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44 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com T he defending Big Ten champs were headed toward the abyss. Gone was 1994 national player-of- the-year Glenn Robinson and the Boilermakers were about to be 1-3 in Big Ten play, with little to no hope of defending their Big Ten title. Trailing by four points at 19th- ranked Iowa with just 34 seconds re- maining, Todd Foster assumed the game was over. So much so, he un- laced his shoes in preparation of get- ting changed quickly. Time was of the essence for the re- serve guard, who was thinking ahead, wanting to get out of the locker room quickly so he could spend what pre- cious few moments he had before heading to the team bus to visit with family that had made the relatively short trip from Washington, Ill., to Iowa City. But then he heard the call. "Foster!" bellowed Coach Gene Keady toward the end of the bench. "Get in there." Keady hadn't give up, and he put the stocky junior guard in the game for defensive purposes and to foul. But what happened next was nothing short of the basketball miracle. Foster quickly laced his shoes and got on the floor. Moments later, fresh- man guard Chad Austin hit a short jumper to cut the Hawkeyes' lead to 83-81. But the Boilermakers were still in a world of hurt with the clock wind- ing down. That's when Foster made the defensive play of his life, drawing a charging call on Iowa's Andre Wool- ridge after Woolridge had released the ball, giving Foster free throws at the other end. He calmly sank two freebies to tie the game with just 13 ticks left. Then Iowa helped the visitors by turning the ball over on its next possession. Fos- ter's heroics were far from complete. With just a couple ticks left, and the game looking like it was headed to overtime, Foster was on the receiving end of a long pass from senior captain P R E S E N T S L A F A Y E T T E L E G E N D : T H E 1 9 9 4 - 9 5 M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L T E A M Hearts Of Champions Purdue still had life after Big Dog 1994-95 Big Ten Champions Front (From Left): Todd Foster, Justin Jennings, Herb Dove, Cuonzo Martin, Coach Gene Keady, Matt Waddell, Chad Austin, Tim Ervin, Porter Roberts Back: Steve Irvin (manager), Larry Leverenz (trainer), Jay Price (assistant coach), Frank Ken- drick (assistant coach), David Lesmond, Roy Hairston, Matt Ten Dam, Brad Miller, Paul Gilvydis, Roy Hairston, Linc Darner (grad assistant coach), Bruce Weber (assistant coach), Gary Harsh (manager). THE 1994-95 BIG TEN CHAMPS AT A GLANCE Record 25-7 Big Ten 15-3 Key Wins: at No. 19 Iowa (84-83) at No. 7 Michigan State (78-69) Top Scorer: Cuonzo Martin 18.6 Top Rebounder: Brandon Brantley 6.1 Note: Ten players averaged at least 10 minutes per game.