Kyle Fogg of Arizona ties the game VS USC (3/06/ 2010)

No one looked Kyle Fogg in the eye.

The game was supposed to be over - the UA sophomore even thought so himself - but USC's Nikola Vucevic was whistled for a foul just as Fogg launched an errant three-pointer at the end of regulation Saturday.

USC coach Kevin O'Neill was incredulous, his face turning the same shade of garnet as the school's football helmets.

Fogg's teammates avoided his gaze, like he had said the wrong thing at a party. Their heads remained bowed.

"We were praying for him," guard Nic Wise joked.

Long before Wise sealed an 86-84 win with a last-second shot at the end of the second overtime, Fogg had to make all three free throws with 0.2 of a second left to extend the game.

USC's players tapped him at the line, trying to rattle the 76 percent free throw shooter.
"C'mon!" he joked after the game. "Trying to get me rattled and pushing me around and stuff."
Coach Sean Miller tried to remind Fogg that he was a good shooter.

He stepped to the line, and made all three.

"The first one felt a little shaky," Fogg said. "The second one was a little shaky too, actually.
"The third one felt good, though."
Miller was in awe.

"I'll tell you, that is the most pressure-packed situation you can have," Miller said. "When you have basically no time on the clock and you're down two and you have to make both, knowing that if that ball hits the rim it's over.

"But to make three? Unless you've been there for that feeling, that one is the putt at The Masters about 10 feet away. It's not for everyone."

Fogg said he felt the foul - "He got me on my arm," he said - but was stunned the officials called it. "I thought it was over," he said.

Miller, diplomatically, said sometimes officials blow the whistle in that situation and sometimes they don't.

O'Neill was infuriated that they did.
"Everybody saw what went on out there," he said after the game. "Everybody knows. They can go home and celebrate all they want. Everybody saw what went on."

The former UA coach was purposefully vague, but irate.
"That's basketball," he said. "It's the way it is. It's unfortunate, because young people play really hard for a long period of time, and didn't get rewarded like maybe we should have."
O'Neill said he didn't get an explanation of the call from referee Bill Kennedy.
"I didn't ask for one," he said.

After Fogg made the free throws, Wise told him, "We've got this." The sophomore, and most of the 14,591 McKale Center faithful, exhaled.

"Just like the world coming off my shoulders," he said.
Fogg, who scored 18 points and made 11 of 15 free throws, was at the center of odd plays all night.
With UA trailing 62-61 toward the end of regulation, Fogg made a wraparound layup, seemingly after the shot clock expired. O'Neill erupted, but the basket counted.

And then, with 34.8 seconds left in the first overtime and the Wildcats up by two, Fogg traveled after being double-teamed in the backcourt.

The Trojans scored on the ensuing possession, and forced a second overtime.
"I just didn't keep my composure," he said.

He redeemed himself quickly, making his only three-pointer of the game to start the second extra period.

One game after setting a career high with 26 points against UCLA, Fogg was just as valuable Saturday.

"Even if you're a great free throw shooter," Miller said, "that's as pressure-packed as it gets."

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Arizona Basketball
• Kyle Fogg
• sean Miller
• USC coach Kevin O'Neill
• UofA
• Nic Wise

[chaddavidroberts]

Kyle Fogg is the most underrated player in the Pac 10.

[southernboygonebad]

Totally epic game. My favorite game at McKale Center this season; and I'm only a freshman. Still got my whole college life ahead of me to bear witness to these glorious moments in Arizona basketball.

Today, we salute u Nic Wise!

Bear down. C yall this Thursday at the Staples Center tournament.

[Hwth10]

@Mr619Trojan Almost as bad a joke as your basketball team...ALMOST. I suggest USC stick to the gridiron. That is of course if they don't run out of illegal money and incentives to give to all their recruits.

[uacatsfan797]

are you serious!!!! you can clearly see his hand get knockede down on the replay!!! open your damn eyes!!!!

[uaazrja2006]

I am a UA fan and there was no foul...I am glad we got the break though.

Fogg was asked in an interview if there was contact..He said definitly he felt it. I would have to disagree!

[ShunyamNiketana]

If there wasn't contact--on the wrist or hand--then why was the shot so far off target?

[iamthegarbageman]

Ok...that's ONE of the VERY FEW times the cats have had "home court advantage". Most of the time it seems like they are playing 7 on that court instead of 5. Many MANY times there have been crap calls against the Cats at HOME. Ticky tack foul on Horne last year that sent USC to the line to seal the game...foul on Wise when trying to get up from the player standing over him...crap foul on Jordan Hill last year during a screen to allow ASU to win. The bottom like is PAC-10 refs SUCK!!!

[schlitt47]

I'm a wildcat fan and I think that call was absolutely horrible. If I was O'Neill, I would've gotten ejected

[Mr619Trojan]

what a freakin joke of a call! complete bs