After reaching NCAA Tournament, future bright for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi basketball

DAYTON, Ohio — After a week where the ball bounced in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s favor in Katy, it did not happen enough on a Tuesday night in Dayton.

The Islanders did enough to stay within arm’s length of Texas Southern for much of the game, especially with big shots from Trevian Tennyson and Simeon Fryer, but it was the Tigers who had the answers down the stretch in a 76-67 win in the First Four at UD Arena.

The experienced Tigers — three-time victors in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament — used that knowledge along with a height advantage to continue their season in Fort Worth against Midwest No. 1 Kansas.

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'Our success has to do with those 14 guys'

While people see an 18-game improvement from 2021 to 2022 (5 wins to 23), and lay praise at the feet of first-year Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Steve Lutz, the longtime assistant with Purdue and Creighton among others, heaped the praise back on his players.

“Our success has nothing to do with me,” Lutz said. “Our success has to do with those 14 guys who sacrificed for one another and who believed in one another and put their individual goals aside for us to be able to achieve something that this university hasn't achieved since 2007.

“So, I just happen to be the head coach, but these guys, they're going to be — again, they're going to enjoy this the rest of their lives. And they absolutely deserve it. They deserve to win tonight. We just didn't — the ball didn't go our way, and Texas Southern did a little bit of a better job.”

Though the Islanders took care of the ball, with nine turnovers, the second-best game of the season in that regard, and outscored the Tigers in points off turnovers, scoring inside was a challenge.

Texas Southern was credited with eight blocks, including five from University of Houston transfer Brison Gresham, the amount of deflections and decisions that were changed due to early inability to score inside had a huge impact.

A&M-Corpus Christi also shot a season-worst 47% from the free throw line, nearly 30 points lower than its season average.

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Yet, with so much going against the Islanders statistically, a 12-2 surge in the second half handed the team a 55-51 lead after a triple from Myles Smith hit a 3-pointer from straight on with 8:58 to play.

A&M-Corpus Christi had a lead as late as the 6:04 mark of the second half, but the Tigers allowed five points the rest of the game, three coming on a desperation 3-pointer.

Accomplishments

The record book will show the team finished 23-11 — the sixth 20-win campaign in school history and first in five years — but it may undersell the accomplishment of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2022.

A year ago, much of the roster and even coaching staff was littered in different spots across North America.

Only three players returned after Willis Wilson retired (Smith, Fryer and De’Lazarus Keys) and Steve Lutz put together a staff, who in turn brought in 11 new players and in less than a year together the team found itself on the national stage in the NCAA Tournament for the second time.

Smith said it was apparent early that the team had a chance to piece together a run and the leaders on the team kept the Islanders focused on the ultimate end goal.

Fryer said Lutz told the team it was capable of winning the Southland this season.

“From the beginning, I remember coach Lutz pulled us in a group and said we have enough to get it done,” Fryer said. “And luckily we won the conference tournament just to make it here. I look at everybody as family. It's sad we lost, but I wouldn't want to do it with any other group of guys.”

From his introduction as head coach, Lutz maintained that a long rebuild was not necessary and that qualifying for the NCAA Tournament was possible in Year 1.

It turns out, he was right and the immediate future looks bright for Lutz and the Islanders.

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“This is a year of a lifetime for these guys,” Lutz said. “I mean, just think about it as it relates to life. They came into a situation and took a chance on a brand-new head coach with 14 other players they probably didn't know, right? And they came together as a team, came together as a family and achieved things that some of them never have before.

“I mean, they'll look back on this — I told them in the locker room — they'll look back on this when they're old and fat like me and bald and they're going to be, like, 'Hey, man, this was one of the best years of my life.'”

Quinton Martinez covers all things sports in South Texas. Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi basketball future bright post-March Madness