Poole’s big shot looks familiar Winter doldrums
Jordan Poole made his buzzer-beater with one good eye.
The Michigan freshman wore protective glasses when he met with reporters yesterday, less than 72 hours after his last-second 3-pointer gave the Wolverines a victory against Houston and sent them to the Sweet 16. Poole said he was poked in the right eye during the game.
“When I came to the bench I (said), ‘It kind of feels like my right eye had a filter on it,’” Poole said. “I was like, ‘I got to suck it up at this point.’ Everything after that was history.”
Add the eye issue to the growing legend of Poole’s shot, which gave the thirdseeded Wolverines a 64-63 victory and set up tomorrow’s matchup against seventh-seeded Texas A&M in Los Angeles. Poole’s 3-pointer from the right sideline — well beyond the arc — is drawing comparisons to Trey Burke’s shot for Michigan against Kansas in the 2013 regional semifinals. Burke’s shot was from a bit farther away, but it only tied the game. Coach John Beilein figures Poole’s was better.
“I think this was, only because the game was over. We didn’t have to go through overtime,” Beilein said. “Trey Burke’s put us into overtime, and then we did win it in overtime, and we had to survive that.”
Burke, who now plays for the New York Knicks, said he was dining out after a game against Charlotte and didn’t see Poole’s shot live.
“Everyone just started texting my phone talking about, ‘Did you see that? Did you see the game? Did you see the ending?’” Burke said. “I knew something happened because everyone was kind of saying the game was over, they thought we were going to lose. Big-time shot was made, changed the whole story.”
Now the Wolverines will try to do what they did five years ago — turn a last-second shot into a springboard to an extended NCAA tournament run. Michigan reached the national title game the year Burke made his big 3-pointer.
“I was on the couch, close to the TV at home. I was just watching the game late at night,” Poole said of Burke’s shot. “When he hit the shot, I didn’t care who really won the game at that time, but it definitely was huge.”
For the second straight year, a major winter storm has scrambled West Virginia’s travel plans for the NCAA tournament.
About 20 hours after arriving back on campus from the West Coast, the Mountaineers left yesterday to begin preparations for Friday’s Sweet 16 appearance at the Garden against Villanova.
The Mountaineers had returned to campus on Monday night from a 2,500mile trip to San Diego, only to find out a few hours later they’d be leaving a day early for the regional semifinals. The storm already was churning through West Virginia and was heading toward New England, where up to a foot of snow was expected. It’s the fourth nor’easter in three weeks set to smack the East Coast.
For good measure, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins threw in an early morning practice yesterday.
“It’s been tough,” Huggins said. “It would have been nice to be able to stay in town for another day.”
The storm isn’t causing other teams in the East Regional much consternation. Purdue moved up its scheduled departure time by six hours yesterday morning. Villanova and Texas Tech’s haven’t changed their travel plans to Boston.
Clemson heats up
The formula for Clemson’s run to the Sweet 16 is simple — when the Tigers hit shots, they’re difficult to beat.
Clemson (25-9) has made plenty of baskets its past two tournament games to advance to its first Sweet 16 in 21 years. The Tigers will try and shoot their way into the Elite Eight when they take on top-seeded Kansas (29-7) in the Midwest Regional in Omaha, Neb., on Friday.
Don’t count the fifthseeded Tigers out, either, if they play like they did in defeating New Mexico State and fourth-seeded Auburn.
“I started hunting shots,” said senior guard Gabe DeVoe, who is 18-for-33 from the floor during the tournament. “It’s a zone you get into.”