It wasn’t the prettiest shot Cory Bradford has ever taken, or the cleanest.
Let the record show it rattled the rim as much as it shook Indiana to the bone.
It was definitely, however, the sweetest missile he has ever launched–by a long shot. Given the moment, it was the biggest shot he has hit in his two seasons at Illinois.
“Has to be,” said Bradford with a grin. “Especially at a point like that. Us playing for a better seed in the [NCAA] tournament. Against Indiana. I hit a couple of big free throws to beat Ohio State last year in the [Big Ten] tourney. But nothing like this. It was a big thrill.”
Three-pointers from the corner with 1.3 seconds remaining, three-pointers that knock out the Hoosiers 72-69–as Bradford’s did Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament at the United Center–tend to fit that description. Making his “SportsCenter” moment even nicer, Bradford had missed two of his first 12 shots from the floor and was 0 for 5 from three-point range.
Making it better still, Indiana (20-8) had just blown its own chance to take the lead on the preceding possession. With the score tied 69-69 and 45.9 seconds left in the game, the Hoosiers wasted all 35 seconds of the shot clock before settling for a desperate three-point try by center Kirk Haston from the top of the key that hit more backboard than rim.
“In too many of our losses we’ve been in the driver’s seat at the end and lost,” Indiana’s Kyle Hornsby said. “Illinois is a great team. They took advantage of our mistakes.”
Saturday fourth seed Illinois (20-8) will try to take advantage of the gift top-seeded Ohio State apparently handed it. The Buckeyes’ 71-66 upset loss to ninth-seeded Penn State in the second game sets up a clearly winnable semifinal against the Nittany Lions (15-14).
Illinois also advanced by getting a few breaks.
“The last play wasn’t drawn up at all,” Bradford said, laughing. “It was totally the opposite of that.”
Don’t tell that to Indiana’s A.J. Guyton. He scored 13 points–to go with 16 by Haston and 14 by Jeffrey Newton (all in the second half)–but at crunch time Guyton left his man, Bradford, unmanned.
“I’m not too surprised Cory was that open,” Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. “Serg [McClain] has a big body, and down there Guyton had to respect that. Serg just did a great job reading it and kicking the ball out.”
McClain said he knew the clincher was good as soon as it left his hands. Not Bradford’s hands, McClain’s. After inbounding the ball to Brian Cook with 7.1 seconds left, McClain took the return pass, drove the baseline and oh, my, saw Bradford all alone in the corner.
“When I drive I draw a lot of attention,” McClain said. “Frank [Williams] was supposed to get the ball, drive and either shoot or kick it out but they double-teamed him. So I drove and when they collapsed I saw Cory open. We had a rough time today, but luck was on our side at the end.”
Luck wasn’t the only reason the Illini won. McClain had a lot to do with it.
“That was a heck of a drive he made,” said Bradford, who finished with 12 points. “Actually Serg made two great plays. One on the feed to Cook to tie and one to me to win.”
Can’t forget Cook. The freshman center from Lincoln sparked the Illini with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds, including a huge three-point play with 51.3 seconds to go that tied the score 69-69.
“I just tried to get a good base and explode up and get fouled,” Cook said.
Apparently rusty from having played only one game in the last 11 days–against Northwestern–the Illini fell behind 20-12 before finally regaining the lead 25-24.
Illinois led 36-33 at halftime and was up 48-41 with 14:30 to go when Indiana began a series of mini-runs that finally put the Hoosiers in front 67-64 with 2:37 left.
“What do I feel like right now?” Bradford said. “I feel like a winner. We all do.”
