Column: One play, one shot, one chance

Amara Aguilar

Maybe, just maybe ...

UC Irvine’s Jerry Green could have done things different when he had

the ball and the Anteaters were trailing by a point with less than 30

seconds left during a nonconference men’s basketball game against UCLA at

Pauley Pavilion Saturday.

Maybe, just maybe ...

He could have passed the ball to a ready and waiting Stanislav Zuzak.

Maybe, just maybe ...

Green was being just a tad selfish. Or was he?

“Jerry is not a selfish player,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “But he

tries to carry the team on his back. I like a kid that doesn’t disappear

when it’s on the line. He wants the last shot and if anything he tried

too hard, but he made some key buckets for the whole game.”

Green dribbled the ball as the precious seconds on the clock ticked

away with UCI trailing, 75-74.

The moment had finally come. The clutch moment that allows star

players to shine. It was what Green had been waiting for. Seconds seemed

like an eternity as UCI’s pride and joy took the final shot of the game

over two UCLA players reaching for the sky.

The ball went wide of the basket and just like that it was over for

UCI. One play, one shot, one chance.

One player’s split-second choice. Was it the right one?

“It would have been nice if that last shot had gone down,” Douglass

said. “If we are going to have the ball with three seconds to go and

Jerry has a chance to win it on a roll, I’ll take that any day.”

The issue here isn’t that Green didn’t make the shot, it’s that he

wanted the ball. Why shouldn’t he? He had already scored a game-high 27

points. However, Zuzak was also on a hot scoring streak against UCLA and

a case could be made that maybe Green should have passed the ball.

Could’ve? Would’ve? Should’ve?

Zuzak, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, did score a career-high 22

points in the game.

Maybe, just maybe he would have made the final shot to win the game

for the Anteaters. He was certainly capable, not to mention open.

Green, a senior as well as last year’s Big West Player of the Year,

trusted his instincts and he can’t be blamed for that. He had confidence

in his game. Zuzak had no regrets on how the last play unraveled.

“(Green) took a shot,” Zuzak said. “It was all right. I think it was a

shot he can make. He took a shot he takes, so I think that was all

right.”

Zuzak was open, but said he didn’t think Green could see him. Or

maybe, just maybe Green didn’t want to see him.

“We can’t say it’s (Green’s) mistake at all,” Zuzak said.

Maybe, just maybe ... There are too many maybes floating around here.

With all the focus on what could have happened with or just before

Green’s last shot, some other factors might be blurred out of the big

picture.

On the opposite end of the Anteaters’ side of the court, UCLA had its

own big shot, Jason Kapono.

“I’ll take my chance with (Kapono) shooting the ball because that is

what he does well,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said. “He has good instincts.”

Kapono displayed them against the Anteaters, scoring a team-high 25

points for the Bruins. He also made five of six three-pointers.

“Great players come out when you need them,” Green said. “(Kapono)

showed he was a great player tonight, hitting clutch threes. He’s a key

player here.”

Maybe, just maybe ... it wasn’t all about the last big shot.