And Brust? He hadn’t been that sure about a shot going in since he pumped in a half-court shot to send the Michigan game to overtime last season.
“I knew it was going down, similar to the Michigan shot,” Burst said of his go-ahead 3-pointer with 1 minute, 7 seconds to play Saturday night.
The shot came at the end of a long and crazy possession in which four of the five starters missed shots before Brust’s basket gave UW the lead for good in an 85-77 win over Oregon in an NCAA tournament West regional third-round game that punched the team’s ticket to next week’s Sweet 16 in Anaheim, Calif.
“As soon as I let it go, I knew that’s going straight through, which was a great feeling knowing that you’re going to hit a big one,” Brust said
Great feeling? Try the best ever.
A raucous Bradley Center audience dominated by Badgers fans cheered the shot at the top of its collective lungs because it represented the last of nine lead changes (five in the second half). And it was a special shot for Brust, who moved past Tim Locum and into first place on UW’s career 3-pointer list with No. 228. The shot gave the Badgers a 77-75 advantage.
The ball wound up with Brust at the end of one of the longest possessions in Badgers history. It began after Oregon’s Joseph Young scored the last of his game-high 29 points on a 3-pointer with 2:50 to play and officially lasted 1:43 after UW collected offensive rebounds off misses by Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser (a 3-pointer), Jackson and, after a timeout, Frank Kaminsky.
Dekker came up with the last rebound, which wound up in Jackson’s hands. The junior guard thought about driving to the hoop before spotting Brust open.
“I was about to shoot that thing,” Jackson said. “But I saw Ben and I was saying to Ben that, when he’s open, he’s hitting that (shot) 90 percent of the time. I had to give him the ball and I couldn’t be happier to pass it to him at that moment.”
And, apparently, neither could Brust.
“For me and Ben, we’ve gotten so much closer this year than we’ve ever been,” Jackson said.
“To be able to do that together, ... I didn’t know he had the record until after the game. He came up to me and said, ‘I wouldn’t rather have anybody (else) pass it to me.’ ... That was special right there.”
Jackson ‘at peace’ at line
Jackson proved to be Mr. Clutch in a different way, too.
UW, which was 6-for-13 at one point on free throws, made 10 of its last 12 to finish the game 16-for-25. Jackson did most of the heavy lifting in that department, going 8-for-10 over the final 7:30.
“I just felt calm,” said Jackson, who finished with 16 points. “I felt at peace. My heart was guarded and I knew everything was fine.
“I knew my fingers would knock ‘em down. Just proud, proud of my teammates for fighting.”
Special chorus line
The Badgers don’t sing “Varsity” with their fans every game, but there was no way they weren’t going to salute their Bradley Center support network with a round of the school song after the win.
Most of the Badgers stood in a line across the foul line in front of the UW bench, but coach Bo Ryan and Brust took part while they waited to be interviewed on CBS at the network’s courtside location.
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