With 3.6 seconds on the clock, Georgia lined up in a stack formation as it stared down the barrel of either breaking a nearly eight-year long losing streak to Kentucky, or yet another devastating conference loss.

Sahvir Wheeler smacked his hand against the ball, signaling a beginning to the flurry of screens and cuts by his four other teammates ready to take a game-winning shot. Nobody came open, and the 5-foot-10-inch point guard called a timeout, much to the satisfaction of head coach Tom Crean.

The 3.6 seconds remained as the five Bulldogs on the court made the slow walk over to Crean’s huddle. After being in control for a significant portion of the game and possessing the lead for over 25 minutes, Georgia saw its momentum fade into the air of a sparsely attended Stegeman Coliseum.

Crean, however, refused to let his players lose focus in a game he still knew they could win.

“When we came to that timeout, Coach Crean stopped everything and told everyone to just take three breaths,” said forward Andrew Garcia. “As cliche as that sounds, I really thought that helped us.”

The excitement of a 5-0 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to only one point energized the Bulldogs, but the job had not yet been finished, and Georgia had already faltered on its first inbound attempt. Crean scrapped the original play, drawing up a new look out of a nearly identical set, all while restoring the Bulldogs’ focus.

“Everybody was excited, everybody was pumped and we got out of ourselves for a second,” Garcia said. “But that little regroup was almost like a little reminder that we got here as a team, and that is how we are going to win.”

Fresh out of the timeout, Georgia lined up with Wheeler under the basket, barking out commands to his teammates. The point guard smacked the ball once again, signaling the start of the newly-drawn play.

Toumani Camara broke left, K.D. Johnson shuffled his defender to the right and Justin Kier set a firm screen on Kentucky forward Isaiah Jackson. Kier’s screen freed up P.J. Horne who cut hard to the basket, making himself the most viable option for Wheeler’s pass, which found Horne after one deliberate bounce.

Horne bobbled the pass but regained control and with 1.3 seconds left, drove straight up to lay the ball in, and scored what would be the final basket of Georgia’s 63-62 win over Kentucky.

“I had 3.6 seconds on the clock so I knew I had time to figure something out to get the ball in the basket,” Horne said. “I know this is a big win.”

Kentucky was forced to inbound the ball and take a last-second full-court, desperation heave. The clock hit zeroes and the celebration began with Georgia players mobbing their veteran teammate at midcourt.

Crean said Horne was the guy he wanted taking the final shot. The Bulldogs’ head coach decided to put the game in the hands of his upperclassman, who answered the call as time expired.

“One thing we did in the huddle was all we thought about was executing,” Horne said. “Executing the play, whatever coach draws up, execute.”

Printed with permission from the Red & Black independent student media organization based in Athens, Georgia; redandblack.com/sports