INDIANAPOLIS — The game was slipping away, Kentuck🍒y up four and with 🅘all the momentum. Wisconsin hadn’t scored in over six minutes.
That’s when Sam Dekker slipped into his Superman cape, the one he has worn most of this NCAA Tournament. By the time his work was done, the Badgers had stunned the previously undefeated Wildcats and their gaggle of NBA prospects, 71-64, in the Final Four nightcap at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, earni🔥ng a trip to Monday’s title game against Duke.
Dekker, the Badgers’ talented junior forward, scoꦏred six of their 🦹final 15 points, keying the final push that was desperately needed.
“He may be a part of the ‘Clutch Brothers’ group now with the way he’s been playing these last [three] games,” Wisconsin sophomore Nigel H♔ayes said. “He just knows when to step up at the right moment.”
Wisconsin (36-3), the top seed out of the Wes🅷t Region, hadn’t scored a point in 6:06, watching a six-point lead turn into a four-point deficit when Dekker went to work. He broke the drought with a driving layup in the lane. After Hayes pulled♑ the Badgers even, Dekker sank the biggest shot of the evening, a left wing 3-pointer with 1:44 left, a cold-blooded shot that gave Wisconsin the lead for good. The next time down court, he drew a charge on Kentucky’s Trey Lyles.
Dekker didn’t remember the play coach Bo Ryan called on his dagger of a 3-pointer, but figured it was something to get teammate Frank Kaminsky free. He found himself matched up one-on-one with Kentucky (38-1) big man Karl-Anthony Towns and used his athleticism to create𝓀 space before letting his jump shot fly.
“Off my hand, I knew it was down,” he said.🐲 “I was waiting for a good look l🌠ike that all night.”
Dekker has played his best in the past three games, following up his West Regional Most Outstanding Player honors by torching Kentucky for 16 points on just nine shot attempts. He blitzed Arizona for a career-high 27 points in the West Regional 🥀final andౠ was a force against North Carolina, with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Wisconsin fans have been waiting for these kinds of performances from Dekker, the rare five-star prospect to land with the Badgers. The talent was obv🌃ious, but he also was inconsistent, sometimes vanishing. He got off to a slow start this year, an ankle injury limiting the junior. But he got healthy late in the season and has played his best in the tournament, averaging 20.6 points 𒅌and five rebounds per game while shooting 61 percent from the field.
When last season ended on this night, a Final Fo👍ur loss to Kentucky, Dekker never really considered making the jump to the NBA. He had to get better, but he also wanted another crack at a national championship. He made su🎐re that was possible Saturday night.
“This is something we’ve been talking about since day on🌄e this season,” De꧒kker said. “Look where we are now.”