Wisconsin shocks Xavier on Bronson Koenig’s buzzer beater
Bronson Koenig would not be denied.
With his team trailing No. 2 seed Xavier in the final minute, the junior nailed two 3-pointers – one to tie the game at 63 with 11.7 seconds to go and another to win it as time expired – to send No. 7 seed Wisconsin to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in six seasons.
Koenig’s heroics capped off a 17-5 run in the game’s final 6:19 to complete a comeback that began when Xavier took a 58-49 lead – the largest of the game for either side.
From that point forward, the Badgers slowly chipped away at the lead with buckets from a variety of contributors. A lay-in from Ethan Happ (who had 18 points and carried the Badgers for much of the game) off an offensive board and a free throw from a struggling Nigel Hayes got the Badgers to within one, 61-60, with 1:34 to go. Xavier’s Edmond Sumner bumped the lead back to three with 34 seconds remaining on a nifty reverse layup on the other side, but he could not lock down Koenig defensively on the other end.
Koenig, who finished with a game-high 20 points, first tied it at 63 with a bomb from the right wing, but gave the Musketeers time to make a March memory of their own. Sumner drove right on pesky Badgers guard Zak Showalter, but Showalter made a crucial defensive play and drew a charge, giving UW a chance to end it in regulation.
The Badgers first advanced the ball past half court and called a timeout, allowing newly-minted permanent head coach Greg Gard the chance to dial up a play. He drew up a good one and got the ball into Koenig’s hands.
The 6-foot-4 righty, who said in a postgame interview he was trying to channel his “inner Steph Curry,” rose above Sumner yet again and hit the biggest shot of Wisconsin’s season, punching the Badgers’ ticket to Philadelphia, where they will take on Notre Dame on Friday.
And let’s be honest. This is a spot no one – not even the folks in Madison – thought the Badgers would be. UW started the season 9-9 and 1-4 in Big Ten play and struggled, at first, to gain its footing after Bo Ryan retired and gave the reins over to Gard, his longtime assistant. But as the season progressed, the Badgers of old re-emerged and rallied around Gard.
Though this version of the Badgers lost five of the top seven players from last year’s Final Four team, they won 11 of 14 games down the stretch and reeled off two more W’s in the tournament.
Does this team have the firepower to make a third straight trip to the Final Four? Who knows, but I think we’ve all learned to never count out Wisconsin.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
