LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Big players make big shots, and Jason Williams was one big shot short.
After hitting a clutch three-pointer from the top of the circle with four seconds remaining, the newly crowned Naismith College Player of the Year missed his only foul shot of the night, allowing No. 5 Indiana (23-11) to escape with a 74-73 win over No. 1 Duke (31-4).
As the buzzer sounded and the Hoosiers celebrated at center court, Williams could only think about what might have been.
Like he has done time and time again, just when the game seemed over, the Plainfield, N.J., native hit a big shot, and once again, it was his foul shooting that let him down.
"All I know is I was running down and it bounced my way," Williams said. "I hit the shot and got fouled. I thought my free throw was in and out and we had a chance to put it back in and win. Sometimes it just doesn't bounce your way."
And that would be the way the college basketball career of Jason Williams would end. There would be no walking away into the sunset and no repeat.
Williams' foul shooting woes started Jan. 6 at Florida State, when he kept the Blue Devils in the game with clutch shots down the stretch and 8-of-12 shooting from three-point range, but missed all six of his free throws.
A few weeks later against Virginia, Williams single-handedly gave Duke a chance to force overtime by hitting a number of acrobatic shots in the lane while drawing fouls. But in a situation very similar to Thursday night's, Williams missed a crucial free throw that could have tied the game. Duke went on to lose.
Williams seemed to exorcise his charity stripe demons against Notre Dame last weekend, when he hit four free throws in the final two minutes to seal the Blue Devils' victory. But the foul line got the last laugh with the game on the line against the Hoosiers.
"Tonight we lost and you have to give credit to Indiana," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "There are no excuses. There are human elements in every ballgame and that can go for you or against you. But the fact is, the things you have control should give you an opportunity to win and we had those opportunities."
After freshman Daniel Ewing's prayer three from the left wing hit the back of the rim, bounced right to Williams and the junior knocked down the shot and got fouled, it seemed like the bounces were starting to go Duke's way. But the rim had other ideas as Williams' foul shot went in and out and the Blue Devils' season was over.
"I just happened to hit the shot at the end," Williams said. "You're going to have games like that where you are not going to be able to make every shot all the time."
Although Williams did not have a particularly good shooting night, going just 6-of-19 from the field and 3-of-9 from beyond the arc, he could have made up for it by sinking the free throw that has hurt him so much during the year.
But the shot didn't fall and Duke was sent home in the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years.
And that's how it ends. Indiana moves on, Duke goes home and Jason Williams finishes his college career as a great player who came up one big shot short.
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