University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Wednesday, March 28
.Greeley, CO
7pm
University of Northern Colorado
25-12, 11-7
99
vs
80
Sam Houston State University
21-15, 12-6
1
2
F
Sam Houston State
39
41
80
Northern Colorado
42
57
99
Photo by: Brooks Nuanez
Recap: @UNCO_MBB Feeds Off Hot-Shooting Backcourt to Advance to CIT Championship
3/28/2018 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Andre Spight puts up another 40-point performance and joins the 1,000-point club in the win
Greeley, Colo.—Northern Colorado men's basketball came out and knocked down its first 10 shots of the game and kept the hand all night long to defeat Sam Houston State 99-80. The win places the Bears in the CollegeInsider.com tournament championship game against the University of Illinois-Chicago at 5 pm Friday inside Bank of Colorado Arena. UNC only trailed once in the win.
How It Happened
Northern Colorado came out of the locker room hot by hitting 11 of its first 12 shots and five of those were from deep. The Bears took an 18-7 lead off the hot shooting and kept firing but Sam Houston State stayed in the game with offensive rebounds and second-chance points having 11 second-chance points in the first.
Andre Spight started to be the same old Dre the fans at the Bank have become to know and love by hitting long-distance shot after shot. Spight finished with 16 in the half and took the Bears to the locker room with the 42-39 lead.
Northern Colorado started the second just like the first with a 3-point shot but this time it was from Jonah Radebaugh. The Bearkats answered with a 7-0 run to take their only lead of one point with 17:38 remaining. UNC responded to the run by knocking down three straight 3s. The three triples helped the Bears retake the lead for good. Dre hit two and Jonah hit the third to get the Bank rocking and they never looked back.
Northern Colorado used those 3s as a momentum builder and the start of a 20-7 run which put the game out of reach for good. Dre finished with 40 while JD had 18 and Jonah Radebaugh had 14 in the win. Jalen Sanders chipped in eight points and seven rebounds which led the team.
Game Changer
Andre Spight is used to being in this part of most recaps and it is well deserved tonight as he throws down his third 40-point performance of the season. Spight hit 15 of his 24 shots and 7-of-15 from beyond the arc. Dre also had five assists and four rebounds. The 15 made field goals tied a career-high for Dre.
Key Stat
The Bears hot shooting won them the game as they shot an even 59.0 percent (36-61) for the game. That performance is the second-best shooting game for UNC this season only behind the Northern Arizona game at home in which the Bears shot 59.3 percent.
What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"We took this job two years ago, that was something that, when I took it, I envisioned that, and that was, I remember on my trip here to get the job, I watched the movie Creed. When Ricky Conlan was coming into the ring, when they darkened out the crowd and everybody was going crazy for Ricky Conlan, chanting his name and, that was my motivation for what UNC basketball would be. To be in an environment like that, that's what college basketball is all about. That's why those kids work as hard as they do and they sacrifice as much as they do, is to have opportunities to play in front of a crowd like that and to perform. I just can't say how proud of those guys. For the last two years, it hasn't been easy but they believed. My coaching staff believed that we could get this program – and regardless of what the circumstances were, that ultimately wasn't going to be an excuse and we were going to find a way to win. We were going to find a way to win big. In order to do that, you have to have everybody on board, you have to have administration, the coaching staff, your trainer, the academic people, but ultimately it comes down to players. When you've got really really good players like we do, they perform and those guys came out tonight and performed against a very good Sam Houston State team – who, as I told them going into the game, this is going to be one of those teams, it's going to be one of the hardest teams you play all year because it's going to be one of the quickest, most athletic teams, and that team plays really really hard. There's no cools. I told our guys at halftime, "You got outplayed in the first half. We were lucky we made some shots, we turned it over and we missed free throws. We got outplayed, and you're still up three. But at the same time, if you walk out there and try to play cool against these guys, there's no cool in those guys." Our guys came out in the second half, took a couple of punches, got down one, but ultimately we talked about the response, and our response was great. When you have a guy like Andre Spight that can basically take over a game like that and demoralize the other team – I've seen it time and time again this year where he can make such tough shots, that appears to be tough shots for probably everybody else except for him where the other guy guarding him just looks over at the bench, like "What about I supposed to do, Coach?" And I think eventually that just…that takes its toll on the other team. It takes its toll when you want to put your best defender on him, and now you allow Jordan Davis to go downhill. But it's a collective effort. From the guys who don't play to the guys, everybody played their role, and that's why we're playing so well right now."
On 59% shooting in the game
"That's where over the course of what feels like the last year, but over the course of the last month, month and a half, we've really gotten used to playing with one another. This team has only played with each other for one year. A lot of teams, you've got continuity and you're playing in your second, third year, especially a core group of guys. But these guys, they had to learn to play with one another. You have to learn how to adjust playing with Andre Spight, you've got to learn to adjust with JD. Those guys finally figured out how to play with one another. When Dre's dancing at the top, instead of just standing, being able to move, take advantage of the defense, and that's where we're at a point right now where we're clicking really well. And that's why we wanted to keep playing when the season ended. We knew how well we were playing and we wanted to keep that momentum going."
On the big crowd at the game
"You have to give them a reason, and when they do show up, you've gotta give them a show. That's what we did tonight. We gave them a show. Hopefully, we'll have more people in there on Friday afternoon. We're just excited to play. When you have that type of atmosphere, it gives you such a home court advantage. I've been saying it all year. There's not a lot of better guards in the country than Andre Spight, and there's not a lot of better guard combinations than Andre Spight and Jordan Davis. To have those guys in your backyard? It's exciting when I go to my son's basketball practice, and you've got the 6th and 7th graders, they're all talking about Andre Spight, Jordan Davis, Jonah Radebaugh, all our players, that's a credit to them, and I can't thank the community enough for the support they've given us during this run."
Redshirt Sophomore Jonah Radebaugh
On jumping out to an early lead
"It was nice, just because it's been a little while since we played. It was good to get the dust off quick. It didn't, we didn't go down from it. It was good to get up, give us a little cushion we had just about most of the way."
Redshirt Senior Andre Spight
On the teams 59% performance
"We're just so comfortable here, especially at home, comfortable with each other at the end of the year. We kind of knew. I'll speak for myself. I knew my team was going to come out and play the way we did. There's no question about it. All our shots were falling in shoot-around and practices from earlier in the week, so I kind of knew this was going to happen, honestly."
On taking 24 shots
"I definitely would take that. I just kind of played with the flow of the game. If I go by my man, and someone else hops up, and I know I can make that pass and get a teammate an open shot, and also trust my ability. Also, I give a lot of credit to these guys here, especially the ones next to me (JD and Jonah). Playing with these guys the whole game, they trust me to take that shot and have confidence in me to make these shots, so that's really what it is."
Junior Guard Jordan Davis
On SHSU taking the one-point lead
"I didn't even realize they went up one. I don't think any of us did. The whole game, we just stick to what we do – make them guard, and defensively, turn them over. They were getting a lot of easy shots, we got lazy on some of them, our guard to guard switches. They got threes off, and it got to a point where we just drew a line in the sand and just put it away."
On the momentum, the team has right now
"We feel like we're playing our best basketball. We've been saying that since the conference, even at the conference when we first decided to play in this. The coaches even said, "Go watch on film, our play in March looks totally different than our play any other time of the year."
Notable Stats
What's Next
Northern Colorado will host the University of Illinois-Chicago Friday at 5 pm Mountain Time for the CollegeInsider Tournament Title.
To keep up to date on all things UNC men's basketball, follow the team on UNCBears.com and on Twitter @UNCO_MBB.
How It Happened
Northern Colorado came out of the locker room hot by hitting 11 of its first 12 shots and five of those were from deep. The Bears took an 18-7 lead off the hot shooting and kept firing but Sam Houston State stayed in the game with offensive rebounds and second-chance points having 11 second-chance points in the first.
Andre Spight started to be the same old Dre the fans at the Bank have become to know and love by hitting long-distance shot after shot. Spight finished with 16 in the half and took the Bears to the locker room with the 42-39 lead.
Northern Colorado started the second just like the first with a 3-point shot but this time it was from Jonah Radebaugh. The Bearkats answered with a 7-0 run to take their only lead of one point with 17:38 remaining. UNC responded to the run by knocking down three straight 3s. The three triples helped the Bears retake the lead for good. Dre hit two and Jonah hit the third to get the Bank rocking and they never looked back.
Northern Colorado used those 3s as a momentum builder and the start of a 20-7 run which put the game out of reach for good. Dre finished with 40 while JD had 18 and Jonah Radebaugh had 14 in the win. Jalen Sanders chipped in eight points and seven rebounds which led the team.
Game Changer
Andre Spight is used to being in this part of most recaps and it is well deserved tonight as he throws down his third 40-point performance of the season. Spight hit 15 of his 24 shots and 7-of-15 from beyond the arc. Dre also had five assists and four rebounds. The 15 made field goals tied a career-high for Dre.
Key Stat
The Bears hot shooting won them the game as they shot an even 59.0 percent (36-61) for the game. That performance is the second-best shooting game for UNC this season only behind the Northern Arizona game at home in which the Bears shot 59.3 percent.
What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"We took this job two years ago, that was something that, when I took it, I envisioned that, and that was, I remember on my trip here to get the job, I watched the movie Creed. When Ricky Conlan was coming into the ring, when they darkened out the crowd and everybody was going crazy for Ricky Conlan, chanting his name and, that was my motivation for what UNC basketball would be. To be in an environment like that, that's what college basketball is all about. That's why those kids work as hard as they do and they sacrifice as much as they do, is to have opportunities to play in front of a crowd like that and to perform. I just can't say how proud of those guys. For the last two years, it hasn't been easy but they believed. My coaching staff believed that we could get this program – and regardless of what the circumstances were, that ultimately wasn't going to be an excuse and we were going to find a way to win. We were going to find a way to win big. In order to do that, you have to have everybody on board, you have to have administration, the coaching staff, your trainer, the academic people, but ultimately it comes down to players. When you've got really really good players like we do, they perform and those guys came out tonight and performed against a very good Sam Houston State team – who, as I told them going into the game, this is going to be one of those teams, it's going to be one of the hardest teams you play all year because it's going to be one of the quickest, most athletic teams, and that team plays really really hard. There's no cools. I told our guys at halftime, "You got outplayed in the first half. We were lucky we made some shots, we turned it over and we missed free throws. We got outplayed, and you're still up three. But at the same time, if you walk out there and try to play cool against these guys, there's no cool in those guys." Our guys came out in the second half, took a couple of punches, got down one, but ultimately we talked about the response, and our response was great. When you have a guy like Andre Spight that can basically take over a game like that and demoralize the other team – I've seen it time and time again this year where he can make such tough shots, that appears to be tough shots for probably everybody else except for him where the other guy guarding him just looks over at the bench, like "What about I supposed to do, Coach?" And I think eventually that just…that takes its toll on the other team. It takes its toll when you want to put your best defender on him, and now you allow Jordan Davis to go downhill. But it's a collective effort. From the guys who don't play to the guys, everybody played their role, and that's why we're playing so well right now."
On 59% shooting in the game
"That's where over the course of what feels like the last year, but over the course of the last month, month and a half, we've really gotten used to playing with one another. This team has only played with each other for one year. A lot of teams, you've got continuity and you're playing in your second, third year, especially a core group of guys. But these guys, they had to learn to play with one another. You have to learn how to adjust playing with Andre Spight, you've got to learn to adjust with JD. Those guys finally figured out how to play with one another. When Dre's dancing at the top, instead of just standing, being able to move, take advantage of the defense, and that's where we're at a point right now where we're clicking really well. And that's why we wanted to keep playing when the season ended. We knew how well we were playing and we wanted to keep that momentum going."
On the big crowd at the game
"You have to give them a reason, and when they do show up, you've gotta give them a show. That's what we did tonight. We gave them a show. Hopefully, we'll have more people in there on Friday afternoon. We're just excited to play. When you have that type of atmosphere, it gives you such a home court advantage. I've been saying it all year. There's not a lot of better guards in the country than Andre Spight, and there's not a lot of better guard combinations than Andre Spight and Jordan Davis. To have those guys in your backyard? It's exciting when I go to my son's basketball practice, and you've got the 6th and 7th graders, they're all talking about Andre Spight, Jordan Davis, Jonah Radebaugh, all our players, that's a credit to them, and I can't thank the community enough for the support they've given us during this run."
Redshirt Sophomore Jonah Radebaugh
On jumping out to an early lead
"It was nice, just because it's been a little while since we played. It was good to get the dust off quick. It didn't, we didn't go down from it. It was good to get up, give us a little cushion we had just about most of the way."
Redshirt Senior Andre Spight
On the teams 59% performance
"We're just so comfortable here, especially at home, comfortable with each other at the end of the year. We kind of knew. I'll speak for myself. I knew my team was going to come out and play the way we did. There's no question about it. All our shots were falling in shoot-around and practices from earlier in the week, so I kind of knew this was going to happen, honestly."
On taking 24 shots
"I definitely would take that. I just kind of played with the flow of the game. If I go by my man, and someone else hops up, and I know I can make that pass and get a teammate an open shot, and also trust my ability. Also, I give a lot of credit to these guys here, especially the ones next to me (JD and Jonah). Playing with these guys the whole game, they trust me to take that shot and have confidence in me to make these shots, so that's really what it is."
Junior Guard Jordan Davis
On SHSU taking the one-point lead
"I didn't even realize they went up one. I don't think any of us did. The whole game, we just stick to what we do – make them guard, and defensively, turn them over. They were getting a lot of easy shots, we got lazy on some of them, our guard to guard switches. They got threes off, and it got to a point where we just drew a line in the sand and just put it away."
On the momentum, the team has right now
"We feel like we're playing our best basketball. We've been saying that since the conference, even at the conference when we first decided to play in this. The coaches even said, "Go watch on film, our play in March looks totally different than our play any other time of the year."
Notable Stats
- Radebaugh only took six shots but he was really efficient as he hit five of those buckets to score 14 points on the night.
- Despite being outscored in the paint, off the bench and in second-chance opportunities, the Bears pulled ahead and only trailed once in the game.
- UNC opened up the lead and kept it that way with the help of six blocks to Sam Houston State's one rejection. Tanner Morgan and Sanders each had two swats in the game.
What's Next
Northern Colorado will host the University of Illinois-Chicago Friday at 5 pm Mountain Time for the CollegeInsider Tournament Title.
To keep up to date on all things UNC men's basketball, follow the team on UNCBears.com and on Twitter @UNCO_MBB.
Team Stats
SHSU
NC
FG%
.446
.590
3FG%
.412
.567
FT%
.625
.556
RB
38
34
TO
14
13
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
40
FGM
15
3FGM
7
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
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