PHOENIX - He didn't say it, but when Miles Simon returns home to Southern California on Thursday to play UCLA, he just might be planning a side trip to Disneyland - and for good reason.

As time expired in Saturday's game with Cincinnati, Simon hit a shot that "I'm going to Disneyland!" commercials and ESPN highlight reels are made of - a running 70-footer that lifted the No. 16 Wildcats past the No. 5 Bearcats 79-76.

With the ball on the Bearcats' end of the floor, Simon found himself in a struggle for the loose ball with Bearcat guard Darnell Burton. Simon grabbed the ball with three seconds left, took one dribble and heaved the ball toward the basket. The shot banked off the backboard and through the net, touching off a wild celebration as fans, players and coaches rushed the floor to celebrate the victory.

"That's the first time I've ever hit one like that. Thank the Lord it went in," Simon said. "I wasn't sure when it left my hand. But it went off the glass and in."

Playground rules state that a player must call a bankshot before it goes in, but Simon found good reason to not call the shot.

"Most banks are closed on Sunday anyway," he said.

After making the shot, Simon said he headed straight for the Arizona bench, but the mob of people that tackled him made his landing spot more toward the baseline. The fans on the floor lifted Simon onto their shoulders and carried the sophomore and his ear-to-ear grin around the court.

The win marked UA head coach Lute Olson's 500th as a Division I coach.

"It's been a long haul and a lot of outstanding young men have contributed," Olson said. "But none will be more memorable than this one with the way it finished."

Asked if he could describe what he was feeling as Simon's shot was flying toward the basket, Bearcat coach Bob Huggins simply stated, "No, I can't."

Most of the 11,112 in attendance at Veterans' Memorial Coliseum probably could not either.

"I've never been in one like that before," UA assistant coach Phil Johnson said. "To have a tying shot and then a steal and the basket, I've never seen it."

After the game, Simon toyed with the idea of Olson letting him fly home rather than taking the bus for the 90-minute trip back to Tucson.

"I'll probably have to take the bus," he said.