Texas Southern forward John Walker III celebrated the program’s second NCAA Tournament win the way he always envisioned — hooting, hollering, and just having fun.
Nothing, not even a small, mostly quiet arena, could dampen his enthusiasm.
After scoring a season-high 19 points, grabbing a career-high-tying nine rebounds, and leading the Tigers back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Mount St. Mary’s 60-52 in the first tourney game in nearly two years, Walker let loose.
“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” he shouted. “I just wanted it so bad, it wasn’t even about me. It was about going out there and beating a good team and getting it done.”
The Tigers (17-8) have won 10 straight overall and improved to 2-0 in the First Four games. Their win over North Carolina Central in 2018 was the program’s first in the NCAA Tournament. Next up for the No. 16 seed in the East Region is top-seeded Michigan (20-4) on Saturday.
Texas Southern, the champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, was the first of two historically Black colleges and universities to win an NCAA tourney game on Thursday, joined later by Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Norfolk State.
For at least a few moments, the Tigers soaked up their victory. Coach Johnny Jones’ players doused him with a cooler of water.
“They drenched me,” he said. “I’m sitting here all wet, but I’ll tell you what — it’s one of the best feelings I’ve had in cold water in a long time.”
At least that part sounded like the usual March Madness — full of excitement and emotion.
But it wasn’t the same.
In the first NCAA Tournament game since Virginia beat Texas Tech in overtime to win the national championship on April 8, 2019 — a span of 710 days — the atmosphere felt alien at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall. Only players, coaches and staff members were permitted on the court level and an estimated 150 people sat in the cavernous lower bowl. There were no concession stand lines, no pep bands playing music, no raucous cheers, not even boos.
Instead, players relied on themselves to crank up the energy. When Walker and his teammates did that in the second half, they took off.
Walker and Jordan Gilliam scored the first 11 points of the second half to erase a 30-20 deficit and give the Tigers their first lead in nearly 20 minutes. They started pulling away with a 12-4 spurt that made it 46-42 with 8:10 to play and finally put the game away at the free-throw line. Gilliam finished with 12 points.
Damian Chong Qui had 14 points for the Mountaineers (12-11), who fell to 1-9 in tourney play. Mezie Offurum had 10 points and 16 rebounds.
“I felt like I let myself down and I let my team down,” an emotional Chong Qui said. “As I said, we’ll be back. We’ll be back here and we’ll be better. We’ll take care of business.”
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