GANSEYBITCHES! Big Shot of the Week

WINNER: Wayne Ellington, University of North Carolina. Ellington hit a three-pointer in overtime to push the Tar Heels pass the Clemson Tigers in overtime with just 0.4 seconds left on the game clock. The magical shot capped a brilliant game for Ellington, who poured in 36 points on 11-19 shooting. As time was expiring, Ty Lawson found Ellington on the near side wing. The Clemson defender tried to jump the pass, but narrowly missed, leaving Ellington with a temporary open look as Clemson’s James Mays came out to contest the shot. In that diminutive window, Ellington squared up and we swear we heard the call of all great clutch shooters escape his lips just as he released the ball: “Ganseybitches!” Game over.

2ND PLACE: Dante Cunningham, Villanova University. Cunningham hit two free throws in the closing seconds to beat Pitt by one. After a Tyrell Biggs foul, Cunningham made his first free throw before Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon called a time out in an attempt to ice Cunningham. The junior forward stepped to the line facing a scenario he must have played out hundreds of times growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland: one free throw to win the game. He swished the 15-foot freebie and put the Wildcats back on track after a disappointing loss to DePaul earlier in the week.


LOSER: O.J. Mayo, USC. This week USC played its second Pac-10 game of the season on the road against Stanford. The much-ballyhooed freshman laid an egg with a five for 19 shooting performance. Mayo, who recruited himself, shot one for six from behind the three-point arch. His Trojan team was held to a season-low 46 points losing by six to the Cardinals. For the second time this season Mayo had zero assists in a game — he played 38 minutes in both games. He also had zero steals for the third straight game. How do you play 76 minutes in two games without recording a single assist, you might ask? Well, to quote Omar Little from “The Wire,” “a minute at a time, I suppose.”