DURHAM, N.C. --- Austin Rivers can’t avoid seeing highlights of his famous shot that beat North Carolina more than three weeks ago.
The Duke freshman watches a lot of basketball on TV, and every time he does the shot will run at least several times a game. It’s gotten to where replays of the exhilarating moment are seemingly never-ending for the young phenom.
“Now when I see it, and it comes on I swear like every five seconds, when I see I just look at it and see what I did and just move on, really,” Rivers said after the Blue Devils dispatched Wake Forest on Tuesday night.
Rivers’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer that capped a 13-2 Duke run to close the game in Chapel Hill and gave the Blue Devils a one-point win over their despised rivals will remain a big part of Duke lore forever. But it has company, and as exciting as that moment was, it’s not even in the conversation regarding the biggest and most important buzzer-beating shots of the 32-year Mike Krzyzewski era.
Yet, Rivers knows no matter what else he does in his basketball career, he will be remembered for the shot.
“It is cool,” he said. “You always see yourself and they talk about me doing this or that or whatever… it’s not going away.”
Duke magic in the Krzyzewski era began when Gene Banks drained a jump shot from just inside the free throw line to send a game versus North Carolina into overtime on Senior Day in 1981, Krzyzewski’s first season at the helm. Duke ended up victorious that afternoon.
In addition, more than a dozen other shots at or near the buzzer during this frame that either won games or sent them into overtime, such as Jeff Capel’s half-court heave versus top-ranked UNC in 1995.
Some near buzzer-beaters among Krzyzewski’s 926 victories came in the last second or two of games, such as Nate James’ tip in to beat Maryland in the semifinals of the 2001 ACC Tournament. But that play didn’t make our list of Duke’s 10 best buzzer-beating moments under Krzyzewski because 1.3 seconds remained on the clock after the ball fell through the cylinder.
Chris Collins’ 1996 3-pointer at N.C. State that seemingly bounced on the rim forever didn’t make it, either. It occurred with 5.5 seconds remaining. Chris Duhon’s reverse layup at UNC in 2004 and Will Avery’s tip of his own miss versus Clemson in the 1998 ACC Tournament also didn’t make the cut it.
Ten shots, did, however, and here are the best buzzer-beaters of the Krzyzewski era:
10 – Thomas Hill at Georgia Tech, 1991 – The 6-foot-5, left-handed small forward received an entry pass from falling point guard Bobby Hurley, turned and converted a layup as time expired. That Yellow Jackets team, by the way, advanced to the Final Four. Duke won the national title. Hurley remains the NCAA's all-time leader in assists.
9 – David McClure vs. Clemson, 2007 – The oft-injured small forward, who many times had to play the four spot despite his 6-4 frame, caught a lead pass from Jon Scheyer, who had just rushed across the mid-court line, and converted a floater as the horn sounded. Clemson’s staff contended the clock did not start promptly, thus giving Duke a little extra time to run the play.
8 – Chris Duhon at Wake Forest, 2001 – With the score 80-80, the freshman from Louisiana took a pass on the right wing from Jason Williams, made a quick shake-and-bake move, got just into the lane and let go of a long floater that was all net as time expired. Duhon did this on a national championship team that included some of Duke’s greatest players ever.
7 – Ricky Price at Maryland, 1996 – Inbounding the ball from the baseline near the Duke basket, Duke’s Steve Wojciechowski hit Price in the left corner. With Maryland’s Johnny Rhodes running at him, Price calmly sank a 3-pointer for the victory, helping raise the intensity of a rivalry that was through the roof until a few years ago.
6 – Sean Dockery vs. Virginia Tech, 2005 – Dockery caught an inbound pass from the baseline at halfcourt, turned, took one dribble and heaved a 47-footer, which fell through the cylinder for a 77-75 victory. Interestingly, it was a conference game but took place in December, so it was Tech’s second year in the ACC. Also, a lot of Duke students rushed the floor in celebration.
5 – Jeff Capel vs. UNC, 1995 – After UNC center Serge Zwikker missed a free throw while up three points with three seconds left in overtime, Capel got a pass off the rebound, raced up the court, and at the mid-point between half-court and the top of the key let fly a shot he’d practiced many times before, and it went through the basket sending the game into a second overtime. Duke eventually lost, but the shot remains one of the most famous plays in a great rivalry.
4 – Gene Banks vs. UNC, 1981 – Mike Krzyzewski’s first home game versus the hated Heels as Duke’s coach was on Senior Day. And in his last home game, Gene Banks, who was an important part of the Duke team that almost won the national title in 1978, made history. With one second left, he caught an inbound pass near the free-throw line, turned and swished a jumper tying the score at 58-58 and sending the game into overtime, where Duke eventually won.
3 – Austin Rivers at UNC, 2012 – The precocious freshman dribbled the ball up the court, used a screen at the top of the key, went to his right, and with UNC having switched and 7-foot Tyler Zeller defending, Rivers let go from around 23 feet. The ball was in mid-flight when the backboard lit up, signaling the end of the game, and just like that the ball swished through the net, sending the Blue Devils into a wild celebration and introducing Rivers to the sports world.
2 – Christian Laettner vs. Connecticut, 1990 – One buzzer-beating shot to lift a team to a Final Four is a remarkable achievement in itself, but to do it twice in a career is almost not believable. While most of the universe knows Laettner beat Kentucky in 1992 with one of the most thrilling plays ever in major American sports, many have forgotten he did the same thing two years earlier to beat UConn and send the Devils to the Final Four.
1 – Christian Laettner vs. Kentucky, 1992 – Only 2.1 seconds remained on the clock, and defending national champ Duke trailed Kentucky 103-102 in overtime. But sophomore star Grant Hill inbounded from his own baseline to Laettner, who caught the ball just in front of the free-throw line, bounced the ball once, faked to his right, turned around to his left and swished a jump shot, sending the Devils into a delirious celebration and the Wildcats into tears. Some pundits call this the greatest college basketball game ever played.
