BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — When Ben Brust is introduced to strangers, they may recognize the name, place the face and make the connection. They also may do the math and put "3 and 3" together.
If they do, it adds up to the game-tying "3" that he sank from half-court as time expired in regulation and the game-winning "3" that he made in the 2013 overtime upset of No. 3 Michigan.
It was an "instant classic" at the Kohl Center in the words of one of his Wisconsin teammates, Jared Berggren who concluded, "Sometimes the basketball gods are on your side."
Few have forgotten the moment when Brust's improbable shot found the bottom of the net during a see-saw game in which the score was tied nine times and there were 12 lead changes.
"It's crazy how many people still talk about it," said Brust, who now doubles as a local radio sports talk show co-host and a studio/game analyst for the Big Ten Network.
"Everyone has that, 'Where were you when' story. And it's always cool that everyone can tell you where they were — whether they were at the game or they were watching at this place or that place."
Brust will be among the UW alums that will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's home game against Michigan, one of only two unbeatens left in college basketball.
With Duke's loss Monday night, the No. 2-ranked Wolverines (17-0) are in position to jump into the top spot in the Associated Press poll; a No. 1 ranking they held six years ago.
They began that season on a 16-0 run.
As it played out, the Badgers knocked off that 2012-2013 Michigan team twice; once behind Brust's heroics in Madison; and then again in the Big Ten Tournament at Chicago's United Center.
The Wolverines went on to lose to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament title game.
Meanwhile, the Badgers kept their streak alive of finishing among the top four teams in the Big Ten by posting a 12-6 league mark. But the real showstopper was Brust, the team's leading scorer.
On Feb. 9, 2013, he became a part of Badger lore with his clutch shot-making.
It all evolved innocently enough. After Michigan's Tim Hardaway, Jr., drilled a 3-pointer for a 60-57 lead, UW coach Bo Ryan called timeout. There were only 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
"Bo told me that I was the wild card and I knew what that meant," said Brust, who made a half-court shot at North Carolina the previous season and sunk one at Iowa that didn't count because it came a split second after the first-half buzzer.
"It wasn't just a term that he (Ryan) posed for me. This was something that we had practiced on Friday: late-game situations. I'm the wild card and my job was to get open."
Mike Bruesewitz was the inbounder. Michigan coach John Beilein elected not to put a defender on the baseline. Bruesewitz assumed the role of a football quarterback who was intent on hitting a receiver in full stride. He had multiple options, but he needed to make a perfect pass.
"Sam Dekker started on the near side of Bru and he went across the court towards our bench," said Brust, morphing into a play-by-play. "Traevon Jackson crossed right in front of Sam to kind of get an angle to go towards the sideline in the other direction."
Bruesewitz waited for Brust to break open — going away from the baseline — before inbounding.
"I gave myself enough room to get the ball," Brust said, "and then get squared."
The Wolverines had two fouls to give. Caris LeVert, a lanky 6-foot-5 freshman, was on Brust.
"John Beilein was yelling 'foul' before the ball was even given to Bruesewitz," Brust said. "It was pretty clear that was their goal. He (LeVert) was kind of on the side of me … they just didn't execute it and I'm very thankful they didn't foul me. As soon as I let it go, I knew it was going in."
To this day, he says, "I was like, 'Holy Blank, that IS going in.'"
Even the stoic Ryan raised his arms in celebration after Brust's shot tied the game.
"I remember running to the huddle after the half-court shot," said Brust, "and I was saying, 'We need to win this game so that shot means something. Let's not just have a cool memory on a loss.' It wouldn't mean as much. That's what was sticking with me before hitting that shot in overtime."
Jackson and Hardaway traded baskets in the extra session before Brust stepped back on the stage. After missing a layup with 67 seconds left, he deflected the ball off Nik Stauskas' hands and out of bounds to extend UW's offensive possession. And, once again, Brust delivered.
With 39 seconds to play in the OT, he drained a triple on LeVert.
"Everyone remembers the half-court shot, but that's probably the shot in the game that I'm most proud of because that was the game-winner, that put us up by three (65-62)," said Brust, who led the Badgers with 14 points.
"It was late in the shot clock, I put the ball in my right hand with a little in-and-out dribble. And as soon as I let that one go, I knew, 'That's going in as well.'"
When Trey Burke missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer, the UW students stormed the floor in an orderly manner. "I remember being embraced by a bunch of my teammates," Brust said.
And then all heck broke loose.
"The student section lifted me up," he said. "I'm a little bit lighter than the 7-footers and 6-8 guys on the team. I remember seeing my brother and someone gave me a Wisconsin hat I was wearing."
Bruesewitz got a ride on the shoulders of 330-pound Beau Allen, a nose guard on the Wisconsin football team. Bruesewitz then grabbed the microphone from the scorer's table and thanked the fans for giving "their heart and soul" and told them, "We tried to do the same thing on the floor."
Brust was not the only playmaker on this day. Berggren, the 6-10 center, showed off his handle by dribbling past Mitch McGary before dunking on Burke, who was called for a blocking foul. Berggren completed a 3-point play that tied the game at 57-all with 30 seconds to go in regulation.
Burke later admitted, "It was a great dunk."
Berggren had 13 points, eight rebounds; Ryan Evans had 11 points, nine boards. Dekker came off the bench to score 12. Burke, a consensus All-American, had 19 points to lead the Wolverines who had six future NBA players: Burke, Hardaway, Stauskas, LeVert, McGary and Glenn Robinson III.
In the UW locker room after the game, the players clapped along to Ke$ha and her hit song "Die Young" which was their anthem for the season. "It's something I'll remember forever," Brust said.
He was reminded of that statement this week. And, yes, he still remembers the moment. So, do others. Brust has friends at a Madison car dealership and they like to joke around with him. Whenever he walks through their doors, they play the sound clip of the shot. He just heard it a few months ago.
"Any time I do a talk or clinic," he said, "I get coerced by the parents and the kids to try the shot again.
"It's so anti-climactic," he conceded, "if you don't get it on the first try."
He paused before noting, "I'm glad I got it on the first try when it was most necessary."
Considering that Michigan will be in the building Saturday, what will be going through Brust's mind when he stands in front of the Kohl Center crowd? "It will be cool to hear the applause," said Brust, who's forever grateful to have played on teams that "made an impact on some Badger fans."
Obviously, he'll be pulling for Wisconsin to upset the Wolverines.
"Hopefully," he said, "theatrics aren't needed this time around."
