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2017 NCAA Tournament: Mount St Mary’s tops New Orleans in first game of Big Dance

By Carmine Carcieri

Mar 14, 2017; Dayton, OH, USA; Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers guard Junior Robinson (0) drives the ball down the court in the first half in the first four of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Dayton Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2017; Dayton, OH, USA; Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers guard Junior Robinson (0) drives the ball down the court in the first half in the first four of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Dayton Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mount St Mary’s squeaks by New Orleans in a First Four 2017 NCAA Tournament game after UNO makes a questionable decision down the stretch.

In the first game of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, NEC champion Mount St Mary’s topped New Orleans, 67-66, in the First Four. The Mountaineers will advance to play Villanova in the opening round of the tournament after 5’5″ point guard Junior Robinson dropped 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and Miles Wilson put up 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

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However, the biggest story of this game wasn’t the play of the smallest player in the nation or one of the more versatile freshmen in the NEC. Instead, it was a pair of decisions, one by a player and one by a coach, that impeded New Orleans’ path to an NCAA Tournament victory.

During a timeout with 6:36 left in the game, UNO big man Travin Thibodeaux got into the face and grabbed guard Christavious Gill by the neck after getting called for a three seconds call in the painted area. He had to be separated by multiple coaches and wasn’t inserted back into the game for the remainder of the evening.

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This had a significant impact on the result of the game because Thibodeaux recorded 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was really the only offense that the Privateers had on the interior.

But even without Thibodeaux in the game, the Privateers had a chance to record a win down the stretch. After two Nate Frye (18 points on 7-of-10 shooting) free throws, UNO was trailing by just one point with 35 seconds left. Instead, of opting to foul and extending the game, head coach Mark Slessinger decided to defend straight up, leaving themselves just 2.6 seconds to get a shot off to win the game.

On that possession, not only did New Orleans fail to convert a buzzer beater, but they didn’t even get a shot off as they failed to complete a long inbounds pass from the baseline to half court.

While not fouling down the stretch wasn’t the sole reason why New Orleans was downed on Tuesday evening (Mount controlled the game for all 40 minutes), the Southland champion would’ve had a strong opportunity to at least take the game into overtime.

This was coaching 101. Even if Mount St Mary’s made both free throws with around 30 seconds left, it would’ve still been a one possession game. New Orleans then would’ve had a choice between going for the tie or getting a quick two and forcing Mount St Mary’s to once again earn it from the free throw line.

Instead, UNO went with the worst possible decision: to play straight up, not foul and fail to give Frye (who was clearly their best offensive player of the night) a chance to lead them to a victory.

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Regardless, credit must also be given to the Mountaineers who shot 53 percent from the field and 53 percent from beyond the arc. With their leading scorer Eli Long (six points) struggling for the majority of the evening against a solid UNO defense, Robinson and Wilson stepped up by creating their own shot within the confines of their half court offense. They will need a lot more from those two, and Long, if they are going to even remain in the game against the Wildcats of Villanova in the first round, though.

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