This sport shouldn’t have even been taking place.
“To be trustworthy, (taking part in towards Samford) wasn’t my first selection,” new Cornell head coach Jon Jaques stated.
However, because the clock ran down on an incredible faculty basketball sport, the Huge Crimson trailed the Bulldogs by one level. A.Ok. Okereke grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to sophomore guard Jake Fiegen, and he knew his job.
“Simply shoot it,” Fiegen stated of his mentality. “And hope it goes in.”
Seconds later, his teammates piled onto him a couple of steps above the best wing. Star guard Nazir Williams jumped onto the media desk and began hyping the gang up. The backboard went pink, and the ball fell by.
Fiegen’s buzzer-beater was the seventh and closing lead change in a sport that noticed each the groups struggle again from deficits of 9 and 13 factors. Cornell (2-0) didn’t want a 3, nevertheless it received one, and guarded its house flooring with an 88-86 victory over Samford (1-1) in an early-season non-conference tilt.
“Everytime you’re capturing by your self,” Fiegen stated. “You think about hitting game-winners. It’s an amazing feeling simply to be there within the current second and make the shot.”
The 2 groups performed 83 possessions of back-and-forth basketball, every workforce making massive runs of their very own, together with two Cornell kill pictures. This comes from the truth that the squads play a singular fashion, as two of the one groups within the nation that full-court press for 40 minutes.
Samford turned the ball over 13 instances, and Cornell did so 18 instances. Neither workforce shot larger than 43% from the sector of 28% from 3, however the rating nonetheless ended within the excessive 80s due to foul pictures and tempo.
“If something (the play fashion) was a deterrent (to scheduling this sport)” Jaques stated. “We don’t play too many groups that do what we do. It’s kind of like wanting in a mirror, besides they’ve only a range of presses and issues they do, and we don’t have that but.”
“We play very related, we see it day by day in follow,” Samford head coach Bucky McMillan stated. “They house the ground, shoot plenty of threes. We house the ground, shoot plenty of threes. We choose up and press, they choose up and press. It’s actually a sport that each groups must be comfy taking part in in.”
Sadly for the Bulldogs, Cornell had the ball final and that’s what made the distinction.
On the earlier possession, Samford ran down the shot clock and Rylan Jones took a contested 3. When it clanked off the rim, Okereke introduced down the rebound and took the ball down the ground. Fiegen had the ball within the nook, and handed up a very good look to drive the baseline and discover Cooper Noard within the reverse nook. When his shot missed, that’s when Fiegen’s good karma kicked in.
The sport received to a one-point margin earlier within the closing minute, when Collin Holloway was whistled for a foul on Okereke.
There didn’t seem like a lot contact, however the officiating crew gave the decision Cornell’s means, and the massive artificial the 2 necessary free throws. He completed with 16 factors, 6 for 10 from the charity stripe, but additionally led the Huge Crimson with 4 rebounds.
The possession earlier than, Jones and Holloway ran a choose and roll, and the sixth 12 months senior dropped in a stunning cross to the Tulane switch for the layup.
They have been the ultimate two of Holloway’s 21 factors, which tied with Fiegen for the sport excessive in his first Division I sport as a Bulldog.
“He was good, actually good,” McMillan stated of his new star. “He can rating in a wide range of methods, he could make threes, he can rating within the block, and he can cross the ball. In order that’s all good. He’s solely going to get higher and higher when everyone will get on the identical web page.”
Samford began the sport with an 11-2 run, however Cornell got here again as soon as threes began dropping for Noard and Fiegen. The Huge Crimson scored 20 factors in below 4 and a half minutes, opening up a 31-21 lead within the later phases of the primary half.
The buckets continued to fall, and Cornell had one other 10-0 run, taking a 50-37 lead proper earlier than the half after a DJ Nix 3.
Nevertheless, Samford wouldn’t go away, Josh Holloway broke the press, and simply received within the lane for a buzzer-beating layup to enter halftime down by 11.
The Bulldogs comeback continued, taking the lead at 64-63 within the second half, and persevering with to be proper there till the very finish.
On the finish of the day, it goes down as the primary Division I win for Jaques, the 36 12 months previous who took cost of the Cornell program that he as soon as helped result in the Candy 16.
“He means quite a bit to me, he means quite a bit to the entire workforce,” Fiegen stated. “We needed him, clearly, to be our head coach as quickly as we discovered (that Brian Earl was leaving for William & Mary), and so we’re very glad for him and really excited for the remainder of the season and extra to come back.”
