Oman’s heave drew plenty of attention to Packers
Published 9:16 pm Wednesday, December 9, 2015
ABOVE: Oman Oman’s game-winning, full-court shot is making the rounds on social media today and even appeared on ESPN.
When Austin junior Oman Oman hoisted a full court shot that found the bottom of the net and gave the Packers a 56-55 win over Northfield Friday night, he was happy enough to walk away with a win.
By Wednesday, Oman’s shot had become an overnight internet sensation as the video of his three-pointer showed up on the Web Sites of ESPN, BuzzFeed, Bleacher Report and USA Today. In Wednesday’s practice, Oman was flooded with television interviews, where he was asked to try and recreate his full court shot. Of course Oman, or any of his teammates, were unable to recreate Tuesday night’s magic.
The fact remained that he had brought a lot of attention to the Packer boys basketball team. However, Oman wasn’t exactly relishing in his moment in the spotlight.
“We try not to get to high on ourselves. You’ve got to focus on the next game coming up,” Oman said. “It was a good team effort [against Northfield]. I wasn’t even playing that well last night and everybody else picked it up.”
Austin head coach Kris Fadness said Wednesday’s practice was a little exhausting with all of the extra attention from the media. Fadness still ranks Zach Wessels’ alley-oop pass to Tom Aase to send the Packers to state in 2012 as the biggest play his team has made, he didn’t mind the program getting noticed after Oman’s big shot.
“Everybody’s generally happy for [Oman], but everybody was giving him a hard time for having to do all of the interviews,” Fadness said. “It’s nice to see him with that big smile and being happy. It’s good for our program to get this kind of publicity.”
For Zach Coffey, being part of a game that ended up having a highlight shown across the country, was a big deal for him. But it was just as sweet for the Packers to win the game.
“I thought it was sick,” Coffey said. “We all rushed the court at the end and it really lifted our spirit. It was a hard fought game and it would’ve sucked to leave with a loss.”