Stepback: Calhoun, teammates recall Kemba’s famous shot

It was 10 years ago on Wednesday that Kemba Walker hit the signature shot of his Hall of Fame-caliber career — and Gary McGhee’s ankles were laid to rest.

Walker’s legend was forever cemented in March, 2011, when he guided UConn to an unprecedented five wins in five nights to win the Big East tournament. He followed that by leading the Huskies to a national championship run, eventually beating Brad Stevens (his current coach with the Celtics) and Butler in the national title game.

“I’ve heard about Danny (Manning) & the Miracles at Kansas,” former UConn coach Jim Calhoun noted, “but I don’t think that’s comparable to what Kemba did. Because his wasn’t for six games, his was for 11 games.”

The enduring image of that magical run was Walker’s stepback jumper at the buzzer to beat Pittsburgh in

the quarterfinals on March 10, 2011 at Madison Square Garden.

Charles Okwandu, UConn’s 7-foot senior center, had no doubt the shot was going to fall.

“I was on the bench, I was like, ‘Man, we can’t lose this game. This is my last year. We just need Kemba to switch on the big man,’ ” Okwandu recalled. “I knew he was gonna score that. He always made that in practice, and I was like, ‘This is the time he’s gonna do this move.’ And he did it. That was the best, biggest shot ever.”

Alex Oriakhi, a sophomore forward on that UConn team, had a similar view.

“I remember (Jamal Coombs-McDaniel) went to set a pick and they switched. When I saw McGhee on Kemba, I knew he was gonna get an open shot. I knew that was gonna be a mismatch. And nothing on McGhee, Kemba’s just a quick guy. Guards can’t even stay in front of him. That would’ve happened to any big man, really.

“I saw them switch, my eyes lit up because I knew he was gonna get the shot he wants,” Oriakhi continued. “Whether he makes it or not, that’ll be on him. I remember having him on the island, one-on-one. When he got into his move, I saw the ball go in the air, I said, ‘Please go in.’ It went through the net, and I was like, ‘This dude is special, man. This dude is bad.’ ”

It forever altered the course of Walker’s career. And McGhee’s, as well. Oriakhi said he was at NBA camp a month later, where former Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs told him McGhee didn’t leave his house for two weeks after the tournament.

“He was one of the best big man that year in the Big East tournament,” Okwandu said of Pitt’s 6-foot-10, 270-pound forward. “After that stepback, his whole stock went from high to low.”

The following night, Walker had 33 points and 12 rebounds to lead UConn over Syracuse in overtime (just one needed this time). The night after that, a 69-66 win over Louisville to win the Big East title. Five wins in five nights. No team had done it before, and no team has done it since.

Not bad for a team that was the ninth seed for the Big East tournament after dropping four of its final games down the stretch. Kemba & Co. had proven their mettle at the Maui Invitational in November, knocking off Wichita State, Michigan and Kentucky on consecutive days to win the title. Walker scored 90 points in those three games to win tournament Most Valuable Player.

But the Big East was a monster that season, ultimately sending 11 teams to the NCAA tournament. The Huskies finished 9-9 in league play. It’s enough to make Calhoun chuckle a bit when he hears pundits predicting the Big Ten could get as many as 10 teams in this year’s NCAA tourney.

“When you’re beating the 10th or 11th team in the Big East that year, you were beating an NCAA tournament team,” he noted. “I think that’s the difference. So, our record probably didn’t reflect how good we were … or how good we could be, in the future.”

Fatigue was never an excuse through the five nights at MSG, according to Calhoun.

“I’m not one of those guys who believes that you can play too much,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “I think that’s a misnomer. I told the kids after Game 2 or something: ‘People are gonna tell you you’re gonna get tired. I’d have you home, beating the (tar) out of you for 2 1⁄2 hours. You wouldn’t be in a hotel, you wouldn’t have these great meals, you wouldn’t have 19,000 people and a national audience looking at you. What’s so hard about this?’ We had to play two hours a day?’

“By the time we finished that,” Calhoun continued, “there wasn’t much we thought we couldn’t do. Obviously, it worked out pretty good.”

Calhoun won his third national title a few weeks later. About 18 months later, he retired — though he’s since returned to lead Division III University of Saint Joseph. Okwandu played professionally for five years, in the GLeague and in Canada, and now works as a special education teacher at Avon High. He also coaches the junior varsity boys basketball team and is an assistant for the varsity team.

Oriakhi transferred to Missouri a little over a year later and was a second-round draft pick in 2013. He’s played most of the past eight years overseas and currently lives in Texas. A couple of weeks ago, a stranger approached him outside of his apartment complex.

“You played with Kemba and ( Jeremy) Lamb!” the man recalled.

Walker, of course, is in his 10th NBA season and second with the Celtics. But he was just one of three future NBA players from that team’s backcourt — Lamb has fashioned his own nine-year NBA career, while Shabazz Napier played seven seasons in the league. Both were freshmen that season.

“When you have three NBA guards in your backcourt,” Calhoun noted, “you have a chance.”

Kemba Walker gave the Huskies their best chance that year. And that stepback jumper against on March 10 against Pitt was his signature moment.