Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994 TAG: 9404050125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He was just looking for someone to take an intelligent shot. He was looking for someone to make free throws. He was trying to find someone to make something, anything.
In a tough, tight title game with more ebb than flow Monday night, it was Duke that needed to run down the shot clock to have a chance against Arkansas. The Blue Devils certainly did that.
The Razorbacks did it last - and became the 30th school to win the NCAA men's basketball championship with a 76-72 victory.
"It was a game that somebody won and nobody lost," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, eloquently elegant in defeat.
"It was a well-fought ball game between two heavyweights," Richardson said after a decision that went the distance in a toe-to-toe battle between the two programs with the most wins in the past five years.
It was the first NCAA title for a Southeastern Conference team other than Kentucky, and the first since the Wildcats won in 1978 - also over Duke.
After the lead had exchanged hands 13 times, Richardson's team took a timeout with 75 seconds to play. The score was a pair of 70s, the eighth tie of the game. The Charlotte Coliseum shot clock glared 25 seconds - in Razorback red numbers.
Arkansas came out of the sit-down session with Boss Hog and fumbled the ball around on the perimeter. Finally, 6-foot-9, 260-pound Dwight Stewart - instead of gunning one as he had several times earlier - got the ball to Scotty Thurman on the right wing, behind the 3-point arc.
Duke's Antonio Lang, arms extended overhead, flew at Thurman. The Arkansas sophomore launched a Judy Garland jumper that was in the air as the shot-clock buzzer sounded.
From somewhere over the rainbow, Arkansas won its first NCAA crown. Thurman's shot grazed the back of the rim and fell through the net with 50.7 seconds left. It was 73-70, but it wasn't over until the Razorbacks made three of their last six free throws.
Arkansas (31-3) won for the 19th time in its final 20 games by rallying from a 10-point deficit. The Devils, short on depth and bulk, went through a miserable seven-minutes stretch that included one basket in 13 possessions and six turnovers.
Duke was making weary mistakes and leaving shots short. Until then, Arkansas' heralded "40 minutes of hell" style hadn't bothered Duke, maybe because hell is the Devils' homecourt.
"They did have a little more firepower than we did," Krzyzewski said after his fourth NCAA final appearance in five seasons.
In fact, each team went away from its strength at different times. Instead of forcing tempo constantly with frantic pressure, Arkansas played some matchup zone. The Hogs' defense forced Duke into 23 turnovers, the Devils' most in three months.
Richardson's team averaged nine three-point goals per game. Its fifth 3-pointer is what beat Duke, which was - and had to be - the better perimeter team.
Arkansas didn't shoot a free throw in the first 26 minutes. Then, the Razorbacks made only 11 of 19, but that was enough to win. Richardson's team shot 51.3 percent on field-goal attempts in six tournament games, but it won despite shooting 39 percent against the Devils - the Razorbacks' worst marksmanship in a victory this season.
Duke struggled to handle Arkansas star Corliss Williamson, deservedly voted the Final Four's outstanding player. Down the stretch, Williamson carried the Razorbacks, after 6-2 guard Corey Beck had hogged the spotlight with a double-double.
Richardson got more than respect with his first NCAA title, which follows a 1980 national junior college crown at Western Texas and an NIT title the next season at Tulsa. The second-ranked Razorbacks will be the No. 1 team next season's preseason polls.
If that Hogs hoophead President Clinton wants to advise Hillary on a good investment in their home state, he might suggest Hog futures.
Richardson's regular nine-man rotation had no senior citizens. With five juniors, sophomores Williamson and Thurman and two freshmen, Arkansas is the first NCAA champion to return its entire starting lineup since the 1967 UCLA team of Lew Alcindor, Lucius Allen, Mike Warren, Lynn Shackelford and Kenny Heitz.
Those Bruins obviously repeated. These Razorbacks might, too.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB