PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas–Bobby Pettiford Jr. only had one basket, but he made it count.
Kansas backup point guard flew in for an offensive rebound after Zach Clemence missed a jump shot, then scored the game winning field goal on a follow at the buzzer as the third-ranked Jayhawks stole a 69-68 victory over Wisconsin in the semi-finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis
eIt was heroic for Kansas. It was heartbreaking for Wisconsin, who played with enough courage to steal the game and took a one point lead when Tyler Wahl scored on a spinning layup with seconds left.
”didn’t think it was a pretty game,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It lived up to its billing. We did some good things to take the lead, some bad things to relinquish it. We had nothing going. We just made two plays at the end of regulation and one oin overtime. We weren;t the best team. But we played well enough to win.”
Pettiford, a 6-1 sophomore from Durham who played in jsut 14 games last season, got into the game after guard Kevin McCullar, who made a clutch three pointer on the Jayhawks’ final possesson to force overtime, fouled out with 1:35 to play. He was at the right place at the right time on a scramble play that occured after Jalen Wilson got a hand on the ball after Clemence’s miss and Pettiford caught it in mid-air and scored on a reverse layiup off a scramble play. Pettiford landed on his back, pumping his fist as he saw the ball go in. When he got up, he could hear the fans chanting ‘Bobby, Bobby, Bobby.”
“It was crazy,” he said. “I normally don’t crash the glass. But this time I did.”
“Wilson keeps the ball alive, and Bobby catches it in mid-air and then somehow gathers and shoots it from the other side of the rim with the right English,” Self said. “So, I don’t know that he can make it again in 10 attempts, but it was good that he made the one he did.”
Nobody said it had to be perfect. “After the game, I told our players we were lucky to win the game. ‘You didn;t play well against a style that didn;t suit you.’ But you rarely win a tournament where you play three games well. Yesterday, we had to gind out a game to beat a good NC State that likes to play uptempo. I don’t think we ever got under 10 seconds on the shot clock. Today, we played a totally different team that likes to control tempo. I think we got to the last 10 seconds 25 times. It’s a different style. It’s why i used to schedule Syracuse to see a zone or a Pete Carril style team every year in case we faced a team like that in the tournament.”
Kansas got a monster 29 point, 14 rebound performance from 6-8 junior forward Jalen Wilson, who drew 10 fouls, to offset the fact freshman star Gradey Dick did not score a field goal in the second half and McCullar shot just 2 for 7 in the second half.
Tyler Wahl scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half and overtime as the Big Ten Badgers rallied from a 15-point deficit to go on a 11-0 run to break a 63-60 lead in regulation when Connor Essegian made a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to play in regulation before McCullar forced overtime. Wahl scored what looked like a game winning spinning layup in overtime to send the Badgers up,68-67, with 20 seconds to pllay before Pettiford’s mriacle play.
“There are no moral victories,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. “But this group has resolve. The names change but the grit is always there.’
