Okafor OK for Huskies
It was a finish so improbable, so dizzying, that when it was over, it was hard to reconstruct, even for those in the middle of it.
“I don’t remember the comeback, to tell you the truth,” said Emeka Okafor, who led Connecticut as it roared from eight points down with 3 1/2 minutes left to stun Duke, 79-78, in front of 44,417 Saturday in the Alamodome.
“I just know we all believed, and the next thing you know, we’re up, the game’s over, and we’re all hopping around, celebrating.”
Forget all the talk about the shot-altering presence of Okafor.
Connecticut (32-6) will play Georgia Tech for the national championship Monday because of his game-altering presence.
With Okafor on the bench because of foul trouble, Duke (31-6) was on its way to beating Connecticut and turning the NCAA title game into nothing more than a rematch of an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal.
With Okafor in the game, Connecticut was a force again.
“He played like he was the player of the year in the second half,” Duke’s Daniel Ewing said.
After picking up two fouls in the first four minutes of the first half and his third early in the second, Okafor played only 22 minutes in the game but had 18 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and an assist.
Connecticut never led in the second half until 25 seconds remained, when Okafor watched his own shot go in and out, saw teammate Josh Boone tip the rebound, then grabbed it, spun and scored for a 76-75 lead.
“I just saw this orange object floating in the air, saying, ‘Grab me,’ ” Okafor said. “I grabbed it, spun, saw the rim, thought it would be a good idea to put it in, and that’s what I did.”
On the next possession, Duke three-point shooter J.J. Redick drove the lane and was stripped of the ball. But with Duke screaming for a foul on that play, Connecticut’s Rashad Anderson went to the free throw line after being fouled by Duke’s Nick Horvath and made two shots for a three-point lead with 12 seconds left.
Redick missed a three-pointer short with five seconds left, and Okafor, fouled on the rebound, made one of two free throws for a four-point lead with three seconds left.
That made the lead safe, and completed a 12-0 Connecticut run.
Chris Duhon banked in a long three-pointer for the final one-point margin at the buzzer.
“I mean, it was pretty draining,” Okafor said. “You know, things are going your way, then things are not. You’re back in it, you’re back out of it.
“I mean, it’s easy to look up at the clock, see yourself down by eight, with next to nothing on the clock, seemingly, and just give up. It’s hard to believe you can do it, and put the effort in to actually make it happen.”
The game was a rematch of the 1999 title game won by Connecticut, but for much of the game, it was not a classic.
Duke led by as many as 10 in the first half and 11 in the second half after Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun put Okafor on the bench for the final 16 minutes of the first half because he picked up two fouls guarding Duke freshman Luol Deng, who led the Blue Devils with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do,” Okafor said. “My first time in the Final Four, I didn’t want to miss a minute. I mean, it was eating me up inside.
“I blew off steam for like two or three minutes. I knew I just couldn’t stay sour-faced for the first half. I didn’t want to be a cancer for the team, so I just cheered them on. But it was real difficult.”
He returned, to sequences such as the one where he blocked a shot by Deng on one end, then scored on a turnaround on the other.
But Connecticut’s foul trouble gave way to Duke’s in a game so affected by a whistle-happy officiating crew that both the Duke pep band and UConn fans in the stands chanted “Let them play!”
After Duke’s inside force, Shelden Williams, fouled out with five minutes left and was followed by Shavlik Randolph, Duke turned to Nick Horvath inside and had no defense to answer Okafor.
A three-pointer by Anderson turned the lead from eight points to five points with 2:41 left.
It was three after two free throws by Ben Gordon, and Okafor cut it to one on a jumper with 1:18 left before staking Connecticut to its first lead on his spin move with 25 seconds left.
“I think we just settled late in the game,” Duhon said. “We settled for jump shots instead of realizing we were in a double bonus and we needed to penetrate, hopefully get fouled, and knock down big free throws.
“I think in those last three minutes we settled for a lot of jump shots instead of being aggressive like we were the rest of the game.”
Connecticut won by shooting 62.5% in the second half, and by making the crucial defensive stops down the stretch.
“I told the kids, one thing Duke has besides terrific talent, they’ve got the champion’s heart,” Calhoun said. “I thought they were going to lose three times against Xavier, and they wouldn’t lose.
“The only way you’re going to beat them, is to beat them.”