NCAA BOUND! Winthrop wins Big South Tournament to earn coveted postseason bid
By the lefty hook shot of its home-grown big man, and by the confidence of a group of upperclassmen who didn’t second-guess their team’s stated destiny throughout the season — the Winthrop men’s basketball team is headed to the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
The second-seeded Eagles won the Big South tournament championship on Sunday afternoon over Hampton, 76-68, at Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill. They had to overcome a deficit as large as 15 points in the first half, earning only their second lead of the game with just over 12 minutes to go in the game.
But come the final media timeout, the Winthrop contingent on its feet and Winthrop up, 58-53 — the game was the Eagles’ to lose. And they won it.
They were led by 6-9 center DJ Burns, who finished with 16 points, and 6-7 point guard Chandler Vaudrin, who finished with 10 points and four assists before fouling out with less than four minutes left in the game. Graduate transfer and Big South Tournament MVP Hunter Hale added 10 points, and freshman forward Chase Claxton added 10 as well.
Winthrop’s season was one to remember before reaching Sunday’s summit: In the team’s first road trip of the season, it was thrust into the national spotlight with a win over nationally-ranked Saint Mary’s on the road. It followed that run up with a slew of performances typical of teams with many newcomers — which included a four-game skid that started immediately after Thanksgiving and lasted through most of December.
The Eagles caught fire come the middle of the year, ripping off 14-straight wins, but they headed into the Big South tournament losing three of their last six.
Come tournament time, though, the Eagles looked like their old selves — shooting well from deep but largely playing inside-out basketball.
In their win over Hampton, the Eagles only shot 20.8% from 3-point range but got plenty of offensive production from Winthrop redshirt freshman big man and Rock Hill native, Burns.
The Eagles went up by as many as nine in the second half, but the Pirates wouldn’t go away. Because of that, the game — and thus, Winthrop’s postseason plan — wasn’t cemented until the final buzzer sounded in the Coliseum and the school’s students and fans stormed the court, taking part in a scene that hadn’t been witnessed since 2017 when the Eagles last made it to the NCAA Tournament.
On the court after the game, his championship hat on backward, senior Josh Ferguson slapped a Winthrop sticker on a poster that had an NCAA Tournament bracket on it.
When asked about the moment, Ferguson — the only Eagle who was on the 2017 championship team — reflected on the Eagles’ accomplishment Sunday.
“We’ve been choppin’ wood all summer, just preparing for this moment,” the senior forward said. “I’ve been waiting for a long time to do that. Since my freshman year. And freshman year, it wasn’t my place, but now it’s my place to do it, as a senior.
“We’re going to the dance. And we’re going to make something happen.”
Notable: Winning without the 3-point shot
Burns caught the ball in the post with just under eight minutes to play in the game, his back to Ben Stanley — the Hampton forward known for causing trouble in Rock Hill since February, back when he scored 31 points in the regular season.
A few seasons ago, the Eagles couldn’t be in the position they were in on Sunday had they shot this poorly. The Eagles, a team historically known for lighting up scoreboards and living and dying by the 3-point shot, only hit five threes as a team on Sunday. No Eagle hit more than one for the game. The team, as a whole, took 24 threes — which was nearly half of its total shot attempts.
But this Sunday, in front of a national audience and ESPN cameras, the Eagles came back from a 22-7 deficit to start the game; weathered the will of one of the best players to ever play in the Big South, Jermaine Marrow; and ultimately found itself up five with just under eight minutes to play, with the ball in Burns’ hands — all without the 3-point shot going down for them.
In said play, Burns made a move to his left and scored, pushing Winthrop’s lead to seven. Winthrop’s lead would get up to as many as 10 in the second half, by virtue of Winthrop hitting free throws in the game’s last two minutes.
Quotable: ‘My only visit’
Hale, the Eagles’ leading scorer this season, laughed postgame as he talked about his decision to move from what he calls “my D2” (Grand Valley State) to Winthrop.
“(Winthrop) was my first call, my first visit and my only visit,” Hale said. “This is a funny story. (Assistant) coach (Brian) Kloman, he called me, and he said, ‘H2O.’ And I was like, ‘Who is this messing around in my phone? Who is this?’ And he was like, ‘H2O. That’s what I’m going to call you because that jumper is wet.’ At that point I knew our relationship would be good. And then from then on, I met the rest of the coaches, and it just felt like home.”
Burns, despite his elevated role on Sunday, was taken out of the starting lineup before the Big South tournament started. He briefly addressed what the past few weeks have been like for him postgame.
“Trying to stay focused was the main thing that I wanted to work on going into this game,” Burns said. “Coach always talks about how the event, plus your response, equals the outcome. There were a couple times where I could have been below the line, and really just mess it up for us. But I just tried to keep my head on straight.”
While elation ensued on the court postgame — fans forming a mosh pit at center court, championship hats worn backward by Winthrop players, selfie videos, players playfully mean-mugging for the cameras with the Big South tournament trophy — tucked away in a hallway in Winthrop Coliseum, Hampton players and coaches reflected on their run, both on this particular season and the past four years.
“This man to the right of me gave me an opportunity that too many people didn’t want to give me,” Marrow said, his voice crackling as tears welled in his eyes. Marrow, who was called “the best” to ever play at Hampton by teammate Ben Stanley and whose coach called him “as close to me as my sons,” was pointing at head coach Ed Joyner. “He believed in me from Day 1. The school believed in me from Day 1. And I’ll love him for that forever.”
Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey was asked if he would give a prediction on where his team will be seeded. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
“A really good one,” Kelsey said to laughter from the press gaggle. “I don’t know. I’ll be honest with you, I know we’re going to the dance, and it’s unbelievable. I’ve been quite a bit as a player and quite a bit as a coach throughout my career. It never gets old.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 3:13 PM.
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