Gus Johnson Calling DeShawn Stevenson’s BIG3 Game Winner Was Everything We Could Have Hoped


Getty Image

On Sunday, the BIG3 held its first slate of games. The highlight was Power’s 61-58 victory over Tri-State, which happened because DeShawn Stevenson drilled a game-winning three. It was such a great end to the game for Stevenson, as he was locked in all game. Plus the entire matchup was close the whole time and absolutely deserved to be decided on a shot from way behind the arc.

The bad news about BIG3, though, is that it does not air live, so we had to wait a day to watch the game on television. The good news, though, was that the winning bucket occurred with Gus Johnson was on the call.

As is usually the case when Johnson calls a game winner, he hyped up the moment perfectly. Really, the entire sequence — starting with the final possession for Tri-State which ended in a scramble for a loose ball and a missed three by Xavier Silas — is great, and you should watch it right now.
https://youtu.be/5cDgzTPO4U8?t=1m52s

This is fantastic. Johnson’s frenetic style of calling games works perfectly for BIG3, especially at the end of games where both teams could conceivably have the chance to win if they just knock down one shot. We got a look into that thanks to Stevenson’s game winner.

Even though we no longer get to watch Johnson lose his mind at the end of hotly-contested NCAA Tournament games anymore, hopefully we get these brief moments of Gus — complete with him going “WOOOOOO” like he’s Ric Flair — throughout the BIG3.

×