He takes ‘a lot of the blame’ for loss that ends Winthrop’s unbeaten run. Should he?
Chandler Vaudrin was remarkably positive 20 minutes after the final buzzer Friday night in Rock Hill.
The redshirt senior guard’s Winthrop basketball team had just lost 57-55 to UNC Asheville, a loss that ended the Eagles’ 21-game win streak and drastically lessened their chances of making the NCAA tournament.
In the postgame press conference, though, Vaudrin said games like this were often a catalyst for growth and an important check on team complacency.
But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t critical — particularly of his own play.
“We had good momentum,” Vaudrin said after the game. “I just had a bad turnover late, didn’t make a couple shots late, so I take a lot of the blame for this loss today.”
Winthrop’s loss was immeasurable. Gone are so many things. The 21-game winning streak. The prospects of an undefeated season and a sweep of the Big South Conference. Winthrop’s aura of invulnerability. The national hype that dubbed the Eagles “exciting” and the “most (insert superlative here) in America.”
Mostly gone are Winthrop’s chances of making the NCAA tournament without earning an automatic bid — and its hope of obtaining a decent seed, something that could’ve given the program a real shot at winning a March Madness game and cashing a check.
Vaudrin doesn’t accept blame for all of this. He shouldn’t.
Eagles players take blame for the loss
Vaudrin got ripped in the open court with just over two minutes left in the game. The sequence led to a UNC Asheville layup to bring the score within one.
His stats reflect his glaringly inefficient and uncharacteristically uncreative game. Vaudrin leads the nation in triple-doubles this season and averages 7.1 assists per game, but in the second game in as many days against UNC Asheville, the left-handed point guard had three assists (a team-high), four rebounds and 14 points (another team-high) on 15 field goal attempts.
So much of Winthrop’s game was off-kilter that zeroing in on Vaudrin is missing the larger problem. The Eagles shot 32% from the field and 15% from three and DJ Burns, the highly touted Rock Hill native and transfer from Tennessee, only played three minutes in the second half.
Head coach Pat Kelsey told reporters after the game that Vaudrin’s taking blame sounds like something his senior point guard would do. Vaudrin is the team’s leader. Many players, though, expressed regret in their play, Kelsey said.
“In the locker room, we looked everybody in the eye, including myself, and said, ‘When you lose, and you have a mature team, everyone looks inwardly and says, What else could I have done?’” Kelsey said. “But listen, that’s just Chan being Chan being a leader. He’s not a good player, he’s a great player. I will ride with Chandler Vaudrin every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
So perhaps his admission is honorable. Perhaps it’s too simple to be fully true but just true enough to explain how Winthrop missed a once-in-a-generation chance at a history it once seemed destined to make.
Or perhaps it’s a sign of something.
“We have a locker room of guys who are thinking the same thing,” Kelsey said. “So that’s why I know we have a chance to be really good.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 10:31 AM.
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