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Hayes compares game-winning baseline move to Jordan

Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Wisconsin senior Nigel Hayes was riding high after hitting the game-winning shot to eliminate defending champions No. 1 Villanova.

A baseline layup by Hayes broke a tie with mere seconds left to see No. 8 Wisconsin through to the Sweet Sixteen. His inspiration for the shot? None other than one Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

"We wanted to get me isolated on the wing. I felt like I could take them. The way they've been playing me during the game, they were crowding me so I knew I would have the baseline," Hayes explained.

"I drove baseline, and if you're familiar with the Michael Jordan highlight of the fake spin back, I did my fake spin back and got to my left hand and fortunately it went in."

Jordan's move against the New York Knicks in 1991 was a tad more impressive. His Airness drove baseline to beat John Starks, used the fake spin to elude Charles Oakley, then posterized Patrick Ewing.

But given the stakes involved, Hayes' move was certainly impressive in its own right.

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