Cut with a purpose.
It's a phrase said repeatedly at all levels of basketball.
And on Wednesday night, with his team trailing by one point with just 1.9 seconds on the clock, Ohio State redshirt junior guard Kam Williams likely thought back to that message he's probably heard thousands of times in his life.
The Buckeyes had the ball out of bounds with just under two seconds on the clock and needed a basket to avoid a crushing loss at the hands of Nebraska. And when C.J. Jackson got the ball from the official, Jae'Sean Tate and Marc Loving each sprinted toward the blocks on opposite sides of the lane while Williams sprinted toward the wing on Loving's side.
When Williams reached his destination, he stopped, planted and immediately changed direction. That hard change-of-pace caused the defender, Nebraska's Glynn Watson Jr., to stumble and fall down.
The simple action by Williams that caused Watson to hit the hardwood set up the play that, down the road, could be looked back on as a potential season-changer for the Buckeyes.
Ballgame! @lovingthegame32 finds himself wide open down low for the @OhioStateHoops game-winner! https://t.co/3giNbyjTii
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) January 19, 2017
Loving's layup with 0.6 seconds to go was so vital for many reasons, but perhaps most importantly was the fact Ohio State desperately needed this 67–66 win almost as badly as it needed the last.
This didn't come easily, of course, as the Buckeyes followed a familiar pattern in their first game since defeating Michigan State for their first Big Ten win of the season. Ohio State committed 11 first-half turnovers and shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half as it trailed by as many as 12.
But behind big second halves from Lyle, Tate and Trevor Thompson, the Buckeyes chipped away and eventually took their first lead of the second half with 8 minutes, 43 seconds to play on a dunk by Thompson. Ohio State held a slight edge from there for most of the way, but after a few empty possessions down the stretch, Nebraska's Tai Webster gave the Huskers a one-point lead with 34 seconds left.
Loving missed an open 3-pointer from the wing with just over three seconds remaining, but Lyle snagged the offensive rebound, called timeout and Thad Matta drew up the game-winning play in the timeout.
The Buckeyes couldn't afford to fall to 1–5 in Big Ten play. That would have, essentially, ended Ohio State's season. The Buckeyes couldn't have handled another loss in a close game like Wednesday's.
Ohio State is in the midst of a stretch that features quite a few winnable games. Now at 2-4 in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes return home for back-to-back games at Value City Arena against Northwestern and Minnesota. Far from guaranteed wins, of course, but Ohio State is favored to win both, according to KenPom. If the Buckeyes can snag these next two, all of a sudden they sit at 4–4 in the Big Ten. Who knows what happens from there?
None of that is possible, however, without Wednesday's win over the Huskers. It didn't look promising in the first half, but then in the late second, it started to seem like a real possibility. But when Webster's go-ahead basket went in and Loving's first attempt misfired, it seemed like Ohio State just wasn't going to be able to get it done in a game they had to have.
But then Williams planted at that spot on the floor, his defender fell down, Nebraska's defense was forced into some switches, Jackson patiently waited and Loving found himself wide open for a layup.
Ballgame.
