DES MOINES, Iowa — Moments before tip off, as everybody else on the team jogged back to the IU bench, freshman center Thomas Bryant decided he had to take one last shot from the free throw line.
His shot bounced off the rim a few times and eventually rolled out. He missed.
Bryant turned and took two steps toward the IU bench and stopped himself. No way he could end on a miss.
So Bryant turned back around and chased the ball. He set up and took one more shot from just to the right of the free throw line.
Bryant sunk it.
IU is likely thankful he took that one more practice shot because Bryant went to the free throw line for two shots on three separate occasions in the final 46 seconds with Kentucky closing in.
The first two times he missed the first and made the second, just like before tip off. The final time, with Kentucky down two, he made both free throws with 10 seconds remaining to clinch the victory.
Bryant, the most in-your-face and energetic player on the team, settled down and made the most clutch shots of the game.
“What was mostly going through my mind was just staying calm,” he said. “Calming down, breathing, not letting my adrenaline pump so much where it was too much for me.”
Senior guard Nick Zeisloft told the story of the first day on campus when he and Bryant had a free throw contest. They tied with 19 of their first 20, so they said next one to miss loses.
They both made their next 30 shots before Bryant finally missed. The big man can make free throws.
Looking back on IU’s 73-67 win against No. 4 seed Kentucky and advancement to the Sweet 16, I thought it was the most bizarre IU game I’ve seen all season.
IU Coach Tom Crean couldn’t stop smiling. Even though every conceivable thing went wrong at times throughout the game, Crean was happy.
Two days earlier he was as hostile as we’ve ever seen, screaming at players despite a 20-point lead. Saturday, nothing was phasing him. He was enjoying the game.
This happened all while Kentucky Coach John Calipari — the coolest of the cool — was losing just that with every bad turn or disagreeable call.
Then there were the injuries. Sophomore guard Robert Johnson went out. Freshman forward Juwan Morgan went out. Freshman forward OG Anunoby had to come out for a stretch.
IU’s play never faltered. IU was at times trotting out unathletic lineups against a team full of future pros, and the Hoosiers just kept making plays. It didn’t make sense.
Crean said it was one of the more satisfying wins in his tenure because of all the adversity the team played through.
“I thought we got better inside of the game,” Crean said. “So satisfying wins for me are when we make improvements.”
Then there’s senior guard Yogi Ferrell. Ferrell, the rock of the team, who came out struggling badly. He opened shooting 1-of-6 and seemed to be outmatched. That almost never happens. But the Hoosiers still led by one at the half. He finished with 18 points.
Or there’s the stretch when Ferrell was out and the team oddly got even better. The Hoosiers almost always take a slight step back when he goes out.
Ferrell went to the bench as the Hoosiers were trailing by one with under nine minutes to go. He was out for less than two minutes, yet a lineup of Zeisloft, Anunoby, Troy Williams, Max Bielfeldt, and senior walk-on forward Ryan Burton went on a 9-2 run to gain a six-point lead.
What was the key to that stretch?
“Troy settled in,” Crean said.
The guy who opened the game attacking on four straight possessions and receiving all of the criticism from IU fans on Twitter for his reckless play was the one Crean credited for running the offense well without Ferrell.
And don’t forget Zeisloft. Crean went out of his way Saturday to praise Zeisloft because no one else would ask about it.
Zeisloft is known to the public for just about one thing — shooting. When Johnson went out last month and missed four games, people like myself kept talking about how IU will be losing so much perimeter defense with Zeisloft starting in his stead.
Well, Zeisloft played a large part in containing star Kentucky guard Jamal Murray. Murray finished shooting 7-of-18 thanks to defensive efforts from Zeisloft and Anunoby.
“When Rob (Johnson) went down in the Purdue game and what Nick had to do to help us get us this championship and what he’s done in this tournament is outstanding,” Crean said. “And that’s the kind of improvement that we want in the program.”
This was the kind of game people just don’t expect IU to win. It’s Crean in March against the dominant Wildcats. It was made for IU to lose.
Yet, for some reason, IU seemed the more united team in one of the most physical and competitive games I can remember watching.
And when Crean was asked after the game whether he expected all of this success when things seemed so bleak back in December, he just responded he loves working with this team.
“I love coaching them, and I know that sounds corny, but I just love coaching them,” Crean said.
He credited his team for how it fought not just through December struggles, but all of the off-court issues in the offseason as well.
One of the causes of those off-court issues was in attendance Saturday. Emmitt Holt, a former IU forward who was dismissed in September 2015 after an alcohol-related citation, now plays at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
As Crean left the court Saturday, he went out of his way to get the attention of Holt. The two came together and embraced for several seconds. Crean walked away red-faced with eyes full of tears.
He still loves coaching them, even those who aren’t his to coach anymore.
