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Stephenson's free throws down UConn

By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted December 30, 2009 10:26 PM ET

With 0.7 second left in the game and Lance Stephenson on the line in a tie game against No. 10 Connecticut, nobody on the Cincinnati bench seemed to doubt the Bearcats were about to walk away with a win.

There was a freshman on the line with the game on the line, but that freshman was Lance Stephenson.

"First off all, he had two to make one. He's a pretty tough kid. That would be an understatement," UC head coach Mick Cronin said. "He's going to show up on game night, he's young, just like all young players you worry about his details on scouting reports and things like that. He gets overaggressive at times and gets some cheap fouls, but locking in and being tough with the game on the line, it's not something I'm worried about with him, to be honest with you."

How dialed in was Stephenson on the line? After rattling in the first free throw, he tried to miss the second shot and made it, giving the Bearcats a 71-69 victory.

"It's a tough situation to be in as a freshman," UC senior Deonta Vaughn said. "But we shoot those type of shots in practice where it's a pressure situation and I knew he was going to make one of them, I was just hoping it'd be the first one so the pressure would be off."

Stephenson was in that situation, in part because Vaughn was on the bench for the last minute-and-a-half. Vaughn fouled out with 1:30 left and the Bearcats holding a four point lead, 67-63. UC had led 61-49 with eight minutes remaining, but the Huskies had whittled down the lead and looked to overtake the Bearcats in overtime as Kemba Walker nailed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.

With Vaughn and his 17 points and five assists out, Stephenson took the final shot. He was guarded by Jerome Dyson on the perimeter, who tried to force him to go to his left, so Stephenson spun to his right, back left and drove toward the basket, around Dyson and into Gavin Edwards, threw up a shot and John Cahill blew his whistle for a foul.

Was it? Well, Cahill called it. There was contact.

The unwritten belief is you don't call the foul there in that situation with the game on the line.

UConn head coach Jim Calhoun said he hadn't seen the tape of the play, so wouldn't comment whether he thought it should have been called. After watching the tape, there's probably still questions -- maybe Dyson got him before he got to Edwards and there was some contact by Edwards during the shot but it was a clean block after Stephenson let go of the ball.

Cronin said there was no question -- "I saw a lot of contact, early, before he got into the lane. Once he got into the lane, I thought it was pretty obvious," Cronin said. "But obviously I'm biased."

Said Stephenson, "The big man ran into me and I threw it up and I knew there was one second left. I knew it was going to be a foul."

After the whistle, Stephenson lay on the ground for nearly a minute as his teammates picked him up and the officials gathered around the monitor to see how much time was left on the clock.

"All I was thinking was let me get to the free throw line, because I know I'm going to knock these down," Stephenson said. "That's all I'm thinking."

When 0.7 seconds were put on the clock, he stepped up and shot the first free throw -- it rattled around and in. Then with Cronin and Dion Dixon yelled at Stephenson to miss the shot, because UConn wouldn't be able to catch a rebound and shoot in that time.

"I heard it at the end when I let it go," Stephenson said. "My form was so correct I made it anyway."

Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats

Tags: Deonta Vaugh, Jim Calhoun, Lance Stephenson, Mick Cronin