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This year’s countdown to tipoff includes an overall look at the best play in Arizona Wildcats history, which will be determined as the days leading up to tipoff. Today marks 39 days until Arizona starts its 2014-15 season against Mount St. Mary’s on Nov. 14 at McKale Center. Along with the mentioning of the top plays, the countdown will once again display the top players who wore the number that corresponds with the day. The following is the next top play (they will be listed randomly during the countdown until a determination is made in a bracket):
Salim Stoudamire had a trifecta of buzzer-beaters in 2005: UCLA, ASU and Oklahoma State
Ask ASU fans and they will say Salim Stoudamire shuffled his feet and traveled before hitting a game-winning shot with sixth-tenths of a second left at Tempe in March 5, 2005.
Ask Arizona fans and they will point to the scoreboard. Arizona: 70. ASU: 68.
Stoudamire’s game-winning shot accomplished three objectives for the 11th-ranked Wildcats.
It beat Arizona’s in-state rival, clinched the Pac-10 title outright and gave coach Lute Olson his 305th victory in the conference, passing UCLA legend John Wooden as the winningest coach in the conference’s history.
Stoudamire’s 14-foot jumper caused a mixed reaction from the equally-divided Arizona-ASU crowd of 14,141 in Tempe.
Arizona State coach Rob Evans told the Associated Press of the non-call: “I don’t get into officiating. I mean, you saw the play.”
With 45 seconds left and the game, the Wildcats had possession. Hassan Adams, a junior forward, missed a layup.
Stoudamire grabbed the loose rebound with 30 seconds left. After Olson called a timeout, Stoudamire took ball at midcourt and dribbled the ball there as the clock wound down.
Instead of taking the shot from beyond the arc, as Stoudamire did earlier that season against UCLA at McKale Center, he drove to the middle of the lane and drained a double-clutch jumper over an ASU defender for the victory.
It was his only field goal of the second half. He scored 18 of his team-high 22 points in the first half.
Adams provided the spark for Arizona in the second half, scoring all 15 of his points and adding seven rebounds.
“The second half is what I do,” Stoudamire told the Arizona Daily Wildcat.
“The second half of the game wins ball games, so I got to assert myself.”
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ARIZONA’S TOP PLAYS LISTED SO FAR (Click on link to access blogs that pertain to the following)
— Nick Johnson gives Arizona fans Christmas Day gift with game-saving blocked shot against San Diego State in 2012.
— MoMo Jones’ 16-foot bank shot at the buzzer in 2010 adds to New York flavor of Arizona winning shots at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.
— Chris Mills’ buzzer-beating jumper in regulation gives Arizona life in its 105-94 overtime victory over UCLA in 1991.
— Kenny Lofton’s behind-the-back, double-pump dunk caps rout of Oregon in 1988, ranks as one of college hoops’ best dunks of that season.
— Salim Stoudamire’s game-winning long-distance three-pointer downs UCLA in 2005.
— Derrick Williams’ emphatic blocked shot against Washington in 2011 saves game for Arizona.
— Khalid Reeves’ coast-to-coast game-winner with less the five seconds left beats Stanford at Maples Pavilion in 1992.
— Steve Kerr’s first shot after father’s assassination in 1984, a 25-foot jumper against ASU, gives him hero status in Tucson and contributes to Arizona’s emergence in the Pac-10.
— Sean Rook’s last-second bank shot at Stanford in 1991 gives the Wildcats a 78-76 victory.
— Salim Stoudamire’s game-winning jumper against Oklahoma State in the 2005 Sweet 16.
— Sean Elliott’s free throw breaks Lew Alcindor’s conference scoring record in 1989.
— Craig McMillan’s McClutch shot at the buzzer from full-court pass from Steve Kerr against Oregon State in 1986.
— Arizona 6-10 center Bob Elliott’s 35-foot jumper at the buzzer beats Kansas State in 1973.
— Sean Elliott downs Duke with three-pointer over Danny Ferry in last minute in 1989.
— Miles Simon’s 65-foot bank shot as time expired to beat Cincinnati in Phoenix in 1996.
— Tom Tolbert’s no-look, twisting shot against North Carolina in the 1988 Elite Eight.
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Former Arizona Wildcats Mo Tangara and Salim Stoudamire at a recent NBA D-League trial workout in Bakersfield, Calif.
Look who I found, my boy Salim Stoudamire. Arizona alumni reunion #dreamneverstop pic.twitter.com/toKeeInimu
— Mo Tangara (@MoTangara) September 19, 2014
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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