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What could be better than beating your biggest rival?
How about doing it with a 20-foot buzzer-bomb, capping a late comeback, and during the first season in your new on-campus arena?
That’s what University of Hawaii guard Tes Whitlock did on Feb. 16, 1995. He and his jump shot — nicknamed “Tracy” for reasons only the flamboyant Whitlock knows — deflated BYU 73-70, and sent the Special Events Arena crowd of 7,984 into delirium.
The Cougars led 68-62 late. But the ’Bows battled back, with Phil Handy hitting a 3-pointer to tie it with a minute left.
With 3.5 seconds remaining and BYU working for the last shot, Kalia McGee came up with a loose ball on the UH defensive end and threw a high, arching pass down court. Whitlock, streaking toward the corner, gathered it on one bounce. He let the ball fly 20 feet from the basket as the clock showed 0.2 seconds.
Tracy was true.
“I can’t believe it went in,” Whitlock said. “All I wanted to do was put the ball in the air and pray. … When I saw it go in, I said, ‘Yes. There is a God.’ It was like a H-O-R-S-E shot. It was a prayer shot. I almost fainted when it went in.”
BYU came into the SEA ranked No. 21, at 20-5 overall and 11-2, tied atop the WAC with Utah. The Cougars were not the same after; they lost five of their last seven, including in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It was a shining moment of 1994-95 for Hawaii, which had gone to the NCAAs the year prior. This edition of the ’Bows (16-13, 8-10) fell one win short of a return to The Dance, losing to Utah 67-54 in the WAC tournament final.
Bobby Nash hit a buzzer-beater to knock off Oral Roberts in 2004, and in 2011 Hauns Brereton made a 3-pointer with two seconds left in regulation to set up an overtime win over No. 14 Xavier.
But when it comes to bravado and backing it up, Whitlock stood alone.
“When I step off the bus, I’m open,” he once said, and he broke an 80-year-old Orange County, Calif., record with 68 points in a game for Loara High School in 1990.
Whitlock scored just 11 in this game, but the last three were on the most memorable shot in Rainbows history.
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