TicketsCINCINNATI – If you've been to Fifth Third Arena to watch a University of Cincinnati basketball game in the last decade or more, chances are you've seen this moment replayed on the video board before the game.
It's one of the most iconic plays in the history of the UC basketball program – the dunk by Melvin Levett with one second left, off a feed from Kenyon Martin, that upset No. 1 Duke, 77-75, in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage on November 28, 1998. It was the fifth time in school history that the Bearcats knocked off a top-ranked team and remains the most recent.
"There are really no words for it," Levett said. "It's one of those moments that you wish for as an athlete. One of those 5-4-3-2-1 moments and you play it over in your mind when you're a kid in the back yard in the park, taking that last shot, but at that time you're naming yourself. With me, it was Dominique Wilkins."
The Bearcats were ranked 15th as they headed to Anchorage. To get a shot at Duke, they beat Southern Utah, 76-63, and Iowa State, 60-52.
"Duke was the prince of college basketball," Levett said. "You wanted your shot against them to prove how you can stack up. Lo and behold the stars aligned for us to get that matchup with them. (Duke's) Trajan Langdon was regarded as one of the top two guards in the nation. I had hopes and aspirations and dreams of going to the next level. I knew if Melvin Levett was going to be noticed and known, I was going to have to take advantage of what I could do against him. I put that guy's picture in my locker when we found out we were going to the Great Alaska Shootout. I went into it with the ultimate confidence in what was going to take place."
The Bearcats, who shot 63.3 percent from the field, led by 19 points in the first half and by 10 at halftime, but the Blue Devils, led by William Avery's 30 points, took the lead with 11 minutes to play. UC went back on top, 74-70, on Levett's 3-point play with 53 seconds remaining. Avery tied the score on a short jump shot with four seconds left, setting the stage for Levett's game-winning dunk.
According to Levett, UC coach Bob Huggins put the Bearcats through one of their most demanding practices of the season before the Duke game.
"We thought Huggins was sticking it to us in typical Huggins fashion," Levett said, "sometimes starting the practice over 2½ hours in. It was around Thanksgiving time and a lot of guys were feeling bad about not being home. Even though we were all together, we were missing home a little bit. We wanted some home-cooked food. Huggins was really letting us have it. I think what he was doing was getting us prepared for this game mentally.
"What we found out when we got back to the hotel is that Huggs was stalling for time. Boosters had prepared us a nice Thanksgiving spread and they needed some time, so he kept starting practice over."
Before the game-winning basket, Huggins called timeout and diagrammed the play. Ryan Fletcher, who had played quarterback at Middletown High School, was to take the ball out of bounds under UC's basket. His job was to heave a long pass to Kenyon Martin just above the foul line on the opposite end of the court. Martin would then dump a pass to Levett as he cut toward the basket.
The players knew all about that play because they had practiced it all season.
"The funny part about that is when we practiced it, Fletch would throw that ball up to where they have all the All-Americans' names (in Shoemaker Center)," Levett said. "The pass would be that bad. That thing never worked. Sometimes Ken would catch it and he'd throw it and it would go in front of me too far or I'd be running too fast and it would go behind me. Sometimes Fletch would throw the ball completely out of bounds. It never worked."
But for some reason, Levett said, the players all believed it would work this time.
"Everyone was like, OK, let's get in position," Levett said. "I'm thinking football because in my mind because I've got to lose Trajon Langdon somehow. I'm thinking, what pattern can I run to lose him? I couldn't just take off and expect this pass. I really had to do something to lose this guy, so while Huggs is telling Fletch where he should place the ball and where he should throw it, he told him don't throw it directly to Ken, kind of throw it away from Ken. If you watched the game, he kind of throws it and Ken sways to the left a little bit because the ball wasn't on target. That was by design.
"I hit those first five yards hard and I planted. When you watch Ken getting ready to catch the ball, look how far Trajon Langdon is behind me. He's lost. He had no chance of catching up, not even to try to grab my jersey for an intentional late foul or even to try to get to the ball. He had no chance and it was because of that five-and-cut. I caught it and made a perfect turn. At this point, I was like I cannot believe this is happening. Are you kidding? You can't see it in my expression because I'm so locked in and zoned in.
"I had no doubt that this ball was going to be dunked. I didn't miss many, if any, throughout my career. I might have missed a couple lobs that may have been a little off point or I mis -jumped, but I didn't miss many dunks, so there was no, 'Mel, make sure you put this in.' There was no doubt that this ball was going in. It was how hard I was gonna dunk it."
Levett, who scored 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting to lead the Bearcats, slammed the ball through the basket with one second left, leaving the Blue Devils enough time to get off a shot, but officials ruled that William Avery's shot, which went in and would have tied the game, was released after time expired.
The Bearcats had pulled off one of the great upsets in school history.
"We went out there to win," Levett said. "We didn't go out there to see how we matched up. We knew we had a good team."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.
It's one of the most iconic plays in the history of the UC basketball program – the dunk by Melvin Levett with one second left, off a feed from Kenyon Martin, that upset No. 1 Duke, 77-75, in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage on November 28, 1998. It was the fifth time in school history that the Bearcats knocked off a top-ranked team and remains the most recent.
"There are really no words for it," Levett said. "It's one of those moments that you wish for as an athlete. One of those 5-4-3-2-1 moments and you play it over in your mind when you're a kid in the back yard in the park, taking that last shot, but at that time you're naming yourself. With me, it was Dominique Wilkins."
The Bearcats were ranked 15th as they headed to Anchorage. To get a shot at Duke, they beat Southern Utah, 76-63, and Iowa State, 60-52.
"Duke was the prince of college basketball," Levett said. "You wanted your shot against them to prove how you can stack up. Lo and behold the stars aligned for us to get that matchup with them. (Duke's) Trajan Langdon was regarded as one of the top two guards in the nation. I had hopes and aspirations and dreams of going to the next level. I knew if Melvin Levett was going to be noticed and known, I was going to have to take advantage of what I could do against him. I put that guy's picture in my locker when we found out we were going to the Great Alaska Shootout. I went into it with the ultimate confidence in what was going to take place."
The Bearcats, who shot 63.3 percent from the field, led by 19 points in the first half and by 10 at halftime, but the Blue Devils, led by William Avery's 30 points, took the lead with 11 minutes to play. UC went back on top, 74-70, on Levett's 3-point play with 53 seconds remaining. Avery tied the score on a short jump shot with four seconds left, setting the stage for Levett's game-winning dunk.
According to Levett, UC coach Bob Huggins put the Bearcats through one of their most demanding practices of the season before the Duke game.
"We thought Huggins was sticking it to us in typical Huggins fashion," Levett said, "sometimes starting the practice over 2½ hours in. It was around Thanksgiving time and a lot of guys were feeling bad about not being home. Even though we were all together, we were missing home a little bit. We wanted some home-cooked food. Huggins was really letting us have it. I think what he was doing was getting us prepared for this game mentally.
"What we found out when we got back to the hotel is that Huggs was stalling for time. Boosters had prepared us a nice Thanksgiving spread and they needed some time, so he kept starting practice over."
Before the game-winning basket, Huggins called timeout and diagrammed the play. Ryan Fletcher, who had played quarterback at Middletown High School, was to take the ball out of bounds under UC's basket. His job was to heave a long pass to Kenyon Martin just above the foul line on the opposite end of the court. Martin would then dump a pass to Levett as he cut toward the basket.
The players knew all about that play because they had practiced it all season.
"The funny part about that is when we practiced it, Fletch would throw that ball up to where they have all the All-Americans' names (in Shoemaker Center)," Levett said. "The pass would be that bad. That thing never worked. Sometimes Ken would catch it and he'd throw it and it would go in front of me too far or I'd be running too fast and it would go behind me. Sometimes Fletch would throw the ball completely out of bounds. It never worked."
But for some reason, Levett said, the players all believed it would work this time.
"Everyone was like, OK, let's get in position," Levett said. "I'm thinking football because in my mind because I've got to lose Trajon Langdon somehow. I'm thinking, what pattern can I run to lose him? I couldn't just take off and expect this pass. I really had to do something to lose this guy, so while Huggs is telling Fletch where he should place the ball and where he should throw it, he told him don't throw it directly to Ken, kind of throw it away from Ken. If you watched the game, he kind of throws it and Ken sways to the left a little bit because the ball wasn't on target. That was by design.
"I hit those first five yards hard and I planted. When you watch Ken getting ready to catch the ball, look how far Trajon Langdon is behind me. He's lost. He had no chance of catching up, not even to try to grab my jersey for an intentional late foul or even to try to get to the ball. He had no chance and it was because of that five-and-cut. I caught it and made a perfect turn. At this point, I was like I cannot believe this is happening. Are you kidding? You can't see it in my expression because I'm so locked in and zoned in.
"I had no doubt that this ball was going to be dunked. I didn't miss many, if any, throughout my career. I might have missed a couple lobs that may have been a little off point or I mis -jumped, but I didn't miss many dunks, so there was no, 'Mel, make sure you put this in.' There was no doubt that this ball was going in. It was how hard I was gonna dunk it."
Levett, who scored 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting to lead the Bearcats, slammed the ball through the basket with one second left, leaving the Blue Devils enough time to get off a shot, but officials ruled that William Avery's shot, which went in and would have tied the game, was released after time expired.
The Bearcats had pulled off one of the great upsets in school history.
"We went out there to win," Levett said. "We didn't go out there to see how we matched up. We knew we had a good team."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.