A big momentum shift began Saturday night with 3:11 remaining in the BYU Cougars’ NCAA Tournament second round game against the Wisconsin Badgers.
BYU led 86-76 at the time and was looking to close out the win when Dawson Baker was called for a flagrant 2 foul after hitting Wisconsin’s Max Klesmit in the midsection as he tried to split a double team.
Baker was ejected from the game and Badgers star John Tonje hit two free throws to cut his team’s deficit to eight. Wisconsin then got the ball, and though Steven Crowl missed a 3-pointer and Cougar freshman Egor Demin hit one in response to push the BYU back out to 11, it was the beginning of a run that saw the Badgers cut the deficit to just two at 91-89 with exactly a minute remaining.
With the score still at 91-89 and 13 seconds remaining, Wisconsin had the ball with a chance to either win the game or at least send it into overtime.
Meanwhile back in the BYU locker room, athletic department staffers had set up cameras to catch the Cougars’ potential postgame celebration, and though that was captured, something else was also — Baker’s reaction to those final 13 seconds as BYU defensive specialist Mawot Mag prevented Tonje from getting a good shot off as the Cougars won to advance to their first Sweet Sixteen since 2011 (Baker was watching it on a television in the locker room).
As shown in a clip posted on social media, Baker at one point was pacing around the locker room, his hands on his head. The clip then cuts to the beginning of that final possession and Baker claps his hands and says, “One stop. One stop. Come on. One stop.”
Baker then bent as if getting in a defensive stance and said, “One stop. One stop. Here we go.” As Tonje brought the ball up the floor, Baker said, “Going to him. He’s gonna make a play.”
Then with Mag on Tonje as Tonje started to make a move toward the basket, Baker said, “Get hand up, Mo” and he himself put a hand up.
When it appeared Mag had trapped Tonje from getting any closer to the basket and Tonje rose up for a tough shot attempt with time winding down, Baker said, “Good. Good. Wall up.”
As Tonje’s shot fell short and BYU secured the ball and the victory, Baker yelled, “Yeah!” three times as he turned his body toward the camera.
He then clapped his hands and exited off camera.
Two Cougar assistant coaches, Chris Burgess and Will Voigt, quote tweeted BYU’s post of the video on X, with Burgess writing “All the feels” with the hang loose emoji and Voigt writing, “This is what makes this team so special” with the heart emoji.