Winthrop makes history! What win over Washington means to record books, Eagles future
The Winthrop men’s basketball team has made history.
About 2,800 miles from home, the team from Rock Hill defeated Washington 82-74 in Seattle on Saturday night. The win marked Winthrop’s first victory over a Pac-12 team in program history and its 10th all-time against Power Five teams. (The Eagles are now 1-6 against Pac-12 conference opponents.)
Winthrop’s win snapped a three-game losing streak — losses against Middle Tennessee State, Vanderbilt and Washington State — and ended the toughest part of its non-conference schedule on a badly needed high note.
The Eagles (3-3), more so than any other game they’ve played to date, looked confident and composed and competent on Saturday. They shot 31-for-65 (47.7%) from the field and only trailed once — with 2:42 left in the first half. (They led by as many as nine in the first half and by as many as 12 in the second.)
Saturday’s win certainly ranks among the most important ones for Winthrop in program history in the state of Washington, but it plays second-fiddle to one that came in 2007. The Eagles defeated Notre Dame in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament in Spokane — the only NCAA tournament win in program history.
Saturday, too, marked the first high-major win for first-year Winthrop coach Mark Prosser.
Here’s what tipped the proverbial scales in Seattle on Saturday night.
7 notes from Winthrop-Washington game
▪ The Eagles regularly broke down Washington’s 2-3 zone. They used an indelible DJ Burns as their anchor — the Rock Hill native finished with a career-high 24 points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes — and the attention Burns received opened up opportunities for Winthrop’s guards: Pat Good had 18 points in 26 minutes (in his first start of the season), and Russell Jones Jr. ended with five points in 12 minutes.
▪ In their first experience with a consistent press, the Eagles had a field day. The ultimate beneficiaries? Graduate transfer guard Drew Buggs (four assists), his guard-mates and whoever was on the finishing end of one of Winthrop’s 15 total assists. That means big man Burns, yes — but it also means junior Chase Claxton (four points) and redshirt junior Cory Hightower (eight points) and sophomore Kelton Talford (10 points).
▪ A lot has been made of Winthrop’s 3-point shooting prowess, and for good reason. The team came into Saturday’s contest making 12.4 threes a game — tied for seventh-best in the nation. (Good hit 11 threes himself against Washington State on Monday, one shy of Winthrop’s all-time record.) But Saturday’s win was decided down low: The Eagles out-rebounded their larger opponents 43-28 and scored 40 points in the paint to Washington’s 28.
▪ Winthrop turned the ball over 16 times and forced Washington to do so 17 times.
▪ One negative for the Eagles, which is a head-scratching reality considering the issue’s sustenance and Winthrop’s good shooting elsewhere? Free throws. Winthrop shot 14-for-23 from the line and almost let the Huskies back in the game because of it.
▪ Washington paid Winthrop $100,000, per the game contract obtained by The Herald. That’s the most in guarantees the Eagles will make from a single game this year.
▪ What does this mean for Winthrop’s future? The Eagles proved how powerful they can be when Burns plays big minutes (which requires him staying out of foul trouble). Micheal Anumba, Winthrop’s senior lockdown defender who quietly led the team in minutes with 30, is among Prosser’s most trusted players. And Winthrop doesn’t necessarily need to shoot 20-plus threes a game to hang tough with bigger and so-considered better teams — which is quite the revelation considering the Eagles are now averaging 26.5 3-point attempts per game.
Winthrop next plays at home against Hartford — a mid-major team with NCAA tournament potential — on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Rock Hill.
This story was originally published November 28, 2021 at 12:25 AM.
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