Ugly game ends with a shot only Providence could find beautiful
A hard-to-watch game between Providence and Creighton ended with a game winner that was fittingly ugly.
Kris Dunn beat the Bluejays at the buzzer with a shot that didn’t appear to have much chance to fall until it somehow did.
KRIS DUNN CALLED GAME! @PCFriarsmbb get the win! #BIGEAST https://t.co/dwop6eNmoc
— FS1 (@FS1) January 13, 2016
With the score tied at 48 and only a handful of seconds left in Tuesday’s second half, Dunn’s teammates fanned out around the perimeter and allowed him to attack Creighton’s Khyri Thomas off the dribble. The crossover-step-back move he made to free himself for a jumper was smooth, but the shot itself caromed off the back rim, the glass and the front rim before rattling in to give the Friars a 50-48 victory.
Dunn’s heroics ended a game in which both teams combined to shoot 26.7 percent from the field, miss 39 of their 48 attempts from behind the arc, and turn the ball over 26 times. This wasn’t a product of superb defense either. Many of the misses were open shots both teams typically make.
No. 12 Providence didn’t score its first points until more than six minutes had elapsed in the first half, yet the Friars only trailed by one at that juncture. They would fall behind by as many as nine points in the second half before rallying behind 20 points from Dunn.
Ultimately, Providence should feel grateful to win on the road and move to 15-2 despite playing well below its typical level. And the rest of us should be thankful too that Dunn’s shot rattled in. Had it not, viewers would have been subjected to overtime.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
