Men’s basketball ends tournament run with Sweet 16 loss

| Managing Sports Editor

Men’s basketball finished with 20 wins for the second season in a row. (Elle Su | Student Life)

All season long, the Washington University men’s basketball team has made a habit of playing their way out of tough spots. In the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament, the Bears won two dramatic overtime contests, including an improbable 13-point comeback against Illinois College to make it into the Sweet 16.

Unfortunately for WashU, their magic ran out on Friday, March 8, when the Bears faced off against the No. 13 Trine University Thunder in the third round of the tournament. The Thunder dominated the whole way, ending the Bears season with an 86-65 loss. While the Bears season came to an end, Trine kept dancing, and would go on to win the whole tournament for their first ever national championship.

WashU junior guard Hayden Doyle scored the first four points of the game, but Trine took a 5-4 lead two minutes into the game. From there, Trine never looked back, quickly jumping out to a 16-6 advantage. Though the Bears kept the deficit within single digits for much of the first half, the Thunder, who hosted the game, took a 38-28 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Thunder pulled away for good, outscoring WashU 21-10 to take a 59-38 lead with just over 10 minutes left. From there, Trine continued to pile on points, going ahead by as much as 25 points with six minutes to go. As the clock wound down on WashU’s season, Trine kept up their strong second half, sending the Bears back to St. Louis with a 21-point defeat.

Ultimately, Trine’s strong defense was one of the biggest factors that led to their victory. They held the Bears, who shot 43.3% from the field and 32.9% from three throughout the season, to just 24-65 (36.9%) on field goals and a dismal 8-30 (26.7%) from beyond the arc. Trine’s defense also forced 17 WashU turnovers, setting up the Thunder to score 22 points on the ensuing possessions. 

“I thought our process was great, other than we turned it over a little more than we’d like, and that’s a credit to them. They’re extremely ‘hot-handed’ and we got stripped a few times. Their best offense is their defense,” WashU head coach Pat Juckem said in a press conference after the game. “They force you to play a certain way…we didn’t shoot great, I thought we had pretty good looks, but credit to them, they had a lot to do with that.”

While the Bears couldn’t get their shots to fall, at times, it seemed like the Thunder could not  miss. The Thunder, who averaged 33.4% from beyond the arc throughout the season, hit 10-15 from three-point range against WashU. Trine’s sharpshooting effort was led by junior guard Aidan Smylie and senior guard Cortez Garland, who combined to shoot 7-8 from three and score 45 points.

“We were excited to compete, and we weren’t the better team tonight, but we’ll be better in the long run,” Juckem said. “[We] just really appreciate the journey we’ve had together.”

Hayden Doyle was named a second team all-American in his junior season. (Yiwen Zha | Student Life)

While the loss was a tough way to end the Bears’ journey, it capped off an exciting season for WashU basketball, where the Bears demonstrated what they are capable of on a national scale. Throughout the year, the squad went toe-to-toe with some of Division III’s best teams in the country and consistently held their own. WashU went 7-3 against NCAA tournament teams and finished with an 8-6 record in the competitive University Athletic Association (UAA). 

All year long, the Bears faced adversity and came out stronger, whether it was a season-ending injury to junior forward Drake Kindsvater, who led the team in points and rebounds through 14 games; a tough stretch of three straight losses in early February that dropped them to 4-6 in conference play and put their tournament hopes in jeopardy; or repeated nailbiter games throughout the grueling UAA season and playoff run. 

The Bears won their last four games of the regular season, earning not only a third-place finish in the UAA but also hosting rights and an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament. From there, the Bears captivated WashU’s campus and the DIII basketball world with two thrilling overtime wins in the first two rounds to send WashU to the Sweet 16 for the ninth time in program history and first since 2020.

“I just think it’s a testament to our togetherness as a team,” senior forward Jabari Chiphe said about the late-season run. “It was a difficult stretch for us, that’s no secret…We knew that we had to win to keep our tournament chances alive and keep our goals attainable for us. And I don’t think there was ever a moment where the coaching staff didn’t believe in us, we ever didn’t believe in ourselves or anybody else in our locker room, and I really just think it’s a testament to our everyday mentality in our program. I’m proud of our team for that turnaround.”

Luckily for Bears fans, the core of this strong WashU team isn’t going anywhere. The team can look forward to the return of their entire regular starting five, plus Kindsvater and several key contributors off the bench. Doyle, who was named a National Association of Basketball Coaches second-team all-American and first-team all-UAA player; sharpshooting junior guard Kyle Beedon; and Kindsvater will form the heart of the team’s lineup in their senior season, alongside current sophomores guard Yogi Oliff, forward Will Grudzinski, and center Calvin Kapral. 

In addition, the Bears’ current first-year class, five of whom — center Jake Davis, forward George Gale, and guards Emmett Lawton, Ryan Cohen, and Lucas Vogel — averaged at least 10 minutes per game in their appearances for WashU, showed high potential in their first collegiate seasons.

Further, the team’s only two current seniors — Chiphe, a consistent all-around contributor player off the bench, and forward Chidera Nwokolo  — both have an extra year of eligibility due to the canceled 2020/21 season. Even as their future with the program is uncertain, their contributions to the Bears’ young core will be felt for years to come.

The loss to Trine was a devastating ending to an exciting WashU basketball season, but the prowess the Bears displayed during their late-season run reminded the Bears faithful of all that they have to look forward to next season. 

“This whole run and, you know, having to be in a tournament mindset really for about three weeks and culminating with tonight is going to spur a lot of growth amongst our group,” Juckem said. “And we’re excited when we get to that, to really sink our teeth into that.”

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