2018 NCAA Tournament: Kansas Jayhawks
OMAHA, Neb. Dewanna King tries to stick to non-basketball talk. This time, though, she couldnt help herself.
It was the night before Kansas 85-81 overtime victory over Duke in the Elite Eight, and King KU guard Devonte Grahams mother asked him a question at the Omaha Marriott Downtown Hotel before the biggest game of his career.
Are you nervous?
King laughed when retelling his response.
He told me I was acting like the reporters, she said, her voice scratchy because of all the screaming shed just done in the game.
Graham would be fine the next day. And he also delivered on an earlier promise.
Though this wasnt the best game of the point guards career, it was good enough to extend his teams season another week and to territory he hasnt experienced before.
Graham scored 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting in 45 minutes, but he also had a hand in the games biggest play. With 30 seconds left in regulation and KU trailing by three, Graham went behind his back with a transition dribble, then was bumped briefly by Dukes Trevon Duval.
He played through it. After a twirl, he flung a pass to teammate Svi Mykhailiuk on the wing, who took one dribble before swishing the game-tying shot.
I actually tried to get the foul call when he bumped me, but Im glad he didnt call it, Graham said. I just saw him open and gave it to him.
It was reminiscent of another play that went down in KU lore almost 10 years ago. Just a few feet away in the first row of the stands former KU guard Sherron Collins grabbed both hands to the bill of his cap as the shot went in, then flexed as the KU fans celebrated around him.
It was Collins, in the 2008 national championship game, who was slightly brushed by a defender before he shoveled the ball to Mario Chalmers, who hit a game-saving three in the final seconds on a 75-68 overtime win over Memphis.
Were good with not getting calls at the end of the game, a smiling Collins said afterward. Lets keep it that way.
Graham quickly found his family following the final seconds of overtime. He jumped over the bench and quickly hugged King, along with his grandma, Doris King.
We did it, he told them, tears in his eyes.
