Dawson Garcia’s buzzer-beater vs. Michigan had shades of Blake Hoffarber’s miracle shot

Dawson Garcia’s logo buzzer-beater to upset Michigan 84-81 in overtime Thursday is already an instant classic and one of the most memorable last-second shots for Gophers men’s basketball in recent memory.

With Garcia’s emotions going in so many directions that night, it was hard for him to describe what it was like to make that type of play.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Garcia, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Gophers (9-9, 1-6) in their first Big Ten win this season. “I’m going to share that moment with my family and friends, too. It means everything.”

The distance was impressive — a 40-footer with an important game on the line.

The play sequence was crazy. Lu’Cye Patterson fumbling the inbounds pass, getting bumped dribbling up the court but still finding Garcia for a lefty launch just beyond half-court to beat the game clock. Whoa.

“That dude deserves that shot,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said about his senior leader from Savage.

The high stakes made it even rarer in the program’s history, too.

The last game-winner for the Gophers vs. a ranked opponent at home was Michael Bauer’s three-pointer to beat No. 17 Georgia in 2002. Johnson was playing his second game as a Gopher after transferring from Northwestern.

But Garcia’s miracle shot against the No. 20 Wolverines in overtime Thursday night was the first buzzer-beater to defeat a ranked opponent for the Gophers since former Gophers guard Blake Hoffarber broke Hoosier hearts upsetting No. 22 Indiana in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals in 2008.

Hoffarber, who did his version of Christian Laettner’s “The Shot” by drilling a jumper off a 74-foot pass from Travis Busch, wasn’t in the building Thursday to witness the shot-making greatness of Garcia in crunch time. But he saw the play live on TV with his three children at home in Wayzata.

“The first one against a ranked team since mine in 2008 is crazy,” Hoffarber told the Star Tribune. “You could see Garcia calling for the ball, which is what you want to see your best players do. He caught it and shot it right away. I didn’t know if he was going to get it off in time. He did with plenty of time. It was a huge win. Huge for the program and huge for Ben.”

Ultimate confidence is a must for players to hit those game-winning shots.

“Some players want to take a backseat, but others want to come to the ball and grab it,” Hoffarber said. “You have to trust yourself that you’re going to make it when it counts. Garcia’s the best player on the team and I was happy to see he wanted the ball.”

What else goes into the ability to make that type of a shot under so much pressure late in the game? Are there such things as ‘clutch genes’ players are born with? How many times do you have to simulate it in practice with no fans watching?

Nobody knows the answers to those questions better than Hoffarber, who was nominated for two ESPN awards for best sports play of the year. The other was the 2005 ESPY winner with his shot from his backside in the state title game for Hopkins in high school.

Garcia’s last game-winner with the Gophers was much closer to the basket. He hit a runner from 5 feet with five seconds left to beat California Baptist, 62-61 in overtime in the opening game of the SoCal Challenge in California in 2022.

“There can be a certain clutchness in you,” Hoffarber said. “Some people seem to have a knack for it. You have to have the confidence from practicing it. I was always doing game-ending shots by myself in the gym or practicing it going 5-on-5.”

Hard to imagine Hoffarber practicing the butt shot. But former Gophers coach Tubby Smith worked on the long pass play from Busch to Hoffarber in practice. Johnson didn’t have any timeouts left after Michigan tied the game 81-81 with seven seconds left Thursday, but he said Patterson getting to the center of the court made it possible for the pass to Garcia. That was a play they work on — and the rest became the stuff of legends.

“Lu’Cye had great poise from fumbling the dribble to not just blasting it up and doing something crazy,” Johnson said. “Dawson did a great job trailing the play like we kind of worked on. It was a little bit of a broken play but with them knowing the concepts of what we’re trying to do. They read it great and he hit a helluva shot.”