Just before Devin Davis stepped to the line for two free throws that would have clinched a Houston win over Michigan in the round of 32, Cougars guard Rob Gray approached U-M freshman shooting guard Jordan Poole.
Poole engaged him in conversation for a few seconds before he realized what was going on.
“With 3.6 seconds left you’re kind of thinking the game’s over, anyway,” Poole said. “I really wasn’t trying to talk to him … I was like, ‘whatever.’
“He kept talking to me, but I was like, I’ve got way too much pride to just let him bark in my ear right now. I said, ‘yeah,’ told him where I’m from [Milwaukee] and everything [and that he wouldn't be punked], and he kind of felt like I was being a little sassy, so he decided to bark back.”
Gray told him, ‘Well, you’re about to go back to Milwaukee.”
Poole didn’t respond, thinking like many that the Wolverines had lost.
“I was like, ‘oh, he’s bold,’ but what am I going to say in a situation like that? There are three seconds left,” Poole recalled. “I’d be crazy if I said something back.”
The rest, of course, is history. Davis missed both free throws and Poole nailed the game winner from 29 feet with a hand in his face to give the Wolverines a 64-63 win.
Poole didn’t see Gray in the postgame, running around for several seconds before being mobbed by teammates.
His shot, however, helped keep Michigan alive and helped keep the Wolverines going. They thrashed Texas A&M, 99-72, and will play Florida State tonight for the right to go to the Final Four.
“It’s definitely crazy, being in a situation like this, being on a stage like this in Los Angeles playing in Staples center,” Poole said. “It’s such an amazing group of guys around me, definitely a dream come true.”
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