12 Points in 28 Seconds: The birth of the legend of Jerian Grant
With College Hoops tipping off I'm taking the time to highlight one of the greatest moments of my favorite basketball player ever which turns a decade old this February.
Setting the scene
While Notre Dame is much more known for their football program which has delivered 11 National Titles, 7 Heisman Trophy winners, and countless other awards and praises they have quite the long time program in men’s basketball (which at times is even overshadowed by the ND women’s team). Notre Dame is 8th all time in wins and has countless all time great players and coaches as well as moments such as bookending UCLA’s unbelievable 84 game winning steak. But after the departure of Digger Phelps Irish hoops fell on hard times and wandered aimlessly until the introduction of Mike Brey in 2000. Brey brought with him a fast paced offense keen on veteran leadership and sharpshooting from beyond the arc. Brey brought ND back into the NCAAT in his first season for the first time since 1990 and Notre Dame finished ranked that season for the first time since 1987 which was Phelps’s last great team. Brey’s next decade at the helm saw the Irish return to the dance six more times with a rankings finish as high as #5 in 2011.
Going into the 2012-2013 campaign ND returned 81.2% of minutes played and 82.5% of all scoring from a team that finished 3rd in a grueling Big East conference and made the NCAA Tournament as a 7 seed where they were upset by future Big East member 10 seed Xavier. The Irish were picked to finish 3rd in the Big East yet again, had a First Team All-Big East selection in senior forward Jack Cooley (12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 blocks) and came in ranked 22nd in the preseason AP Poll. Notre Dame got off to a interesting start dispatching two cupcake opponents before falling in overtime to a St. Joe’s team in a neutral site tilt in Brooklyn but ND would respond in emphatic fashion. The Irish would win their next twelve games including a 64-50 handling of #8 Kentucky at home in the Big East SEC Challenge (but an otherwise quite poor non conference schedule) and winning their first two conference games with a home win over Seton Hall and a road thriller against #21 UCONN to sit at 14-1 (2-0) and 17th in the country. This would not last however as ND dropped their next two games against UCONN at home and St. John’s on the road before a brief three game winning streak was ended by a dreadful 16 point defeat at 9th ranked Syracuse. With their record now at 18-5 (6-4) Notre Dame would face off against a heated rival in #11 Louisville a series which had seen four of the last seven games go to overtime with some particularly heated contests in South Bend.
Louisville was the unanimous preseason Big East champions, the preseason #2 team in the nation, with All America selections galore on top of an all time coach in Rick Pitino. Louisville was having a great season up to this point serving as ND’s polar opposite in terms of schedule and outside of a three game skid (where the Cardinals faced #6 Syracuse and road games against Villanova and Georgetown) UofL was sitting pretty at a 19-4 (7-3) but only a ranking of 11.
Our Protagonist
Jerian Grant, a 6’4” Guard out of DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland, was a 3 Star prospect in the class of 2010. Grant held offers from four schools three of which were Big East teams. Between Notre Dame, Providence, DePaul, and Virginia Jerian chose the Irish in September of 2009. Grant redshirted his freshman year at Notre Dame but in his second year he saw himself have an instant impact playing in 34 games and starting 33 of them posting a statline of 12.3 points 5 assists 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game with four 20 point games and some stellar performances down the stretch. His play was good enough to earn him freshman All-Big East honors and going into his Redshirt Sophomore season Grant was even an honorable mention for All-Big East at media day.
Grant began the 2012-13 season in the starting lineup for Notre Dame and had a solid start to the year including his first career double double with a 22 point 10 assist showing against Chicago State. From the start of the year up to the Louisville game Grant posted a statline of 12.7 points, 5.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals a game but found himself struggling shooting the ball at times.
The Game
With ESPN’s College Gameday in town and a primetime ESPN Saturday night tip-off time all eyes were on the showdown between the 11th ranked Cardinals of Louisville and the 25th ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in front of a sold out crowd. Between two of the better offensive teams in the country (UL and ND were 7th and 17th respectively in KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency) most were expecting a barn burner although many were questioning if the Irish could keep up with the unbelievably talented Cardinal squad.
Despite the offensive prowess of both teams going into this one it was a quiet first half especially for Grant. After 20 Notre Dame led 27-24 and Grant was 0-5 from the field including three 3 point attempts, had 2 assists to 2 turnovers, 3 rebounds, and a single steal with just 2 points from Free Throws. The second half was not much more exciting and at the under 8 TV Timeout Notre Dame trailed 45-40 and Grant was now at 3 points on 0-6 shooting (3-4 from the line), 4 assists, 4 turnovers, 1 steal and even worse due to his active hands on defense Grant was called for his 3rd foul early into the half. Both offenses were absolutely stifled coming out of the break and it would take nearly seven minutes for Notre Dame to make their next shot from the field as with 1:08 to play future NBA Champion Pat Connaughton nailed a layup to cut the Irish deficit to 53-48. It was a quiet period for Jerian Grant as well as he added 1 point from a FT and picked up his 4th foul. Louisville responded with a Russ Smith dunk and Chane Behanan going 1/2 from the charity stripe to extend their lead to 56-48 with 50 seconds left and as devoid Notre Dame had been of any sort of offensive success it seemed like all was lost.
The Takeover
After the Louisville free throw Jerian Grant did something he had not done all day. Grant dribbled quickly up the court with the aid of a Zach Auguste screen and just launched a desperate heave from the right wing that actually found the bottom of the basket. The 3 ball cut ND’s deficit to 56-51 with 44 seconds left and began one the most miraculous sequence of events in Notre Dame men’s basketball history. Head Coach Mike Brey quickly followed the make by calling a timeout, ND’s last, to set up his team’s last ditch effort plan. Zach Auguste quickly fouled Louisville on the inbounds pass sending Gorgui Dieng to the line where he’d calmly make both tries and UL called a timeout up 58-51 with 42 seconds left. Jerian Grant responded by taking the inbounds pass dribbling past midcourt getting a mismatch from another Zach Auguste screen and proceeded to nail a deep step back 3 with 33 seconds remaining to make it 58-54 Cards. Auguste would foul Russ Smith immediately and of course he then made both FTs to make it a 60-54 ballgame. Grant took the inbounds pass and quickly returned to the right wing and, while being tightly guarded by Russ Smith, launched and connected on ANOTHER 3. 60-57 with just 26 seconds left. Dieng was fouled and went to the line attempting to put Louisville back up by 2 possessions with 25 ticks remaining. Dieng was 5-6 from the line on the day but just 68% on the season and with a raucous Irish crowd on their feet (with Dieng facing the student section as he shot) his first attempt careened violently off the front of the rim and just as Jay Bilas asked “Is the luck of the Irish in the house tonight?” Dieng’s second attempt rolled off the back iron and into the hands of Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton. Pat quickly got it to Grant and with no timeouts and the shot clock off this very well could be the game. Louisville was determined to not let Grant beat them again as Smith was hounding him with help from Dieng as well on the perimeter. Jerian Grant instead decided to drive to his right into the lane and lay it up.
Grant laid it up and in AND was fouled by Louisville’s Wayne Blackshear on the attempt giving him his 11th point of this feverous outburst and an opportunity to tie this game at 16.2 to go with an old fashioned 3 point play.
“This game was OVER! It felt over about a minute ago and Jerian Grant has been on an unbelievable tear”- ESPN color commentator Jay Bilas
As if there was any doubt Grant easily sinked the freebie tying this game at 60 apiece and scoring 12 points in the span of just 28 seconds to tie the game against the 11th best team in the country. Eat your heart out Reggie Miller. But the Irish weren’t out of the woods yet and they needed a stop to continue this game and as Louisville opted not to use their final timeout they left the game in the hands of their all world Point Guard Peyton Silva. Silva attempted to dish it to Dieng in the paint but the pass was tipped by, guess who, Jerian Grant and in the ensuing chaos the final seconds ticked off the clock and for the seventh time in the last twelve meetings Notre Dame Louisville was going to overtime.
In the first overtime period Grant would go 1/2 at the line to give Notre Dame their first lead since the 18 minute mark of the second half. After Louisville took a 64-61 lead Grant would find Connaughton who pump faked Russ Smith into oblivion and took it to the rack for the layup and the foul to tie this game yet again with 3:11 to go. Louisville would respond with a quick 2 by Behanan and Grant would seemingly decide to take matters into his own hands driving this time to his left grabbing the attention of Dieng who moved over to help Silva attempt to stop the red hot Irishman who then in turn recognized that Dieng had left Zach Auguste completely wide open and Grant hit him as he was streaking to the hoop for a thunderous slam to even things up at 66 all with 2:44 left.
Then on the following possession Grant tied up Dieng down low and forced the turnover as the possession arrow favored Notre Dame giving the Irish the ball with 2:13 to go in a tied game. Unfortunately that is when disaster struck for our hero as after a missed Connaughton 3 point attempt Grant tried to get a steal in transition and was called for his final foul with 1:57 to go. Jerian Grant’s stat line ended up looking like this: 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 39 minutes of action and one of the most clutch performances a player donning the blue and gold had ever put on in the biggest game of the season.
The rest of the way
Grant’s teammates would not let his efforts go unrewarded as Notre Dame up won the game 104-101 in 5 overtimes(!!!!!!!!!!!) with big performances from both young in the cases of Pat Connaughton (16 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists) and the late Cameron Biedscheid (14 points on 50% shooting) and old with the veteran Guard Eric Atkins (14 points) and All American Jack Cooley (11 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks). On the other side Louisville would not lose another game after this finishing 35-5 and winning both the Big East and National Championships (including dispatching Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East tournament) while Notre Dame would have an up and down rest of the season going 25-10, earning a 7 seed in the tournament, and once again being bounced out of the first round by a 10 seed this time in Iowa State.
The Legend of Jerian Grant
Including the Louisville game the rest of the season for Grant would go as follows: 14.4 points, 5.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals per game. An outstanding end to his season. In 2013-14 Grant would return and start next to the now senior Eric Atkins with a great backcourt Notre Dame was slotted to finish 5th in their new home for all non football sports (except hockey) the ACC ahead of teams like Maryland and Florida State. Grant was selected to the All-ACC preseason team and had an electric start to the season in his first 12 games Grant averaged 19 points, 6.2 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 2 steals a game but while Grant was playing great the rest of Notre Dame could not say the same. The loss of Jack Cooley proved to be a lot for the Irish to handle early and it showed with upset losses to Indiana State and North Dakota State at home along with a road loss in the ACC B1G challenge to Iowa 98-93. Notre Dame bounced back from the NDSU debacle with a good win over Indiana behind a strong performance from Grant (23 points, 9 assists, 2 steals) but turmoil awaited. In the wake of a heartbreaking blown lead loss to #3 Ohio State where Grant played great on the biggest stage in basketball at Madison Square Garden it was revealed that he was no longer with the team due to an academic issue. Without Grant the Irish season went from disappointment to disaster quickly. Notre Dame actually won their next two games including their first ever ACC game (a 79-77 win over #7 Duke at home) but quickly sputtered finishing 15-17 the first losing season of Brey’s tenure. Grant would return to Notre Dame for his last dance in the blue and gold but that is a story for another day.