Adams: Hill is a hero for Arkansas with 'horse' shot

ATLANTA - Can the SEC basketball tournament get any stranger?

First, a tornado hits the Georgia Dome on Friday night, postpones one game and moves the entire tournament to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus Saturday.

Next, Georgia is forced to play a day-night doubleheader - first, against Kentucky in a high-noon tipoff; later, against Mississippi State in a game that didn't begin until almost 9 p.m.

Then, along comes Arkansas' Steven Hill, a 7-foot center with 5-foot stats.

Before Hill decided to become a hero in the last five seconds against fourth-ranked Tennessee on Saturday night, his stat line looked like this: four fouls, four rebounds, two turnovers and no points.

No one, including his own point guard, expected him to take the shot, which knocked the Vols out of the SEC tournament, 92-91, in the semifinals.

"I thought he was going to throw it back to me," Arkansas point guard Gary Ervin said. "I was cutting to the basket."

Hill was thinking differently after receiving the pass on the baseline.

"I knew if I missed, we still had time for an offensive rebound," he said.

How's that for confidence?

But no rebound was necessary when Hill faded away from the goal and lofted the ball high over the basket.

At various times in the post-game interview, Hill referred to the shot as a "throw," a "fade away" or - Arkansas fans will probably like this one best - a "rainbow."

Don't get the wrong idea. Hill often takes the shot in practice. He takes it "joking around."

"It's my 'horse' shot," Hill said.

After his horse shot eliminated the Vols, Hill seemed amused by all the attention. But he handled it with the ease of his unexpected game-winning basket.

"Was that the biggest shot of your career?" he was asked.

It took him less than a second to answer.

"I haven't made many shots in my career," he said. "So that's definitely the biggest one."

He couldn't even remember taking a shot with the game on the line, much less making one.

But why wouldn't he make it? In a game of great shots, what was one more?

Arkansas made 55.2 percent of its field-goal tries and eight of 18 3-pointers. UT hit 54.5 percent of its field-goal tries and was a sizzling 11-for-24 from 3-point range.

It was an NBA-style game before a high school size crowd. And the 400-or-so UT fans lucky enough to have tickets after the game was moved from the Georgia Dome to the coliseum, enjoyed it until the last shot.

UT didn't lose because it was up-tight in the favorite's role. It lost because Arkansas beat it at its own game.

The Razorbacks, who didn't always play up to their potential during the regular season, looked like the second-most talented team in the SEC in matching the Vols stride for stride and shot for shot in the fast-paced game.

"UT is a great team," Arkansas All-SEC forward Sonny Weems said. "They play the same whether they're up by 21 or down by 21.

"But I think we just wanted it more than they did."

Weems also figured prominently in Arkansas' stretch run. After missing his first six shots, he made his last three, including a 3-pointer.

Before the Razorbacks' offense broke down on their last possession, Weems might have been a likely candidate to take the final shot. If not Weems, then Stefan Welsh, who hit four of six 3-pointers; or Charles Thomas, who scored 24 points; or Patrick Beverly, who had 17.

Anyone except Hill, who said with a smile, "I was probably our sixth option on the play."

But when Ervin temporarily lost his footing and almost went to the floor with the ball in hand, the possession turned topsy-turvy. And when it did, the ball wound up in Hill's hands.

He then delivered the most surprising shot of a surprising tournament.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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