His team trailed by one and the clock was rushing toward double zeroes.
From the top of the circle, Ohio State guard Mike Conley Jr. began to drive toward the basket.
All through Sunday afternoon at Value City Arena, No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 2 Ohio State had brawled furiously and attacked aggressively and staged a drama that was rarely pretty but was always compelling.
Now, it was down to this: A callow freshman controlling the ball.
Three weeks earlier, after his team’s victory at Michigan State, Ohio State coach Thad Matta was asked about Conley’s calm, which is borderline eerie and never escapes him.
He laughed after hearing that description and said, “His pulse rate never rises above 30.”
That was true Sunday when the tension was thick and the pressure was palpable.
Conley knifed down the lane, ignored the Badgers closing in on him and put up a 4-foot floater that bounded in with 4.3 seconds remaining to give the Buckeyes (26-13, 14-1) a 49-48 victory and their second straight Big Ten title.
“I knew I was going to make it,” Conley said. “I had a feeling. During the timeout, I had a feeling I was going to get the ball and I was going to make it.”
Trailing by a point, the Badgers had called a timeout and then another, finally getting the ball in to senior guard Kammron Taylor.
“The first look was to Tuck (Alando Tucker) cutting to the ball, but they took that away,” Taylor explained.
“I tried to push the ball and get as close to the basket as I could and draw some contact. . . . But you’re moving so fast and there’s only three seconds on the clock, they were telling us we only needed a two. So I didn’t want to stop and try to shoot a three. I just tried to get in as deep as I could.”
Taylor got within 12 feet of the basket and then he rose with the Buckeyes’ Ron Lewis there with him.
“Not giving them an open look, that was the main thing,” Lewis said. “I didn’t know I was going to block it until he put the ball in my face.”
But Lewis did block it to preserve the victory for Ohio State. It probably also guaranteed the Buckeyes a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers (26-4, 12-3) suffered their second straight loss since they climbed to the top of the rankings last Monday.
“Disappointing,” Tucker said when asked to describe the Badgers’ week.
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And Tucker was one reason it unfolded that way. Last Tuesday, in their loss at Michigan State, he had managed just two second-half points. Against Ohio State he didn’t do much better, scoring just four in the final 20 minutes.
Lewis stymied him in Ohio State’s man-to-man defense and the Buckeyes smothered him when set up in a zone. He went 5-for-15 overall and 0-for-5 on three-pointers to finish with just 12 points.
The Badgers also lost Brian Butch to a damaged elbow midway through the first half and struggled as Taylor went 24 minutes without scoring a point while missing seven straight shots.
As a team they shot only 35.1 percent and Taylor, 78.6 percent from the line on the season, missed the front of a one-an-one that could have put them up by three points with 20.3 seconds remaining.
“I knew I was going to hit those free throws,” Taylor said.
But he didn’t and that opened up the opportunity for Conley, who was the Buckeyes’ best, smartest and most polished player of the day.
Greg Oden, their 7-foot freshman center, was an intimidator inside, blocking four shots and altering countless others.
But he scored just 11 points and grabbed five rebounds and traveled three times while working against the Badgers’ Jason Chappell, who repeatedly pushed Oden out of his comfort zone down low.
Ivan Harris led the Buckeyes with 13 points while going 5-for-9 from the field and 3-for-6 on three-pointers.
But like most of his team’s other wings he often ignored and failed to feed Oden, instead launching quick and unnecessary jumpers when patience was demanded.
That helped keep Wisconsin in a game that roared through the second half with no more than five points separating the teams. Conley then embraced the big moment and made it his own.
“Coach told me to make a play,” he said. “That pretty much says do whatever. Whatever they give you, take advantage of it.”
He did, helping to deliver the Big Ten title to the Buckeyes in their final home game of the season. Afterward, the Ohio State fans started the expected chant.
“One more year! One more year!” they chanted and, at her seat, Oden’s mother held a finger to her lips as if to say “shhhh.”
“I thought they were talking about Ivan,” Greg Oden joked. “That decision will be made later,” he said seriously when asked if he would pass up the NBA draft and return for his sophomore year.
No one asked Mike Conley about his future, but, really, there was no need. It is as bright as his present, which is simply radiant.
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1 vs. 2
The top-ranked men’s basketball teams in the AP poll have played 37 times. No. 1 has a 21-16 edge.
11.8
Average victory for No. 1; largest differential is 41 (Kentucky 81, St. John’s 40 in 1951). No. 1 has won by 1 twice.
10.1
Average by No. 2; largest spread 32 (UCLA 101, Houston 69 in 1968). No. 2 has won by 1 twice.
7
Times game decided the NCAA champion, last in 2005 (UNC 75, Illinois 70).
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