There were times when Grambling State’s first NCAA tournament appearance looked to be a brief one.
But the Tigers relied on themselves as they had all season, rallying to defeat Montana State 88-81 in overtime Wednesday night to play No. 1 seed Purdue in Indianapolis on Friday night.
“I know those guys. They don’t have any quit in them. There’s a lot of fight in them,” Tigers head coach Donte’ Jackson said in the postgame press conference. “And I told them our life has been built off adversity. I’ve got a lot of guys that come from underprivileged situations and things of that nature. Adversity is part of life. It’s about how you bounce back when you get in a bad situation.”
Bouncing back is what Grambling has done all year. The Tigers played a grueling non-conference schedule and entered Southwestern Athletic Conference play with a 2-10 record. Grambling now sits at 21-14 following their second straight SWAC regular season title and first tournament title in the NCAA Division I era, defeating four-time champ Texas Southern 75-66 in the championship game.
“It’s what March is made of, baby. You gotta find a way to fight, stay in the game, and have that one last run.”
– Grambling State coach Donte’ Johnson to @JonRothstein pic.twitter.com/iN6k5xifhF
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 21, 2024
They drew a First Four spot against Montana State, who won the Big Sky as a 5 seed for their third straight tournament appearance. The Bobcats had the experience. The Tigers had something more.
“At halftime, it was somewhere we’d already been before. We knew what we had to do,” said sophomore guard Jimel Cofer, the Tigers’ leading scorer with 19 points. “And the atmosphere, like [Jourdan Smith] said, we played a big schedule in the regular season, so it wasn’t nothing new.”
Said Smith, whose rebound jam with a minute to go in the extra session gave Grambling some breathing room: “The atmosphere, it wasn’t too much different for us. Like Coach said, he made the schedule he made this year for a reason. When we came in here, we knew what we were coming into. The atmosphere wasn’t too much different.”
Grambling will turn their attention to Purdue and 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, a likely NBA draft pick, but the good feelings from Wednesday’s historic win will stay with them forever.
“With this being my senior year, with everything we’ve got going, I didn’t want it to be the last game, especially with the way things are going now as a player. Playing with this type of team, with this type of team, I had to give my all to do that,” Smith said. “For the coaches, it’s the same thing. It’s even more reason for me to fight hard. I’ve got family that I haven’t heard from that wasn’t able to see me in a while.
They’re finally reaching out and saying they’re watching me playing, things like that. So when there’s people like that reaching out to you it means even more people that are watching that I don’t know. Just gotta give them a show and give it my all.”
