Bruins celebrate sweet taste of success

Published: Monday, March 16, 1998

Monday, March 16, 1998

Johnson connects for eight of eight free throws in last seconds of victory over Michigan

By Emmanuelle Ejercito

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

ATLANTA -- "I put my foot on the nail, one (bounce), two, three, four, five, breath out, then shoot," said Kris Johnson explaining his ritual from the free-throw line.

The game plan was simple - get it to Johnson, who would then draw the foul, go through his motions and sink the two free throws.

The sixth-seeded UCLA men's basketball team (24-8) was hanging on to a tenuous lead in the last moments of the game. With less than a minute to go, third-seeded Michigan cut the once 10-point Bruin lead to five.

Toby Bailey would miss the front end of a one-and-one, and Johnson would miss two double bonus free throws. The Wolverines' Louis Bullock would make a layup and pull Michigan (25-9) within three with 38 seconds left.

"We wanted to make sure that we had the opportunity to get the basketball," Michigan head coach Brian Ellerbee said. "You need possessions."

Knowing that the Wolverines would foul, the Bruins kept inbounding the ball to their best free thrower, Johnson, who was immediately fouled.

"When I missed those first two, I was just like, 'I can't believe I did that,' because I hadn't missed two in a row the whole year," Johnson said. "But after I missed those two, I kind of got more focused and I told myself, 'I'm not bricking anymore free throws.'"

And he didn't.

In the last 38 seconds, Johnson made eight trips to the charity stripe.

And all eight times, the senior connected. His free throws kept it a two-possession game, and soon time would run out for Michigan as UCLA held on for the upset, 85-82. The victory earned the Bruins a trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., to play No. 2-seed Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen.

"I knew Kris, after getting into foul trouble in the last game (against Miami), was definitely going to come out and have a big game," Bailey said.

Johnson's game-high 25 points and 6-for-10 shooting was a sharp contrast to his Friday effort against Miami.

In the first-round matchup, Johnson, who averages 18.1 points, only had three points, making only one of six field-goal attempts and fouled out of the game with 2:35 left.

But aside from his 60 percent shooting clip, Johnson was also 11 of 13 from the free-throw line. On the year, the 6-foot-4-inch guard/forward is an 83.8 percent free-throw shooter.

If Johnson were to miss a free throw, it would have given Michigan a thread of hope. However, Johnson has been Mr. Clutch many times this year, hitting the three-pointer at the buzzer to win it against Washington State in Pullman and hitting another three in Seattle to give UCLA a one-point lead over Washington with 2.1 seconds left.

"Nerves? Maybe when I was a freshman, I would be nervous," Johnson said.

"But I've been in that situation many times in my career where I have to make free throws, and I've converted. It's a situation where I want to be there, I'm one of the three seniors on the team, and I think anyone of us would step up in that situation. That's what we want - the pressure, all the weight on our shoulders.

"When I went up to the line I was just concentrating on knocking them down like I always do, and that's what I did."