It wasn’t looking good for the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday. Playing against a Temple Owls team that was able to slow the pace, simply put, Indiana looked vulnerable.
With 2:56 left to play, Temple led Indiana 52-48 and, at that point, it seemed the season hinged on the outcome of every possession.
Step on up, Christian Watford. Once again, Watford saved the day for Indiana with what will now be deemed, “The WatSwat”.
Indiana was able to defeat Temple 58-52 in Dayton, Ohio in front of a heavily pro-Indiana crowd, led by 16 points from Victor Oladipo and, quite possibly, the biggest play of Watford’s career.
The Hoosiers used a 10-0 run in the final 2:56 to propel them to victory.
With 2:20 left in the game and Temple maintaining a 52-50 lead, Temple’s star Khalif Wyatt swung a pass from the right wing to sophomore Anthony Lee underneath the basket. Lee appeared wide open for an easy layup.
However, Watford had different plans.
“I was on the weak side, and I was kind of holed up too much, and Wyatt put enough air on the ball for me to get it, and I got in at the end and challenged the shot, and I blocked him,” said Watford, who now has two of the most infamous plays in Indiana history.
“That was a big, big play,” said Fran Dunphy, Temple’s head coach.
“There’s no question about it.”
The “WatShot” against Kentucky last year may have been the play that will be forever linked to the return of Indiana Basketball, but Watford’s block on Lee saved Indiana’s season, a season where anything short of a championship will be disappointing.
“Think he will sell as many pictures of that?” said Crean jokingly after the game.
The senior leader of the team, who considered leaving for the NBA after last season, finished with only nine points on 2-of-7 shooting, missing both of his 3-point attempts.
He did convert 5-of-6 free throw attempts and iced the game away with two free throws in the final five seconds, after Victor Oladipo hit the biggest shot of his career, a three with 14 seconds left, giving Indiana a 56-52 lead.
Oladipo’s shot may get more publicity, but it was Watford’s block that was the biggest play of the game.
“My motivation is to play with these guys as long as possible, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes in order to keep playing,” Watford said.
“I just want to play till we can’t play no more.”
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