Was This the Greatest Bruin Basketball Game Ever?

The date: March 23, 2006.

The venue: The Oakland Arena, which was hosting the West Regional Semifinal (Sweet 16 round) of the men’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament.

The matchup: No. 2–seed UCLA, whose roster featured a host of future NBA players — Darren Collison ’10, Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Ryan Hollins ’06 and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute — against the third-seeded Gonzaga University Bulldogs, led by consensus first-team All-American Adam Morrison.

The Bulldogs built a burly 17-point first-half lead over the Bruins, with the game — and the Bruins’ hope for a national title — seemingly over. But battling back in the second half, the scrappy UCLA squad managed to cut the deficit to just one point after two free throws by Hollins. With 19.7 seconds left in the game, the Bulldogs were set to inbound the ball under their own basket against UCLA’s full-court press as Bruins Head Coach Ben Howland stalked the sideline, exhorting his defense with hands held high as if he were a sixth defender.

What happened next was … extraordinary, as evidenced by this transcript of the action that day from CBS play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson and color commentator Len Elmore: 

The transcript doesn’t do Johnson’s electric call justice. You really have to watch the video of the closing seconds — which has been viewed over 633,000 times (another version has 379,000 views) — to really feel it. (A video of the entire game has 69,000 views, while a version shot on a UCLA band member’s phone from behind the UCLA Spirit Squad has 60,000.) Iconic is an overused term these days, but nothing else fits.

As the game marks its 20th anniversary this month, Johnson confesses he’s got “all kinds of memories” of the contest — starting with a sense of disbelief that it’s been that long.

Twenty years have passed, but UCLA fans continue to reminisce about not just this game, but your call of the game. They remember “Heartbreak City” and “last chance to dance” and “the caaaaatch.” What do you remember most?

I remember we were in Oakland. I remember that after the game, a boss called me and told me my call was bad. I’ll never forget that. It taught me a lesson that time is much kinder to us. I remember walking out of that game, which at one point had Gonzaga up 17 with Adam Morrison, the best player in the country, and thinking, I don’t know how UCLA did it.

Someone took the time to include a transcript of the closing seconds on your Wikipedia page. They might put “Heartbreak City” on your tombstone.

Heartbreak City, that’s Dick Vitale, my hero. I’ve been watching Dick Vitale since I was a baby, when he was the head coach in the ’70s at the University of Detroit. He used to say “Heartbreak City,” call freshmen “Diaper Dandies.” I just love the guy and everything he says. He was so enthusiastic.

“Last chance to dance”?

That was a slogan from a sorority — the Deltas, Delta Sigma Theta. The name of their sorority dance before the pledging process. It was their last chance to dance before they had six or eight weeks of hard pledging. I like music, I like to read, I’m pretty educated, and I am a creative and artistic person, and I just get so into it. These are things that just pop into my head.

The call aside, what do you remember most about the game?

It’s all storytelling, and that was just an amazing story. UCLA–Gonzaga and how UCLA came back after being down by 17. I didn't see it coming — I thought the game was over. I was getting ready to get into my blowout material.

Right. If Gonzaga had built the lead up to 28, you would have had to spend the whole second half killing time. But UCLA came back, and you met the moment.

I’ve done this for so long. I just want to do a good job. I want people to watch my stories. When all is said and done, I’m a reporter, and I love to report on our young men and women that play ball. It’s sometimes a little overwhelming.

To be a storyteller is the best job ever. When I first started in my career and had a chance to have this national exposure, I would say, “Lord, let me be the conduit between you and the message you want to get out to your masses.” I want to make them feel good when they’re watching the game. This is your leisure time, and you root for your team. You want your team to do good. To be a part of that is pretty neat, and that’s what I try to focus on. I don’t like to criticize anybody when I’m calling the game. These are heirloom moments for these young people. Family heirlooms. Their mother, their father, their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren for the rest of their lives, and for the rest of their existence of their family, will be watching these moments.

Is there anything you’d change about calling a game like that?

Sometimes I think maybe I get too excited. I want to maybe temper that a little bit so I don’t embarrass myself. Even in that UCLA game, when I say, “Batista with the caaaaatch,” I sound like a frickin’ screechin’ cat.

Relive the final winning moments: