SMU basketball held a slim 2.8% chance at beating Virginia Tech on Jan. 14 with eight seconds left in the game. That was until Boopie Miller had a say.
Miller, the Mustangs' star guard averaging 20.8 points and 7.9 assists per game this season, called game after hitting a halfcourt buzzer-beater as time expired to give SMU a 77-76 win at home. Miller took the full-court inbounds pass, sprinted past his defender and found a sliver of room at halfcourt before rising for the shot.
SMU originally drew up a long inbounds throw a la Christian Laettner 1992 but opted to put the ball in its best player's hands instead after Virginia Tech "put a wall" on the potential deep pass.
"Let's get the ball to Boopie and we rode with that," SMU coach Andy Enfield said after the game.
Miller said he knew it was in when it left his hand.
"I missed too many free throws," he said. "So, I knew it was going in."
Did SMU center Samet Yigotoglu also think the shot was going in?
"Um, hell yeah," he said with a laugh.
Miller finished with 24 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals in the win, playing 35 minutes in the game, although Enfield said he has lost seven or eight pounds in recent days due to the flu. Nineteen of his 24 points came in the second half, and his half-court shot was the first of his six 3-point attempts to fall in against Virginia Tech.
"His body was incredible," Enfield said. "Kurtis Shulz, our strength coach, put 10 pounds of muscle on him in the offseason, you saw how strong he was. All that muscle's gone right now. ... For him to be able to play 35 minutes is a credit to him. Just tells you who he is as a player, who he is as a person. He wanted to be out there."
The fifth-year senior guard shot 11-of-16 on free-throw attempts despite entering the game at over 90% from the line on the season. The former Central Michigan and Wake Forest transfer improved his scoring average from 13.2 points per game at SMU last season to 20.8 this season.
SMU improved to 13-4 on the season with a 2-2 record in ACC play, snapping a 2-game losing streak after losses to Clemson and Duke on the road. Miller, who missed the Mustangs' 82-75 loss to Duke, has emerged as one of the best players in the ACC this season.
He might be even more of an issue for opposing defenders once he shakes off his recent illness. Enfield said the team has been ravaged by the flu over the last week.
SMU returns to action when it faces Virginia on Jan. 17.
"Just getting rest," Miller said. "Hopefully having our whole team back, getting away from the sickness. ... These types of things I think will mature us."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SMU's Boopie Miller hits game-winning half-court shot vs Virginia Tech
