Indiana Victory Has an ‘Air-ie’ Resemblance to ’83 NCAA Final

Give A.J. Guyton an assist--well, sort of.

Guyton had a career-high 34 points, but it was his missed shot--an air-ball--that Lynn Washington caught and put in the basket with a half-second left in overtime to give No. 16-ranked Indiana an 81-79 victory over No. 5 Michigan State Saturday.

“It was a great pass on my part,” Guyton said, joking. “No, he just had a great rebound. I had a terrible shot and he tipped it in. That’s the leading rebounding team in the nation and we knew they can just beat you on the boards alone. We had a lot of blocking-out drills in practice and that helped us.”

The basket was Washington’s only one of the game. The play was reminiscent of the 1983 NCAA championship game in which Lorenzo Charles grabbed Derek Whittenburg’s air-ball and slammed it through the hoop as time ran out to give underdog North Carolina State a 54-52 victory over Houston.

The loss dropped Michigan State, 21-7 overall and 11-3 in the Big Ten, into a tie for the conference lead with Purdue, which plays Penn State today. Indiana is 19-6 and 9-5.

Michigan State, which had a nation-best 13.9-rebound margin over its opponents, outrebounded the Hoosiers, 39-30. But 22 turnovers by the Spartans allowed the Hoosiers to take 19 more shots. Guyton made 13 of 24 shots and all five of his free throws.