Kansas' Svi Mykhailiuk Gets Away with Epic Travel to Beat Rival Kansas State at the Buzzer
By Tully Corcoran
Kansas State hadn’t won a men’s basketball game in Lawrence since 2006, and it was a 13.5-point underdog entering Tuesday’s game at No. 3 Kansas. That the game was tied with five seconds left was an upset in itself, propelled by a brilliant performance by big man Dean Wade, who scored 20.
Kansas hadn’t shown it could stop the Wildcats from scoring, and overtime would have been a tossup. This was a huge opportunity for the Wildcats, and their embattled coach, Bruce Weber.
The Jayhawks wanted to inbound the ball to Frank Mason, their point guard and best player. K-State made a good denial, and forced it instead to Sviatoslav Mikhailiuk, a 6-foot-8, 19-year-old junior from Ukraine. He averages 11.2 points per game off the bench.
And Svi did this:
Big XII refs. 50 fouls called then swallow the whistle on the obvious walk. @GottliebShow pic.twitter.com/xMRneMttcO
— Kyle Cofer (@KCohFer) January 4, 2017
Svi picked up his dribble there and shot it there. pic.twitter.com/29NDvwdKmK
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) January 4, 2017
The refs didn’t call it and Kansas won 90-88.
Mikhailiuk had 11.
It has been meme’d.