CHICAGO (AP) -- Visiting Michael Jordan's old arena, seeing his
statue and sitting at his locker was a "spiritual" pilgrimage for
Terrell Taylor.
Now he's got an idea of what it's like to be Mike.
Wearing No. 23, just like Jordan, Taylor hit a 3-pointer with
0.2 seconds left Friday to give Creighton a stunning 83-82
double-overtime victory over fifth-seeded Florida in the Midwest
Regional.
"Before the game, I watched a DVD of Michael Jordan. That
inspired me a lot," Taylor said. "I made a big deal of coming to
the United Center and seeing the statue.
"It was a spiritual thing, a spiritual feeling to see the
statue and Jordan's locker."
As the ball swished through the net for the last of his eight
3-pointers, Taylor turned to the frenzied crowd with a look of
steely confidence. He then pulled on one side of his jersey and
pounded his chest as the Creighton fans roared.
Time ran out before Florida's Udonis Haslem could get a
desperation shot off. The Creighton players ran to midcourt as the
buzzer sounded, bouncing up and down as they lifted Taylor up.
"What the game came down to is we had no answer for Taylor,"
Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "He was in a zone today.
Everything he threw up went in."
Well, not everything. Taylor was 0-for-6 in the first half, but
he turned it on in the second. He was 8-for-10 from 3-point range,
and finished with 28 points to match his career high.
"The rim looked like the size of a doughnut," Taylor said of
his first-half struggles. "I had too much excitement and
anticipation for the game. I wasn't aiming right. Good thing it
came back for the second half."
It did, giving the 12th-seeded Bluejays (23-8) their first NCAA
victory since 1999. Add in Missouri's victory over Miami, and
Tulsa's upset of Marquette -- both Thursday -- and this is the first
time three No. 12-seeded teams have won first-round games in the
same NCAA tourney.
"People make names for themselves when they win games like
this," said Creighton center Brody Deren, who fouled out with 2:42
left in regulation. "We have more to prove because we are a
mid-major team, and we chalk this up for all the mid-majors."
Florida knows all too well just how dangerous the mid-majors
are. In 2000, the Gators needed Mike Miller's last-second basket to
defeat 12th-seeded Butler 69-68, but wound up in the championship
game, where the Gators lost to Michigan State.
But these aren't the same Gators. Donovan questioned his
players' heart after a loss to Mississippi State in the SEC
tournament quarterfinals last week, and the Gators didn't have
nearly the energy they needed against scrappy Creighton.
Haslem finished with 20 points, but 16 came in the last 10
minutes of regulation and the overtimes. Matt Bonner, who normally
averages almost 16 points, had just 10.
And Brett Nelson, whose right eye was still puffy and discolored
from the broken cheekbone he got in a fight with teammate LaDarius
Halton on Tuesday, was 4-of-19 from the floor.
"I think we showed heart down the stretch," Haslem said.
"That was a tough shot and it could just as easily have gone the
other way. Tonight, it went down."
But the Gators were sloppy, too. They turned the ball over 17
times, with perhaps the costliest miscue coming with 29 seconds
left in the second overtime. Orien Greene was dribbling around,
looking for someone to pass to, when he was called for a 5-second
violation.
Creighton guard Ismael Caro got tangled up with Justin Hamilton
with about 5 seconds left, and the ball squirted free. But it
rolled out of bounds and the Bluejays got it back, setting up
Taylor's dramatic shot.
Despite Nelson getting a hand in his face, Taylor squared up
again from just left of the key and let fly. The ball swished
through as Taylor watched, crouching.
"I've made a big deal about being here in the city that Michael
built, but I don't know, I was just open and I got a good look,"
Taylor said.
But he's had Jordan on the brain since the Bluejays arrived.
When Creighton's players visited Jordan's statue outside the arena
Thursday, Taylor was the last to leave.
"He lingered," said Kyle Korver, who score 16 before fouling
out in the first overtime. "He was the last one on the bus. I
didn't think about all the history here, but I think Terrell did."
