as the 2016 duel between Villenova and North Carolina. The talent was not there in the 1990s, the level of stay in school that elevated Duke-UNLV 1991. And there were no eccentric superstars like Danny Manning in 1988 and elevated everyone from Kansas and Oklahoma State to every level. It was just a better game, a more entertaining game, a more fiercely contested game than those three great works of art.
If one wishes to find any game at this level, it may be necessary to return all the way back to 1974, when NC State and David Thompson took UCLA and Bill Walton into double overtime. Does anyone want to return in 1974, though?
Definitely not a fan of the Bruins. He also lost that one. It ended their run of seven consecutive NCAA championships. The game, however, was more likely the start of something magical for UCLA. This was only Cronin’s second year. To convince his players to perform like this, for five games of this tournament, and especially against the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, could have a similar effect on the program as that classic 1991 elite against Duke Kentucky had a presence in eight games. Wild cats.
“We were not going to let anyone down our head,” said Xujang. “Everyone takes great pride in playing with each other and playing for these coaches. And there’s no other way we want to go out. We went on fighting. Just we went out. There’s no better way. There are no regrets. Just everyone fought to play the last one and the last shot is the last shot. “
It was a few shots. This was some game. The losers were not, only the team whose score was small when the clock hit zero and the team still had another game to play.
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