Indiana University
9-2
Butler
7-3
Phinisee Finishes Butler at the Buzzer; Morgan Scores 35 and Surpasses 1,000 Career Points
12/15/2018 7:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS – Yeah, go ahead, start calling him Rob Finishee.
Indiana freshman guard Rob Phinisee, shooting from approximately Broad Ripple, beat the buzzer and Butler's gritty Bulldogs with a 3-point bomb Saturday, 71-68.
Fellow frosh Romeo Langford put one arm up as Phinisee let fly from 30 feet, well beyond the key, and raised a second arm in the customary 3-point signal as the shot neared the hoop.
Romeo knew. And split-seconds later, so did a raucous Bankers Life Fieldhouse crowd of 18,743.
The ?? from @robphinisee1 for the win! pic.twitter.com/7OSm6H0TU9
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) December 15, 2018
And the first guy to Phinisee after the bomb detonated was IU senior Juwan Morgan, who bear-hugged Phinisee and wouldn't let go, all the way to the north baseline during what became a celebratory Hoosier scrum.
Just like Morgan had adamantly refused to let the game get away.
Morgan, for the second straight season, had a Crossroads performance for the ages. He had 34 points in last year's comeback overtime win over Notre Dame. Then he did that showing one better Saturday.
Butler led almost all the way, but Morgan's career-high 35 points helped keep the Hoosiers within striking distance – until they did, in fact, strike down the stretch.
Welcome to the club, J-Mo!@JuwanMorgan is the 52nd Hoosier to hit 1,000 points. pic.twitter.com/D3wNQulYPg
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) December 15, 2018
"Rob obviously will be the hero with the game winner," IU coach Archie Miller said. "But clearly there's a lot of guys that did great things – Juwan Morgan had as good of a game as I've been involved in in a long time."
Morgan hit 12 of 14 shots from the field, including crucial 4 of 6 accuracy from 3-point range, and made all seven of his free throws.
The Hoosiers (9-2) needed every bit of that.
Finals week was over for IU, but Butler made it clear early that the tests were not.
After the teams combined to hit just 3 of the first 12 attempts from the field, the Bulldogs found the range first. Back-to-back 3s from Paul Jorgensen and Sean McDermott made it 10-4, Butler.
Indiana had the same number of turnovers as it had points by the second media timeout, at 11:50 of the first half, trailing 15-6.
Morgan summarily decided to change that trajectory.
He scored inside to make it 15-8 and, after a Nate Fowler bucket for Butler, Morgan hit a 3 from the right wing, then a nifty lefty drive in the lane to make it 17-13.
Butler (7-3) built its bulge back to nine, 25-16, but Morgan answered with another 3. The pattern was set. The Bulldogs would try to pull away. Morgan wouldn't let them.
"If he's hitting 3s, he's a real problem," Butler coach LaVall Jordan said of Morgan. "We know how good he is inside. He got a lot of work done in there, as well. But if he's making his free throws, 7-for-7 tonight …
"He stepped up and made 3s from the corner. I think it was just his competitive will."
By the time Morgan made a pair of charities to cap the first half scoring, IU was within 38-34, and he already had 18 points – and, in the process, Morgan had become the 52nd Hoosier to score 1,000 career points.
Indiana was outshooting Butler (.519 to .444) and rebounds were even at halftime, but the Bulldogs had 11 points off turnovers (to IU's 3) and the Bulldogs had seven offensive rebounds to IU's 4. Consequently, Butler had 36 shots from the field to IU's 27 at that juncture.
Butler stayed just as tough after halftime as before it.
In the wake of a near-steal by IU with 17:16 left, Butler guard Kamar Baldwin outfought everybody for the ball and got it to McDermott, whose 3 from well beyond the key got the lead to Bulldog lead to double-digits, 49-39.
Back-to-back 3s from Morgan and Devonte Green got IU within 51-45 with 13:34 left and, from that point on, the Hoosiers were definitely in the hunt.
Indiana pulled within 61-58 by the 6:56 media timeout, then got within 61-60 on a fine Langford baseline drive. But ensuing IU chances to lead went begging and McDermott made another 3 in transition to make it 64-60, Butler, at the 4:20 mark.
Again, Morgan made sure his team stayed close. He hit two free throws, then made a steal leading to two more free throws, and it was a 64-64 tie with 3:54 to play.
Indiana finally led when Phinisee ripped away a big defensive rebound that led to Morgan's baseline lefty runner to make it 66-64 at 3:05.
After a Baldwin drive tied the game again, IU went up 68-66 when Phinisee went baseline and slickly fed Justin Smith for a dunk.
"Yeah, (Rob) kind of probed it, baseline, kept his dribble, didn't panic," Miller recalled. "Justin circled into the area. He delivered a really nice bounce pass on that."
"Tried to get a two-man game going on with that one with Romeo and Juwan. Give Butler credit, it continued to blow up actions and screens. (Phinisee) got around the corner, was able to make an assist."
And that was a precursor of the dramatic denouement.
Butler's defense blew up the play Indiana was trying to run at the end. Phinisee made sure that didn't matter.
Baldwin's clutch 8-foot running banker at the baseline forged the game's last tie at 68-68 to set up the decisive sequence.
Miller called timeout at 0:18.7 to plan the final possession. He wanted to get the ball to Langford in position where Langford could drive the lane with his dominant right hand for the same sort of shot that sank Northwestern on Dec. 1.
"We'd run the action a few times in the game," Miller said. "Give them credit, they really tried to do their best to take the ball and not let Romeo get a catch, which is what we were trying to get. Either we didn't screen, because I didn't see it, or it got blown up."
Butler's Aaron Thompson did a great job denying Langford the ball and Green, handling it on the left wing, was stymied. Phinisee saw the situation, and knew time was about to elapse, so he made himself available.
"I knew there was probably around, I think, two or three seconds left when (Green) picked up his dribble," Phinisee said. "I just ran over because I saw Romeo being denied."
Phinisee had to get the shot up in a hurry, but he squared his shoulders and was able to deliver it with normal jump-shot technique. It was on-line, true, from the moment it left his hand."Is that the biggest shot you've hit in your career?"
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 15, 2018
"Yeah, so far." pic.twitter.com/lkdQtet9k0
"We figured obviously Morgan and Langford (were the options) … " Jordan said. "We wanted to try to take those guys away, and we did.
"(But) I've been telling our staff that, on film, Phinisee has been as impressive as any guard I've seen. He's poised, a tough kid. He ended up with it. I thought we did a good job containing, didn't let Langford get the ball ... "
Only to see Phinisee deal out the ultimate basketball death, anyhow.
"I saw a breakdown in the play we originally called," Morgan said. "I saw (Rob) go up and make a veteran shot. Like I said earlier, they're not really freshmen any more, as you can tell from that shot, from how they carry themselves. That was a savvy move by Rob, and he knocked it down."
That shot left Phinisee with nine points, as Langford's 13 was the only Hoosier double-figure scoring to augment Morgan's, but Phinisee added five assists (against just one turnover), five rebounds and a steal.
McDermott (20 points) and Baldwin (16) were in double-figures for the Bulldogs.
The Hoosiers finished with .519 shooting to Butler's .444, and hit 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range after halftime.
None bigger, obviously, than the last.
Phinisee – the same guy who stripped Lamar Stevens of the ball to cement the win at Penn State, and who hit two monster 3s late to help beat Louisville – knows when it is dagger-time.
Asked post-game if it was the biggest shot in his career, Phinisee's response before the CBS television audience was as cold-blooded as his final shot Saturday:
"Yeah. So far."
