Northern State ready to make a run in national tournament
ABERDEEN, S.D. (BVM) — It has almost been exactly a year since the Northern State men’s basketball team’s season and the seasons of many other teams were abruptly canceled due to COVID-19.
One year removed from that moment and the Wolves are in the same position they were in back then: ready to make a run for a national title.
“It’s all sitting in front of us, let’s go do it,” Northern State head coach and NSIC Coach of the Year Saul Phillips said.
The Wolves are entering the NCAA DII Tournament ranked No. 2 in the nation and are the No. 1 seed in the Central Region after going 15-1 during the regular season.
“Everything has been tough and I’m saying that and we started out 15-0. I can only imagine what teams that struggled out of the gates were feeling,” Phillips said. “It was difficult. … It was a real struggle mentally.”
Off the court, the players were limited in what they could do and who they could be around. It took the fun out of college and the team struggled to find ways to still do the fun, bonding events they would normally do.
Phillips recalls a team meal where half the team had to stay on the bus to eat while the rest went into the restaurant to have their food. Another time, the Wolves couldn’t do their normal team movie night because they couldn’t all be in the same room.
Phillips and his staff had to become both coaches and entertainers this year, making sure to show the guys that they cared about their mental wellbeing. There would be days where the team wouldn’t practice; they would just play whiffle ball or instead of watching 30 minutes of film before practice they would just get on the court and play.
However, the struggles off the court did not show themselves on the court as the Wolves started the season 15-0 before conceding their first loss in well over a year to MSU Moorhead in the last game of the regular season.
Suffocating defense that led to fast break points allowed the Wolves to push the tempo against their opponents. Their veteran leadership gave the Wolves the best opportunity to continue their multi-year run of great play. But more than that, just being out on the court again after such a long hiatus pushed Northern to make the post of its opportunity.
“Every time you took the court you didn’t know if you were going to play the game until you saw the other team and the refs out on the court to play the game,” Phillips said. “You better enjoy the heck out of that 40 minutes you got out there I mean it’s a gift.”
NSU did just that. Following the loss to Moorhead, the Wolves ran the table in the NSIC Tournament, beating Moorhead in the championship game, 78-57. It was Northern’s fourth straight and sixth all-time, both records for the NSIC.
“The idea of we have a chance to do something special here regardless of what surrounds it, we’re going to get that done,” Phillips said. “Throw another obstacle at us, we’re going to defeat that obstacle.”
The obstacle facing the No. 2-ranked team in the nation is one of the toughest regions in the tournament.
“This is going to be our greatest challenge thus far,” Phillips said.
With a first-round bye, the Wolves will play either Wayne State (NE) or MSU Moorhead for the fourth time this season. After that, they will more than likely have to get past Northwest Missouri State, the reigning national champions.
Northern is up to the task and will have some help. Another first for NSU this year will be hosting central region play. With 25% capacity allowed at Wachs Arena, there will be as many Wolves fans as possible in the stands.
For a team that is used to sold out crowds of 5,000, it’s not the same, but it is as good as it is going to get and NSU is excited for it.
“We are going to play for them, we’re going to play for ourselves, we’re going to play for this school and we are going to play for history,” Phillips said.
