While putting together one of the most dramatic comeback wins in The Basketball Tournament history Thursday, Herd That relied heavily on a strong bond most of them developed while playing together at Marshall.
Except the guy who hit the winning shot was an Arizona Wildcat.
Former UA forward Ryan Luther drove inside for a game-winning layup to cap Herd That’s 102-99 comeback upset win over talent-laden The Money Team on Thursday in a TBT round-of-16 game. The made-for-television tournament awards $1 million to the championship team.
Sponsored by boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather, The Money Team had multiple former NBA players including former Wildcat guard Nick Johnson, forward Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga), center Thomas Welsh (UCLA) and guard Tony Wroten (Washington).
TMT had just one day of practice together because it feared a positive coronavirus test could disqualify them. Herd That, meanwhile, had years of togetherness and even gathered for a pre-tournament camp at a West Virginia resort late last month.
Herd That’s Ryan Luther (32) and his teammates celebrate after Thursday’s win .
“I’m not saying this in a derogatory manner, but (The Money Team) is a bunch of mercenaries; they’re a bunch of hired hands,” said OT Elmore, Herd That’s general manager and shooting guard. “Yes, they’re talented, but some of us spent two, three, four, five years together — some of us have known each other since third grade — and the new guys came in and they’ve been like family, too.”
The new guys wound up winning Herd That the game. Former Middle Tennessee forward Jacorey Williams led Herd That with 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting, while Luther added nine points. He scored four during the “Elam Ending,” when the clock stops at the first dead ball at or under the four-minute mark and a target score is made by adding eight points to the leader’s score.
Luther, who played at Pitt before his grad transfer season at UA in 2018-19, spent last season in Latvia and has agreed to play in Turkey’s Super League next season.
“Ryan doesn’t get a lot of credit, but Ryan’s a heck of a player, man,” guard Jon Elmore said. “He hit some shots, made some huge drives, had some big rebounds. He’s just a guy that’s gonna make a lot of the right plays and he’s gonna play hard.
“We had a connection with him. A family friend of ours was good friends with him. Ryan came 11 days early before the tournament, so we got to know him, and could implement the system. Ryan’s playing at a high level overseas so we’re lucky to have him and he made a great phenomenal finish in the game.”
Herd That trailed 93-86 entering the “Elam Ending,” meaning it needed 15 points to reach the game-winning target of 101 while holding The Money Team to seven or less.
The Money Team managed only six. Johnson set up Jordon Crawford for a 3-pointer that gave The Money Team a 97-86 lead, but Herd That outscored TMT 16-2 the rest of the way.
Former Wildcat Nick Johnson came up short as part of The Money Team in a game last week, dishing six assists while being held scoreless.
Luther scored inside to cut it to 97-93 and returned for the game-winner, taking a pass from the left wing from Jon Elmore and driving past Wroten and Welsh before throwing in the layup and crashing to the floor.
“We run a million pick-and-rolls and a lot of actions to try to mess the defense up, and what we did there was we saw that they had a 7-footer on Ryan,” Jon Elmore said. “Ryan’s a guy that can move, he’s really athletic, so he came up, set the ball screen and their big was a step late getting back to them. Ryan made a heck of a finish.”
Luther finished with nine points and six rebounds. Johnson, a former UA guard, had six assists for The Money Team but was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
Herd That will face Overseas Elite on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the quarterfinals. A perennial TBT power that once featured former Wildcat guard Kyle Fogg, who is now playing in China’s restarted basketball league, Overseas Elite beat Armored Athlete 76-70 on Thursday.
The TBT semifinals are scheduled for Sunday, with the final on Tuesday.
Rim shots
- Former Arizona standout forward Derrick Williams has reached an agreement to play for Valencia Basket in Spain’s high-level ACB as well as in EuroLeague, where he competed with Fenerbahce of Istanbul last season and with Bayern Munich in 2018-19. Williams averaged 11.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 28 EuroLeague games for Fenerbahce last season.
- Four-star 2021 point guard Zaon Collins of Las Vegas listed UA among his final four choices, along with ASU, USC and UNLV. The 6-foot-1-inch, 165-pound Collins is rated by 247Sports.com as the fifth-best point guard nationally in the 2021 class and No. 46 overall.
