By Robert Lastella
The madness of march never fails to captivate audiences across the nation and that was the case once again on Thursday afternoon in Providence, as 12 seed McNeese State upset 5 seed Clemson in a thrilling matchup 69-67. Although the Cowboys were major underdogs in this one, they never showed it, controlling the tempo from the opening tip and even when Clemson closed in down the stretch, their confidence never wavered and it helped them close out the narrow victory.
McNeese was the lower seed in this matchup, however they dominated the headlines heading into this one as multiple sources reported that Head Coach Will Wade would be accepting the NC State job at the conclusion of the season. After those rumours came out, Wade mentioned
how there was an open dialogue between him and his team and there was no concern that it would be an issue heading into this matchup and it wasn’t a problem in the slightest.
After the Cowboys fell behind 6-4 with 15:59 to play, they took the lead a few possessions later and never gave it back, dominating Clemson in nearly every facet from points and rebounds, to assists and turnovers and McNeese played like a team who expected to win. According to Wade, he and his team have been focused on this game despite what the rumors say and the win today will not only empower his team, but the McNeese community as a whole.
“I've been focused on the game, I’ve been on one about the game. So whatever else is happening that's of no distraction to us. I know everybody else thinks that there's distractions as we operate the same way all the time, and so we hadn't operated any differently, nothing's been any different. There hadn't been a lot of motion. It's been narrow focus, bigger the game the narrow your focus. And it's been an absolute, narrow focus on winning our first NCAA Tournament game at McNeese State and continuing to change. This is just huge for our school, our enrollments up 3%, our applications are up 10% and we've gotten freaking $25 million worth of free advertising the last couple weeks. I mean, I mean, our stuff's going to go through the roof. It's going to change our area. This changes our five parish areas, changes everything. So, you know, that's what our focus has been. And we've broken every record in the book. This was the last one to get. We want to keep this going,” Wade said.
McNeese was led tonight by Brandon Murray, who finished with 21 points 4 rebounds and 3 assists and he was joined in double figures by Quadir Copeland who finished with 16, Christian Shumate who added 13 and Sincere Parker who finished with 12. The Cowboys got it done in a variety of ways, outsourcing Clemson 44-24 and in 35-30 hustle points, overcoming a 4 of 19 shooting day from 3 to knock off the Tigers.
It could have been easy for the Cowboy players to check out in this one, as the rumor mill was swirling with news about Wade that would change the McNeese program immensely. In the biggest game of their lives, McNeese put the drama aside and left it all on the court, picking up the University’s first NCAA win ever in the process.
The Cowboys’ celebration in Providence created memories that will last a lifetime.
As for how the players kept a level head and performed at their best despite Wade to NC State rumors, you’ll have to ask Copeland, who says since both sides have been transparent this whole season, off-the-court issues aren’t going to affect what they do on the court.
“I think when you are in the loop and both sides are transparent about things, there's not really too much room for conflict. Everybody's aware of everything that's going on, and when there's a clear understanding, everybody keeps the same main goals in the front of their mind. You know, we worry about all of that stuff later, and everybody's transparent on both ends, and that's something we worry about later. And, you know, we are just focusing on winning these games,” Copeland said.
Next up for McNeese will be 4 seed Purdue who knocked off High Point earlier today and asserted their physicality against the undersized mid-major and the Cowboys will look to put a stop to that this weekend. McNeese has the size to compete downlow against Purdue and if they find a way to contain Kaufman-Renn and Smith, another upset could be brewing in Providence this weekend.
The fans who made the trip and those back at home have to be ecstatic for the Cowboys win over Clemson, however according to Wade, it’s a good feeling, but the goal isn’t to win one game, it’s to win multiple and that is what they will look to do.
“We have to get back to see but we are locked in right now. I think it'd be better if we go to the Sweet 16, and I think it'll be better on the campus then, our goal is not to win one game. That's not the goal. That's just one game. You know, we will worry about these games when we get back,” Wade said.