By Aaron Wilson
Iowa player Jordan Bohannon stepped to the free throw line with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left in Sunday’s night game against Northwestern.
Bohannon had sunk his last 34 consecutive free throws. Make this shot and he would eclipse a school record that had stood for a quarter of century.
He looked at his family in the stands, crouched down, and fired the ball in the direction of the goal.
Clang. The ball bounced off the front of the rim. Just as Bohannon had planned.
Bohannon intentionally missed his free throw to preserve the record of Iowa legend Chris Street who finished his junior season at Iowa in 1993 with 34 consecutive free throws. Street never got the chance to improve on his record because he was killed in a car accident Jan. 19, 1993.
Although the two men never met, Bohannon has gotten to know Street’s parents, Mike and Patty who are season-ticket holders. Bohannon elected to go into Iowa’s record books tied with Street rather than usurp his record.
“That’s not my record to have,” Bohannon said after the game. He added that there are things in life more important than sport records.
"That's not my record to have. That record deserves to stay in his name."
– @IowaHoops' @JordanBo_3 discussed his FT miss to remain tied with Chris Street's record of 34 consecutive made. pic.twitter.com/bzfOfZJD7n
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 26, 2018
“Life is obviously much bigger than basketball,” he said.
Going into the game, Bohannon didn’t know when the chance to intentionally miss would occur. It happened with Iowa leading by 8 with a little over 2 minutes to go—a time in the game when an extra point would have come in handy and helped the coach and fans breath a little easier.
Still, Bohannon kept with his plan to miss. And it worked out well. Teammate Nicholas Baer stole the ball to regain possession after Northwestern rebounded. Luka Garza then scored to give Iowa a 10 point cushion. Iowa won the game 77-70.
Bohannon, whose Twitter bio which simply states his position on the team as point guard and references Luke 1:37—“For nothing will be impossible with God”—shared he trusted things would work out if he kept to his conviction to preserve Street’s record.
“It’s something I’ve had in my mind the last couple months,” he said. “I trusted in God’s plan.”
AARON WILSON (@AaronBWilson26) is associate editor for Facts & Trends.
