Anderson’s heroics vex A&M

By Stephen Hawkins - Associated Press Sports Writer     Mar 23, 2007

Memphis' Antonio Anderson (12) shoots the game-winning free throw. Anderson's two makes with 3.1 seconds left provided the decisive points in the Tigers' 65-64 victory against Texas A&M on Thursday in San Antonio.

? Antonio Anderson isn’t the player Memphis would have picked to go the line with a chance to advance to another NCAA regional final.

But there Anderson was, shooting free throws with 3.1 seconds left in a game in which he already had blown two open layups and missed three straight free throws.

“I wanted to choke him at halftime,” Memphis coach John Calipari said.

Calipari and the rest of the Tigers felt drastically different after Jackson made both free throws to beat Texas A&M, 65-64, on Thursday night and put Memphis in a regional final for the second year in a row.

Anderson went to line after being fouled at the end of a wild sequence in which the Tigers (33-3) missed three quick shots. And he knew what was about to happen.

“When I got to the line, I could see we were tired, and deep down so was the other team. I just wanted to get the game over with,” said Anderson, who finished with five points. “I missed free throws earlier, but I had the confidence I could knock them down.”

Those visualization drills must really work.

The Tigers have been one of the nation’s worst free-throw-shooting teams all season. They were so bad that Calipari quit having them shoot in postseason practice and told his players to visualize making them instead.

And now the Tigers, who have won 25 straight games, see a chance to get to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1985. They will play Ohio State on Saturday in the South Regional final.

Texas A&M (27-7), three seasons with coach Billy Gillispie removed from an 0-16 record in the Big 12, had one final chance after Anderson’s free throws, but Dominique Kirk’s shot from just inside half-court was woefully short.

Kirk took the final shot instead of “Captain Clutch,” senior Acie Law, who had 13 points. He was only 6-of-17 from the field in his final game for the Aggies – and blew a layup with just under a minute left after he took a long inbound pass.

That was the last good shot the Aggies got.

“I was disappointed in the way that I performed. It’s just a tough loss out there,” Law said.

Texas A&M was unable to take advantage of a partisan crowd, the stands in the Alamodome filled mostly with maroon-clad fans providing a football-like atmosphere and waiting to celebrate another big victory.

Instead, it was the small contingency of fans in blue behind the Memphis bench – including former Tigers star Penny Hardaway – who were cheering at the end.

“We just hung around, and that’s all we were trying to do,” Calipari said. “This is what we wanted, to come to Texas in front of 30,000 and prove ourselves.”

It was only the fourth game in the Memphis winning streak decided by less than 10 points.

“We all play like we have a chip on our shoulder, and we’ve been playing like that since early in the year,” Douglas-Roberts said. “Now we’re winning in the NCAA Tournament, and we’re playing all the elite people, and we’re still winning.”

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