Hi and welcome to The Dream Season Podcast, an oral history of the 1989-90 UConn men’s basketball season, also known as, The Dream Season.
This Episode 14, The Shot
After dispatching California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the 30-5 Huskies advanced to the East Regional Finals, more commonly known as the Sweet Sixteen.
The site for the East Regional Finals was the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. UConn was familiar with the building, as they had defeated Seton Hall there, 79-76 on January 13th.
This would be UConn’s fourth appearance in the Sweet 16, after trips in 1956, 1964 and 1976.
This would also be the first-ever meeting between UConn and Clemson.
The Clemson Tigers were the ACC regular season champions, with a record of 26-8. They were ranked #17 in the final Associated Press poll.
Clemson fell to Virginia in the ACC Tournament semifinals and earned a 5 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
They were making their third trip to the NCAA Tournament in the past four years.
The Tigers faced much more adversity than the Huskies in the first two rounds of the tournament.
They had snuck past BYU in the first round, 49-47. Clemson shot 33% for the game and trailed by 7 points with less than 3 minutes left. A missed layup by BYU as time expired allowed the Tigers to advance.
In their second round matchup against LaSalle, Clemson trailed by 19 points in the first half, 41-22, before eventually winning 79-75.
Led by six-year head coach Cliff Ellis, the Tigers, like the Huskies, were defined by their defense. However, instead of a relentless press, the Tigers relied on an intimidating presence under the basket.
6’ 11” senior center Elden Campbell was joined on the blocks by 6’ 11” junior forward Dale Davis. The pair, who averaged a combined 32 points and 19 rebounds per game, earned the nickname the “Duo of Doom”. Besides controlling the boards, the tandem also defended the rim extremely well, with a combined 151 blocked shots on the season.
The Duo of Doom was joined in the frontcourt by 6’ 7” junior forward Sean Tyson as well as two seniors in the back court, point guard Marion “Money” Cash and Derrick Forrest.
As evidenced by their first two games in the tournament, Clemson demonstrated a knack for the big comeback during the season. They had overcome deficits of 19, 17, 15, 13 and 11 to win over the course of the year.
Rod Sellers, one of UConn’s key weapons in trying to neutralize the Duo of Doom, was still nursing his sore left knee. He did not practice on Monday, but did manage some limited practice time on Tuesday and Wednesday. Coach Calhoun was optimistic that he could count on Sellers in some capacity on Thursday.
The Huskies had already successfully dealt with a formidable inside presence this season, twice actually, in defeating Georgetown, who featured Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.
Said Calhoun [QUOTE]: “The key thing for us once again is to continue to put pressure on the backcourt and on the ball the entire 40 minutes so the inside does not become a factor.” [END QUOTE]
The team left for New Jersey after practice on Tuesday. Later Tuesday evening, a lottery was held in Gampel Pavilion to determine which lucky students would be able to purchase some of the 192 student tickets available. For $75, a student would receive a ticket to the Clemson game, as well as the Elite Eight game on Saturday should UConn advance, as well as bus transportation from Storrs to East Rutherford.
For those who couldn’t attend in person, fans could watch the game on a big screen TV in Gampel Pavilion for just $1.
On Wednesday, all four teams participating in the East Regional Finals, UConn, Clemson, UCLA and Duke, held an open practice at the Brendan Byrne Arena.
Finally, on Thursday, March 22nd, gameday had arrived.
Here’s WFSB’s Gerry Brooks and Phil Andrews to preview the matchup:
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Gerry Brooks makes one final, prescient point to sports anchor Dave Smith prior to the start of the game:
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CBS Sports Dick Stockton and Hubie Brown set the stage from the Meadowlands:
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Toraino Walker made his first start of the season, in place of Rod Sellers. Toraino made his presence felt immediately, grabbing a defensive rebound and scoring the first points of the game on the ensuing possession.
Poor shooting was the theme early on, as both teams combined to shoot 1-11 from the field to begin the game, scoring a combined 5 points over the first four minutes.
The lead swapped back and forth until the Huskies took a 9 to 7 lead on a Rod Sellers offensive rebound and put back with 13 minutes left in the first half.
Leading 15-9 with 11:54 left in the half, the UConn press began to rattle Clemson.
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Over the next five minutes of gametime, the UConn lead would grow to 12 at 29-17. Clemson then embarked on a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to 5, 29-24, capped off by a Sean Tyson jumper with 3 and half minutes left until halftime.
Enter John Gwynn.
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After Gwynn’s back to back hoops pushed the UConn lead back up to 9, Chris Smith tacked on five of his team-leading 13 first half points, to give the Huskies a 38-29 lead heading into halftime.
The UConn defense forced 16 Clemson turnovers in the half, which equaled Clemson’s season average for turnovers for an entire game.
The Huskies, and Chris Smith, did not suffer a letdown at the start of the second half.
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UConn led 50 to 35 after Smith’s fourth 3 pointer of the game.
And they weren’t done. Scott Burrell sank two free throws to push the lead to 16 at 56-40, with 13:20 left.
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Shortly after, Clemson’s Dale Davis was called for a technical foul for shoving Murray Williams out of frustration. Chris Smith made both free throws and when Scott Burrell made one of two free throws with 12 minutes and 36 seconds left in the game, UConn led by 19, 59-40.
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Despite the deficit and all of the momentum on UConn’s side, the Tigers weren’t hanging their heads. They chipped away over the next few minutes, climbing to within 15.
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With 4:59 left in the game, UConn led by 12, 67-55.
Stockton and Brown reminded the viewers about Clemson’s penchant for making the big comeback:
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After two Clemson free throws, the Tigers began to increase the tension for the Huskies and their fans.
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The Tigers weren’t done.
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With 3:28 left, Tate George made two free throws to bump the lead back up to 4, 69-65.
After a Clemson miss, UConn regained possession and worked the clock. Rod Sellers was fouled with 2:54 left, but missed the front end of a 1 and 1 and the Tigers controlled the rebound.
On Clemson’s next possession, Dale Davis tapped in a missed 3 point attempt to make the score UConn 69, Clemson 67, with 2:30 remaining in the game.
Following a UConn timeout, the Huskies once again milked the clock, with Nadav Henefeld attempting a 3 pointer with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. Henefeld’s shot missed badly and Clemson regained possession with 1:40 left.
The active 2-3 zone by UConn prevented Clemson from having a good look at a shot until Marion Cash attempted a 3 pointer with two seconds left on the shot clock. Tate George defended Cash perfectly and blocked the shot out of bounds.
The result? Clemson retained possession with 59 seconds left in the game and had a fresh 45 seconds on the shot clock. Prior to 1991, the shot clock would reset after any shot attempt by the shooter.
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After the Clemson turnover, it was UConn’s ball with 21.3 seconds left. Henefeld looked to inbound the ball under the Clemson basket.
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Henefeld’s pass was deflected out of bounds and after a brief discussion, the officials awarded the ball to Clemson with 17.5 seconds remaining and the score still UConn 69, Clemson 67.
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David Young inbounded the ball and shortly after stepping onto the court, received the pass back and drained a wide-open 3 pointer directly in front of Clemson’s bench to give the Tigers the improbable 70-69 lead.
Young’s 3 pointer capped off a 30-10 Clemson run over the final 12 minutes and 25 seconds.
UConn promptly called time out, stopping the clock with 11.3 seconds remaining.
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Tate George had an open 16 footer from the right elbow but missed it short. Clemson’s Sean Tyson grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled by Scott Burrell, stopping the clock with 1.6 seconds left.
Tyson, a 61% free throw shooter on the season, went to the line to shoot a 1 and 1, with a chance to put Clemson up by 3.
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Here’s Tyson recalling his thought process as he stepped to the line:
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When Scott Burrell grabbed the miss and called time out, he yelled loud enough to be heard back in Storrs.
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Rod Sellers:
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Wayne Norman:
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Tim Tolokan:
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Following the UConn timeout, Clemson also took a time out.
On the UConn sidelines, Jim Calhoun was the lone positive voice in an ocean of doubt.
Here’s Calhoun, Tate, Scott & Smitty from 1990:
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Chris Smith:
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It wasn’t just the players who were fearing the worst. UConn fans everywhere, as well as radio play by play broadcasters.
Here’s Bob Huessler:
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Assistant coach Dave Leitao:
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In the Clemson huddle, cautious optimism abounded due to seemingly insurmountable odds that faced the Huskies.
Sean Tyson:
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Scott Burrell, with his Major League Baseball powered arm and the accuracy of a NFL All-Pro quarterback, threw a perfect pass to Tate George, who managed to run a corner route to get open, catch the pass, turn around and shoot the ball juuuuust in time to beat the buzzer and drain the shot to give the Huskies the miraculous victory.
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Here’s Tyson on his defensive philosophy during that last second:
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Hubie and Dick catch up with Smitty, Tate & Coach immediately following the game:
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Here’s more from Calhoun, Tate and Scott from the postgame interviews:
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UConn’s director of Athletics Communications, Tim Tolokan, recalls the lack of discussion regarding the timing of Tate’s shot:
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CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz and Mike Francesa explained to viewers after the game why the shot was good:
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Jim Calhoun agrees:
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There were also two fantastic radio broadcasts of the final play.
The first comes from the UConn radio station, WHUS. John Tuite and Andrew Das with the call:
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As great as John and Andrew’s call is, the more iconic call and the one that is heard more often all these years later, is from Bob Huessler of the Connecticut Radio Network.
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Bob’s partner on the air, Wayne Norman, recalls the moment:
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Bob looks back on one of the defining moments of his illustrious career:
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Tim Tolokan:
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Scott Burrell tried his best to recreate Bob’s call:
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Jim Calhoun reflects on the Clemson comeback and the play that defined the season:
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Finally, here’s Tate:
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Coming up on the next episode of The Dream Season Podcast, the Huskies are just one win away from advancing to the Final Four. Standing in their way, the Duke Blue Devils.
The Dream Season Podcast is researched, written & produced by me, Matt Edwards.
Written sources for this episode are the Hartford Courant archives. Audio content is from interviews I conducted, YouTube and Wayne Norman’s archives.
You can connect with the show via Twitter and Instagram at DREAMSEASONPOD
If you have any memories to share about anything I just mentioned, want to correct me on something I screwed up or just have general feedback to give, send me an email at dreamseasonpodATgmail.com or call and leave me a message at (903) 884 - EIGHTY NINE NINETY.
After I’m done with the regular episodes of the show, I’d love to have at least one episode that consists entirely of your memories of the Dream Season. Either leave a message at the above number or email me with an audio recording of your recollections, along with your name and location, and I will include them in that episode.
As always, thank you so much for listening!!