In the last match, played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, NC State led at halftime with a score of 33–25. Houston was hampered by foul trouble that plagued star Clyde Drexler, who picked up four first half fouls. From the second half, the Cougars came out with another wind and established control of the match, eventually taking a seven-point lead.
However, things were not all great for Houston. Considering that the game was played Albuquerque, players needed to deal with the town’s mile-high elevation. The Cougars’ star centre, Akeem Olajuwon, had difficulties adjusting to the surroundings and drained quickly, having to check from this game multiple times so that he could wear an oxygen mask and then recuperate. With Olajuwon on the bench, Houston head coach Guy Lewis decided that so as to protect the lead and the health of his big man at precisely the same period, the Cougars needed to start slowing down the game.
Yet more, this enabled the Wolfpack to return to their own standby strategy of extending the game. Houston’s free throw shooting was quite suspicious entering the game, which functioned greatly in NC State’s favour as they could rally back and even the score at 52 in the last two minutes. On what is the last Houston possession, Valvano called for his players to back off and allow guard Alvin Franklin bring the ball up the court. The Wolfpack defenders would let the Cougars employ their slowdown strategy of passing around. When the ball got back to Franklin he was fouled immediately. With 1:05 left, the freshman was fouled and sent into the line for a one-and-one. The thought to filthy Franklin sprung in the enormity of the second; NC State believed that the comparatively inexperienced Franklin could not withstand the strain of going to the line together with the tournament at stake and understanding that fifty million viewers were tuned into watch the game. The concept was correct as Franklin failed to convert and the Wolfpack grabbed the rally. Valvano called timeout with 44 seconds left and drew up a play for mature defender Dereck Whittenburg during the timeout, which required the team to pass him the ball with ten minutes left on the clock so that he could take the final shot.
Houston needed a defensive stop so they could find another chance to close out the match. Lewis decided to move from the man-to-man shield his team was running the whole match to a half court zone trap defense. The Wolfpack, who weren’t anticipating the defensive adjustment, were made to deviate and started passing the ball around simply to keep the Cougars from slipping it. Houston almost got the turnover it had been looking for when Whittenburg made an errant pass to Gannon which Drexler almost came away with prior to the sophomore recovered control of the ball. The ball finally wound up in the hands of guard Sidney Lowe, who gave it to forward and fellow mature Thurl Bailey in the corner.
Trying to keep the ball going, as he was double teamed when he obtained the move, Bailey appeared back toward Whittenburg, who was approximately thirty feet away from the hoop near midcourt. Bailey threw what Whittenburg would call a”poor fundamental” overhanded pass that Houston’s Benny Anders, guarding Whittenburg about the drama, was in position to steal. At this point, Whittenburg hearkened back to his high school days with Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School, where he had been taught to always grab the basketball with both hands. If Whittenburg had not attempted to do so in this case, Anders might have gotten the steal and a game-winning breakaway layup. In college basketball at the time, the game clock continued to operate following a made field goal, and the Wolfpack probably wouldn’t have had time even to inbound the ball. As it was, Anders knocked the ball out of Whittenburg’s hands, but Whittenburg immediately regained control.
The clock, meanwhile, had ticked down to five minutes and Whittenburg was standing a substantial distance from the goal. Once he regained control, Whittenburg turned and started a desperation shot, later claimed by Whittenburg for a pass, to attempt to win the match for NC State. The shot’s trajectory took it to the front of the basket where Olajuwon was covering Wolfpack center Lorenzo Charles. As he watched the shot, Olajuwon said he understood the shooter was going to come up short but he did not wish to select the ball too early due to the potential for goaltending. Charles took advantage of the indecision by Olajuwon and went up for the air ball, and, in 1 movement, he scored the go-ahead points with a two-handed dunk. The last second ticked off the clock before Houston could inbound the ball, and with that, the game ended, and the Wolfpack were the winners.
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