WASHINGTON — Kenny Goins doesn’t quite remember the discussion that took place during Michigan State’s timeout with 43 seconds left in Sunday’s Elite 8 game against Duke.
In the locker room, he said everything was “a little blurry in my memory” as he tried to recall the origin of the play that resulted in him nailing a go-ahead 3-pointer nine seconds later.
“It’s up for debate kind of,” Goins said.
And that’s actually perfect. That’s how legends should be — a little bit foggy, with room for interpretation and freelancing, especially for the central character. Twenty years from now, he’ll be able to alter details and present the story any way he wants. Who’s going to challenge him?
It was clear Goins was being truthful and not just dodging the question, because, in one attempt at explaining the sequence, he spoke about the feed he got from Cassius Winston.
It was Xavier Tillman who passed to him at the top of the key.
Matt McQuaid had a clearer recollection.
“He’s been here the longest. He’s a fifth-year senior, been through a lot,” McQuaid started. “Man, that was a nice shot. Nothing but net.”
About the only indisputable part of the play was that the players crafted it themselves in that timeout, assistant coach Dane Fife said. The coaches wanted some kind of screen for Winston off the ball, Fife said, and he remembers Winston and Tillman making the final adjustments.
Goins was not the focal point, but a decoy. They felt they’d shown that look, with Goins leaking out for a 3-pointer, too much lately to catch the Blue Devils off guard.
Here’s what the Spartans broke the huddle expecting to do:
“Cash was supposed to set the screen for Kenny, which he did, and then he was supposed to break off and loop under Tillman’s guy and set a lob screen. We were looking for the lob,” Fife said. “We thought they’d both go with either Cassius or Tillman, which would lead to an easy 3 for Cash or a lob to Tillman.
“Kenny broke the play off and shot it. So he’s gonna be reprimanded.”
Winston, the smallest Spartan on the floor, ran interference on Duke star Zion Williamson — best described as a muscular Coke machine — to give Goins a crease to shoot. Earlier in the game, Williamson displayed his rare athletic gifts by covering an unnatural amount of ground and blocking one of Goins’ jumpers in mid-air.
This time, Goins said he was surveying the space between himself and Williamson before he even caught the ball.
“Kenny’s got such good looks from that exact play where it’s just an easy pin-down from Cassius because there’s so many eyes on Cassius,” Fife said. “It hasn’t been open as of late. I think Kenny was the only one that somehow thought he was gonna be open.”
Goins finished 2-for-8 from beyond the arc against Duke. From the start of the Big Ten Tournament through the Sweet 16, he had made 10 of 38 3-point attempts.
In the biggest moment of the season, he improvised and hit the game-winning shot over college basketball’s bigger star.
“I would have trusted anyone else in this locker room to take that shot because I’ve seen their work,” Goins said. “There’s a reason we’re so close. We trust everyone.”
In hindsight, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Goins’ entire existence within the MSU program is one big bet on himself.
“Kenny gave up a lot, including a scholarship, to be a part of this basketball program,” Fife said. “And it hasn’t been easy for him. There’s been probably a lot of frustration, injuries. There were probably times when we didn’t think Kenny would make it here, just because it’s a lot of work. It’s a classic case of a senior, albeit a fifth-year senior, delivering his promise. When you come here as a walk-on, you make promises and you’re not given anything. Delivered on his promise to stay focused, work hard and live Michigan State basketball.
“So this is a fitting closure for a guy that’s given his all to the program. He’s getting everything he deserves.”
Including the ability to write his own ending to this tale, the defining moment of his five-year career.
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