When it left his hand, he didn’t just think he had missed. He thought he had missed everything.
“I thought it was an air ball,” former Terps guard Drew Nicholas said. “I was going so fast. It’s kind of surreal because I can kind of put myself back in that moment. Dribbling down the floor is kind of a blur, but I remember as I jumped off the one foot I was going so fast I was fading, so I knew however I shot the ball I had to aim it a little bit left because I know my momentum was going to carry me. It was going to carry the ball. So I shot it left, and I didn’t think I put enough on it, and honest to God I thought it was an air ball.”
It was 15 years ago — March 21, 2003 — in Nashville, Tenn. Defending champions and sixth-seeded Maryland men’s basketball trailed 11th-seeded UNC Wilmington, 73-72, with five seconds remaining. When then-senior Drew Nicholas received the inbounds pass in the backcourt, he had one thing on his mind.
Head to PressBox to read Nicholas’ reflection on that fateful moment.
