re: Another Look at the Game Winning Shot (In Pictures)

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gumbeaux
Another Look at the Game Winning Shot (In Pictures)
Quills is claiming he tipped the ball which may have helped the shot go in.

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Yeah, I saw this on the arky news

Geaux Tigers!

I must say ,I was very pleasantly surprised at the ending there. When I saw gray dribbling the air out the ball. I screamed out "fricking really , this is the play, you're going to just dribble and throw up a shifty contested 3 like you're Kobe, I'm so done with this -OMG I LOVE THIS TEAM!! !!!"

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that is the 1 play that they run to perfection

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only problem is that they havent executed it

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nice

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I don't agree at all. It was meant to clear the paint so Grey could drive to the basket. He was doing it all day. Then he got doubled, then tripled. They did not want him driving. He found a last second wide open Hornsby.

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Exactly!! It was a great result that came from two good individual plays, but let's not act like it was some masterful design drawn up on the grease-board

It was LSU one and only end-of-game play. We seen it before. The only difference is that Gray gave it up this time.

1. Gray waited entirely too long to make his move. Even Len Elmore yelled "gotta go!" He's still standing well outside of the timeline with 6.0 seconds left.

2. TQ's motion brings his defender RIGHT INTO Gray. I doubt the plan was create an unnecessary double-team on Gray to cut off the lane. I guess, unless TQ getting himself in position for the ball to be kicked to him for a 28 footer at the buzzer was part of the play.

3. With Gray taking so long to initiate the play, even if he is able to split the (now) triple team he likely would not have had enough time to A. get in the lane and kick to Hornsby/Patterson for a shot or B. Get to the bucket before Harris can block the shot

What makes the play is Hornsby. He reads Qualls slightly drifting in to cut off Gray, and instead of stay put at the wing, he drifts into the corner to free himself for a look. He is the only guy on LSU's team that understands how to move without the basketball to get a good shot. He did EXACTLY that on a last seconds play that otherwise would have been a disaster.

Everyone notices Patterson's reaction. The reason is that the play was clearly set up for him. Gray should have never taken so long to make his move. It threw the timing off. The play was for him to get into the lane (as he had all game) and either A. get to the basket or B. suck Harris in for a kick to a wide open Patterson who was 6-8 from deep at that point. Gray got caught up in traffic on a poor play by him (waiting to long to initiate) and Hornsby's savvy bailed him out

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Fair points, but as I said I don't think Gray anticipated Portis making the switch and denying the drive as much as he did. Had Portis not done that, Gray's path to the basket would've been much more succinct and TQ's defender doesn't have a chance to double team.

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When it gets that late in the clock you're switching everything. Martin comes up to set the screen. In doing so he 1. brings Portis away from the bucket and 2. forces what should be a mismatch on the switch, Portis trying to stay in front of Gray. Gray, as he does often, hesitates in using the screen and allows Portis to get back in front of him on the switch. The play was to force that switch knowing that Gray should be able to beat Portis off the dribble and get into the lane. At that point he's got three options 1. get to the basket (like at WVU) if no help comes off the wing; 2. kick to your best shooter, Hornsby and 3. Kick to your hottest shooter all game, Patterson. He never got into the lane because he allowed himself to get cut off and left himself no time to split the defense. Outstanding job by Hornsby to make himself available

Not necessarily a horrible design (at lot of teams run this type of play). It was just nearly a disaster by taking too long to get into it. Gray should be a nightmare for opposing teams in that situation. With good execution LSU should always get a good look to end the game.

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Everyone notices Patterson's reaction. The reason is that the play was clearly set up for him. Gray should have never taken so long to make his move. It threw the timing off. The play was for him to get into the lane (as he had all game) and either A. get to the basket or B. suck Harris in for a kick to a wide open Patterson who was 6-8 from deep at that point. Gray got caught up in traffic on a poor play by him (waiting to long to initiate) and Hornsby's savvy bailed him out

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The play wasn't set up for Patterson. The play was set to have multiple options.

TQ's motion around the top was would force Arkansas to switch or go through the fake handoff and also creates space for your 2 best shooters in the short corners.

Now our coaches/players might have thought Gray would easily penetrate and weak side help would leave Patterson open, but Arkansas triple teamed Gray and he made the right play to get it to the open shooter.

The play didn't take too long to initiate, you want to have the last shot in a tie game.

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Kinda disappointed in Patterson. He really looked like he was pissed after the shot, 0 reaction from him

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I don't understand his reaction at all. Didn't seem that happy to beat a ranked team at the buzzer.

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his defender stays home then you just brought Gray into a triple team. Luckily he follows TQ just enough.

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If Arkansas doesn't account for TQ, he curls that down the lane. If a defender picks him up then he stays spaced on the 3 point line to try and open the lane for Gray and short corners for the shooters