In the last match, performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NC State led at halftime by a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued star Clyde Drexler, who picked up four first half fouls. In the second halfof the Cougars came out with another wind and based control of the match, finally taking a seven-point lead.
But, things were not all good for Houston. Since the match was played in Albuquerque, players needed to deal with the city’s mile-high elevation. The Cougars’ star centre, Akeem Olajuwon, had problems adjusting to the environment and drained quickly, needing to check from the game multiple times so that he could wear an oxygen mask and then recuperate. With Olajuwon on the seat, Houston head coach Guy Lewis determined that so as to protect the lead and the health of his huge man in precisely the same period, the Cougars needed to begin slowing the game down.
Once again, this enabled the Wolfpack to go back to their standby strategy of extending the match. Houston’s free throw shooting was very suspect entering the game, which worked heavily in NC State’s favor since they were able to rally back and even the score at 52 in the final two minutes. On what would be the last Houston ownership, Valvano known for his players to back off and let guard Alvin Franklin bring the ball up the court. The Wolfpack defenders would allow the Cougars employ their slowdown strategy of passing around. Once the ball got back to Franklin he was to be fouled immediately. With 1:05 left, the freshman was fouled and sent to the line to get a one-and-one. The idea to filthy Franklin sprung from the enormity of this second; NC State believed that the comparatively inexperienced Franklin could not withstand the pressure of going to the line with the tournament at stake and knowing that fifty million viewers were tuned into watch the game. The theory was right as Franklin failed to convert and the Wolfpack caught the rebound. Valvano called timeout with 44 seconds left and drew up a play for senior defender Dereck Whittenburg during the timeout, which called for the group to pass him the ball with ten minutes left on the clock so he could take the final shot.
Houston had a defensive stop so they could get another chance to close out the match. Lewis decided to move from the man-to-man defense his team was running the entire game to a half court zone trap defense. The Wolfpack, who weren’t anticipating the defensive adjustment, were forced to deviate and started passing the ball around just to maintain the Cougars from slipping it. Houston almost obtained the turnover it had been searching for when Whittenburg made an errant pass to Gannon which Drexler almost came away with prior to the sophomore regained control of the ball. The ball eventually wound up in the palms of guard Sidney Lowe, who lent it to forwards and fellow mature Thurl Bailey at the corner.
Trying to keep the ball moving, as he had been double teamed as soon as he received the move, Bailey looked back toward Whittenburg, that had been roughly thirty feet from the hoop near midcourt. Bailey threw what Whittenburg would call a”poor basic” overhanded pass which Houston’s Benny Anders, guarding Whittenburg about the drama, was able to steal. At this point, Whittenburg hearkened back to his high school days together with Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School, where he had been taught to always grab the basketball with both hands. If Whittenburg hadn’t attempted to do so in this case, Anders might have gotten the steal and a game-winning breakaway layup. In college basketball at the moment, the match clock continued to operate following a made field goal, and the Wolfpack likely would not have had time to inbound the ball. Since it was, Anders knocked the ball out of Whittenburg’s hands, but Whittenburg quickly regained control.
The clock, meanwhile, had ticked down to five minutes and Whittenburg was standing a substantial distance from the goal. After he regained command, Whittenburg turned and launched a desperation shot, later claimed by Whittenburg for a pass, to try and win the match for NC State. The shot’s trajectory took it to the front of the basket where Olajuwon was covering Wolfpack centre Lorenzo Charles. As he watched the shot, Olajuwon said he understood the shooter was likely to come up short but he also did not want to select the ball too early due to the potential for goaltending. Charles took advantage of this indecision from Olajuwon and went up for the air balland, in one motion, he scored the go-ahead points with a two-handed dunk. The last second ticked off the clock prior to Houston could inbound the ball, and that, the game ended, and the Wolfpack were the winners.
Read more: statesmannews.com
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