On a cold January night in Baltimore, Howard found themselves on the ropes.
The Bison — the defending MEAC champions — had been beaten up by Morgan State 85-79 on Jan. 27. It was Howard’s second consecutive conference loss and put them in a hole in the conference regular season title race.
While Howard was an experienced and tested bunch, it was losing bodies and reinforcements due to injury that would help them overcome its 10-14 start.
But these Bison fought.
They leaned on the toughness of forward Bryce Harris and the worn experience of Seth Towns, who is playing his eighth collegiate season, to be leaders. Head coach Kenny Blakeney had to rally the troops and preach that a collective effort would see them through.
“On our year, it’s been somewhat fascinating and challenging. We’ve played this year with probably the most injuries of any team in the country,” said head coach Kenny Blakeney. “We lost 82 (player) games this year due to injuries with guys that are in our rotation.”
After January, Howard transformed into one of the hottest teams in the MEAC, going 8-4 down the stretch, including a 7-1 run to win the conference tournament and earn an NCAA tournament bid.
“I think we faced a ton of adversity this season through injury, through a lot of guys going through really, really tough individual things,” said Towns. “And you go in with certain expectations and this year was just like really rocky for us in a lot of ways.
“So to come together at the end of the year, like we did, in the last five or so games and then in the tournament, I think it’s a testament to the leadership of the coaching staff and just to the incredible guys who were never willing to give up.”
Being able to survive that season grind and return to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive March gives the Bison an appreciative perspective ahead of its First Four game on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, against Wagner.
“Honestly, like coming back here, really just is understanding the magnitude of this type of event,” said Harris. “My first year coming here, I was just in awe. It didn’t affect who we were as a basketball team, but it was just interesting.
You think you understand how big this world is and all the cameras and the lights and everything like that, and you’re really just telling yourself and your teammates as well, you know, let’s not get intoxicated with this; let’s understand what we did to get here.”
Said Blakeney about the team’s journey back to the field of 68: “For us to be able to be here and have a chance to play in March, be a part of March Madness, is truly a blessing and just very grateful.”
NCAA Tournament
When: Tuesday
Where: Dayton, Ohio
Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
Network: TruTV
