Top 2012-13 Performances: No. 9 Jamil Wilson vs. Miami

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The top 10
10. Trent Lockett vs. Miami

Stat line: 16 pts, 8 reb, 3 blk, 2 ast, 33 min.

Quality of opponent: 9/10. Miami came into this Sweet 16 matchup as a solid favorite to advance. They were the ACC regular season and tournament champions, having spent the last two months of the season in the top-10 of the AP polls, reaching as high as No. 2. They boasted the National Coach of the Year in Jim Larranaga and one of the top point guards in the country in Shane Larkin. However, the Hurricanes were missing one of their big men Reggie Johnson, who had undergone knee surgery earlier in the week. While Johnson would have helped, his role on the team had diminished in the final weeks, limiting the impact of is absence.

Magnitude of game: 10/10. The Sweet 16 of an NCAA Tournament? It doesn’t get much bigger than that. This game was Marquette’s opportunity to get over the hump, having lost in the Sweet 16 the previous two years. There was a bevy of national media attention and very few pundits were giving Marquette a chance to win. All of this makes Lockett’s performance that much more impressive.

Rundown: Wilson–a natural small forward–had been playing power forward all season, and on this night it meant a matchup with 6-foot-10 Julian Gamble and 6-foot-11 Kenny Kadji. Wilson got his night started with a block on shooting guard Durand Scott, grabbed four rebounds in the first half and swatted two other back-to-back Scott attempts. He was balanced on offense, too, scoring seven points in the first half and adding nine after halftime.

Key play: A quick 3-0 run midway through the first half cut Marquette’s lead to 14-7, but it was then that Wilson took over, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers in the next three Golden Eagles possessions. It pushed Marquette’s lead to 22-10, and the Hurricanes did not get within single digits the rest of the night. It was the true turning point in what would become a blowout win for Marquette.

Wow factor: Wilson had been consistent the month leading up to this game, but he hadn’t put it all together like this since the USC and Green Bay non-conference games in November/December. His 16 points were his third highest all season, his eight rebounds were one off his season-best and he hadn’t hit three 3-pointers in a game since Maui against the Trojans. The three blocks were one off his season-high (4, Mississippi State), and it came on the heels of seven games where he totaled four. This was the complete Jamil Wilson at his best.

Historical precedent: Jae Crowder vs. BYU in the NCAA Tournament. It’s not fair to compare Wilson’s performance to Crowder’s (25 points, 16 rebounds), but the way in which the two affected the outcome were similar. Crowder connected on a pair of first-half 3-pointers to give Marquette a major cushion entering halftime and, like Wilson’s three blocks, Crowder’s four steals shifted momentum in Marquette’s favor. Both were complete performances from switchables who took over their respective Tournament games.

Closing time: Miami was in no position to actually come back in the game, but crazier things have happened. The Hurricanes used a quick 7-0 run to cut their deficit from 51-30 to 51-37 with 8:37 to play. But Wilson ended the run–and Miami’s hope–with a two-handed slam off the fast-break to put Marquette up 16 inside eight minutes. Relive the memory below.