By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
Colorado’s 58-56 victory over Kansas State Saturday night in Boulder illustrated how razor thin the difference between victory and defeat. For this Big 12 Conference game, the difference was one-tenth of a second.
Kansas State’s Rodney McGruder made a turnaround, desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer that appeared to give the Wildcats a miracle victory and hand the Buffaloes a crushing defeat.
But as the accompanying pictures show, the clock went 0:00 just before the shot left McGruder’s right hand. After checking the instant replay monitor, the officiating crew correctly disallowed the shot.
“I believed I got it off in time,” McGruder said. “I thought it was good. It’s tough. It hurts more than anything. Our team, we celebrated. We felt like it went in before the buzzer went off and come to find out it didn’t. That loss hurts.”
What transpired before the dramatics at the buzzer illustrate how precious time can be.
With a three-point lead in the last 10 seconds, Colorado elected to foul before allowing Kansas State to attempt a 3-pointer. Wednesday night, Texas A&M’s B.J. Holmes made a three that sent the game into overtime – a game the Buffs lost.
The Wildcats’ Jacob Pullen was fouled with 3.9 seconds remaining. He made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. The rebound was tipped once, then a second time by Colorado’s Cory Higgins. The ball went out of bounds into the Kansas State bench with 1.1 seconds remaining.
What if Colorado had fouled Pullen with four seconds instead of 3.9? What if the rebound had been tipped out of bounds with 1.2 seconds to play?
McGruder took a cross-court inbounds pass and had to spin to his left and elevate. Colorado’s Alec Burks was in McGruder’s grill but he still made the shot. It just came a flick of the wrist too late.
"It was crazy for anybody to make that,” Burks said. “It was like a 'horse shot' or something. I saw the red light go off; I know he didn't get it off in time. I don't know how he made it. I don't know how he even saw the basket. I'm 6-6. I'm taller than him. He turned around with one second left and made it. It’s crazy.”
Crazy, indeed. Two time zones away, the Pittsburgh-Villanova game ended about the same time with a Villanova game-tying 3-pointer being waved off. That officiating decision was easy, no replay required, no wondering about a tenth of a second.
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