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Men's Basketball
Turner’s Legendary Buzzer-Beater Sinks Michigan
By Brandon CastelINDIANAPOLIS – As he grew up in Chicago, Evan Turner often imagined himself to be Michael Jordan hitting game-winning shots in the alley behind his house. Friday he got to live that fantasy in front of more than 16,000 people at the Conseco Fieldhouse and millions more watching live on ESPN. Not to mention His Airness himself, who was in attendance Friday to watch his son Jeffrey Jordan play for Illinois in their game against Wisconsin.
Evan Turner launches the game- winning shot.
Photo by Jim DavidsonDown to archrival Michigan by two points with just over two seconds to play in Ohio State’s opening game of the Big Ten Tournament, Turner pulled up for a stunning, game-winning buzzer-beater from nearly half court to give the fifth-ranked Buckeyes (25-7, 14-4 Big Ten) a 69-68 win over the Wolverines (15-17, 7-11).
“You can’t really practice for those moments,” said the Big Ten Player of the Year, who released the game-winning shot with just 0.2 seconds on the clock.
“You just have to come ready.”
And ready he was.
Before Turner even stepped on the court for the final possession of the game, senior P.J. Hill turned to his star teammate and told him to “go be legendary.”
“He had the confidence and belief to say that to me, I said I can’t let him down,” said Turner, who finished with 18 points and eight assists.
With that fresh in his mind, Turner caught the inbounds pass from David Lighty with 2.2 seconds on the clock. He took two long dribbles and pulled up for a 37-foot buzzer beater over the head of Stu Douglass to stick yet another dagger in the hearts of Michigan fans everywhere.
“I was just hoping he didn’t get the shot up in time, but at the same time I kind of knew he did,” said Michigan guard Manny Harris, who just seconds early scored what would have been the game-winning shot if not for Turner’s heroics.
“To lose like that, it definitely hurts. It hurt us bad. Things like this happen in March, but it’s horrible to be on that side of it.”
The Buckeyes trailed early thanks to some impressive play from forward DeShawn Sims, but they led 35-25 at the half after William Buford splashed a three in the final seconds of the first half. The Buckeyes closed out the first period on a 25-6 run.
“Michigan was playing for more games, we’re playing for positioning,” OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said.
“I didn’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be after the 10 days off.”
After Douglass tied the game at 64 on a three pointer with a minute to play, Harris gave the Wolverines their first lead of the second half on a pull-up jumper that made it 66-64 with 30 seconds to play. Lighty tied the game at 66 on a tremendous take to the basket, setting up the Wolverines for a possible last-second shot.
“Give Michigan credit, they never gave up,” said Lighty, who finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
“They kept coming at us. They hit two back-to-back threes in that stretch and it gave them confidence.”
Douglass knocked down four threes, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting behind the arc, but no one on the court was playing with more confidence in the second half than Harris. After going 1-for-8 from the floor and 0-for-5 from behind the arc in the last meeting between these two teams in Columbus, Harris went off for 22 of his game-high 26 points in the second half.
With the game on the line, coach John Beilein dialed up a play for Harris, who hit an incredible shot over the top of OSU center Dallas Lauderdale to give the Wolverines a two-point lead with 2.2 seconds to play.
“We switched and he hit a shot over a 7-5 wingspan. That was a heck of a shot over Dallas,” Matta said.
That left just enough time for Turner to get two dribbles and a shot from just inside the Big Ten Tournament logo at center-court as the Wolverines opted not to put the full court pressure on for the final possession.
“I thought they were going to press. The whole game they were doubling me and on that last play I felt like I was in the gym by myself,” said Turner, who stood defiantly looking up into the stands as his teammates rushed to congratulate him on the biggest shot of his life.
The Wolverines had made it their mission to harass Turner all afternoon long. They held him to just 6-of-15 shooting thanks to some physical defense and a handful of defenders coming his way on every possession.
That is until the final one.
“I know coach probably was thinking, it would just be crazy for someone to make a halfcourt shot the way the game was going,” Harris said.
“He drew up a defensive scheme and I guess everyone just thought there’s no way he’s going to make a half court shot and he did. Great players like Evan Turner make great plays. That definitely was a great play. It was incredible. I never thought he would make it the way that game was going. I don’t think no one on the team thought it, but it happened.”
Because of it, the Buckeyes will continue playing in the conference tournament. They will face the winner of the 4-5 game between Wisconsin and Illinois tomorrow (1:40 p.m. ET, CBS) on the very same court where Turner hit the walk-off three against Michigan.
Game Notes:
* Ohio State is now 12-8 all-time in Big Ten Tournament games. They are 6-2 as the No.1 seed.
* The Buckeyes shot 51.9% from the field Friday. They are a perfect 16-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better.
* Trailing 23-18 with four minutes to play in the first half, the Buckeyes made their last five field goals, including three three-pointers, and the final free throws in a 16-2 run to end the half.
* With his three rebounds, Evan Turner tied Frank Howard for 14th on OSU's all-time career rebounding list with 635.
* Turner's eight assists were the most by a Buckeye in a Big Ten Tournament game, tying Mike Conley Jr. and Scoonie Penn.
* Jon Diebler scored 11 points against Michigan. He needs just 11 more to reach 1,000 points for his career.
* William Buford had 55 points and 28 rebounds in his three games against Michigan this season.
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