NCAA Tournament 2012: Baylor Survives South Dakota State Scare 68-60

It is every aspiring sports journalist's dream to attend the NCAA tournament.  Thanks to my affiliation with the South Dakota State men's basketball team, I have achieved such a dream.  This is the recap of the events during my visit to Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Every year, a lower-seeded team in the NCAA tournament has the ambition to knock off a national power, making their claim as this year’s Cinderella story.

For the South Dakota State men's basketball team, it meant so much more to them than just knocking off a big opponent.

The Jackrabbit men were entering the tournament for the first time in their school history as they prepared themselves to do battle with the No. 3 seed Baylor Bears in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Head coach Scott Nagy has seen and been through it all.  From Division-II dominance to struggling to transition to Division-I to fearing for his job, from outrage of fans and boosters to now, his first “dance” in his career. 

Never being a man afraid to show his emotions, Nagy got choked up at a postgame press conference after his Jacks clinched the Summit League championship and auto-bid into the NCAA tournament a week ago.  Nagy stated that he wished that his former players knew just how instrumental they were to the current players' success this season. 

Upon learning their opponent and destination for the tournament, SDSU began preparations.  Part of those preparations were defensive assignments, and when playing Baylor—as it was for many Big-12 opponents this year—the focal point was shutting down the Bears' star player and future NBA lottery pick, Perry Jones III. 

In order to prepare for a player with Jones’ length and agility, Nagy looked to sophomore forward Marcus Heemstra to simulate his style of play.  Heemstra took the opportunity to heart, working as hard as he ever had to help his teammates get better for their daunting task. 

Heading into the game, the majority decision was that Baylor would roll over South Dakota State, citing the Jacks' lack of length and sometimes non-existent defensive presence.

However, one man dared to defy logic. 

CBS Sports/SI’s Seth Davis stated on the Selection Show special on CBS this past Sunday, “I like South Dakota State to take down Baylor.”  If there weren't enough pressure on SDSU to perform well, having been backed by one of college basketball’s most respected journalists may not have helped any.

Once tip-off came for the highly anticipated game in The Pit, one thing was clear: South Dakota State didn’t just come to enjoy the ride, they came to win and had multiple fan bases on their side. 

Looking around the crowd in attendance for this game, one entire section of seats was taken up by South Dakota State fans.  Considering the trip from Brookings, South Dakota to Albuquerque, New Mexico is about a 14-18 hour drive and 1,100 miles, it was remarkable to see the amount of blue and yellow in attendance. 

In fact, SDSU’s fan base was so big, it outnumbered the Baylor fan base by a wide margin.  One thing that is clearly evident is that this team of young men have the state’s attention.

Except it’s not just the state of South Dakota that has fallen for the Jackrabbit basketball team. 

Sported in my SDSU apparel, numerous other spectators came up to me to talk Jacks basketball.  Besides the ones that had us confused with San Diego State, every person I spoke to had nothing but good things to say about this team. 

    “We’ve seen you a couple of times this year and are always impressed with you guys.” 

    “You’ve got a really nice team here.”

Colorado and UNLV fans, who were in attendance for their game to follow SDSU/Baylor, were so enthralled with the Jackrabbits that they even began to chant the school’s name during timeouts.

With all of this support on their side, even so far away from home, SDSU came out of the gate focused and determined.  So focused, in fact, they opened up an early 8-0 lead off of a long two from Jordan Dykstra and three-pointers by Brayden Carlson and Griffin Callahan.

Baylor fans were so stunned at their team’s early deficit, some even began to show signs of fear.  Fear that their high-profile team may, as Seth Davis predicted, fall in the opening round. 

After their quick time out, Baylor looked to throw the ball down low to Jones and allow him to work.  Except SDSU was ready for anything and everything Jones had in his arsenal.  Jones saw constant double-teams from weak-side defenders, was forced to the baseline away from the basket and pushed outside of the paint, causing him to become rattled and virtually non-existent on the offensive end.

In the end, Jones ended up scoring only two points in the game.  Needless to say, Heemstra did a fairly nice job simulating Jones during practice, and this worked out in the Jackrabbits' favor throughout the game. 

One key matchup that analysts were looking into throughout the week was the point guard battle of Baylor’s Pierre Jackson—who possesses a great threat from beyond the arc as well as the ability to slice up a defense to get the the rack—against SDSU’s Nate Wolters, who uses quick, elusive ball-handling skills to drive to the basket and loves to run through the lane and drop a floater past the defense.

People were wondering which of the two would score more points.  Wolters won that battle by a final of 19-18.  Both Wolters and Jackson were their team’s leading scorer, providing bursts of offense when called upon to do so.

One crucial element to the game for both teams was the three-point shot.

South Dakota State possesses four different three-point shooters (Brayden Carlson, Dykstra, Griffin Callahan and Chad White) who hit over 40 percent of their long-ball attempts, while Baylor relies on Brady Heslip to deliver most of the time, and sprinkles in production from Jackson and Anthony Jones.  

While Dykstra (five points), Carlson and Callahan (seven points in his final game in a Jackrabbit uniform) opened the game for the Jacks with threes, it was White who had the biggest impact from beyond the arc. 

White had 15 total points, with all of his points coming from beyond the arc, going 5-of-9 from long distance.   

The Jacks pushed the lead to 12 points early in the first half by a score of 19-7 off of a Wolters lay-in.

From there, the Bears knew that the Jacks weren’t going away easily, kicking their game into high gear from there on out.  

Baylor went on a 17-3 run to take their first lead of the game at 24-22, a lead which they did not relinquish the rest of the game.  By halftime, the Bears held a 36-28 advantage.   

By the time the second half began, South Dakota State came out with the same firepower that they started the game with, slowly beginning to chomp into the hole they dug themselves earlier with numerous missed free throws and sloppy turnovers.  

Wolters scored on a nice cut-and-dish play to the basket off of the assist from Tony Fiegen (five assists).  While the Jacks started to gain confidence, Baylor started to regain the rhythm that had given them the lead in the first place.

Jackson started to show off his nifty footwork, making opposing defenders look silly a few times by spinning them around before he knocked down the jumper.

Baylor’s remaining offense came beyond the three-point line, thanks to consistent shooting from Brady Heslip, who knocked down five of his 10 three-point attempts on his way to 17 points for the game.

While SDSU started to gain momentum of their own, their lack of size and pure athleticism compared to that of the Bears proved too much to overcome.

The Bears grabbed 35 total rebounds, 11 by Jones, while the Jacks could only manage 23.  Baylor scored 13 second-chance points as opposed to SDSU’s two.  Another key facet to Baylor’s ultimate victory were points off turnovers, of which Baylor had 23 while SDSU had 19. 

Most of Baylor’s second-chance points came off of turnovers committed by Wolters and Dykstra, who accounted for eight of the Jackrabbits' 13 total turnovers.

Wolters and Dykstra have spent all year being the two guys who coach Nagy relies on to take care of the basketball when needed, but something didn’t click for them at the right times, giving Baylor all the opportunity in the world to capitalize on crucial mistakes by the inexperienced Jackrabbits.

South Dakota State had one more comeback attempt in them in the final minutes of the game, at one point cutting the lead down to four with 1:13 to play.

After stopping the Bears on the defensive end, Carlson (nine points, five assists) missed a three-point attempt that would have cut the lead to one with 27 seconds left in the game.  From there, the Jacks were forced to foul and Baylor hit all four of their closing free throws to seal the game, 68-60.

As the final horn sounded and players and coaches from both teams began to congratulate each other on a well-played game, a standing ovation from the entire crowd started rumbling through The Pit. 

With the crowd being mostly UNLV/Colorado fans, it was a pleasant sight to see fans from schools with no affiliation or ties to the competing schools appreciate a well-played game when they see it.  Respect was shown by all and now Baylor will go on to play Colorado, who upset UNLV in the game that followed, while South Dakota State will look back on what was an incredible year and begin to prepare for another tournament run next year.

While walking out of the arena, I was approached by a number of different spectators from the game who wanted to congratulate the team on a well played game.

A chant of “Overrated” broke out after seeing how close the game was, and as the chant began to die down, the man sitting in front of me turned to me and said, “I don’t think they should be chanting overrated.  What they should be chanting is underrated, because that is really what you guys (SDSU basketball team) are.  Nobody gave your guys a chance and they played great.” 

Hearing a fan say something that I have thought the entire year made me smile a little.  All year, SDSU has been written off as just another good school in a mediocre conference.  After Thursday’s game, however, respect had been earned and respect had been given.

Another spectator, this one sporting a New Mexico Lobos’ t-shirt, came up to me and said, “Hey.  I just wanted to let you know that that was a great game your guys played.  Also, as long as you don’t play us anytime soon, I’m a new fan of your team as well.”

To think that a New Mexico fan, who had bought a ticket in hopes of seeing his home team play on their home court, love what he saw from the Jackrabbits so much that he is willing to say he is now a fan of this team as well is remarkable in itself.

Overall, the atmosphere was at its highest level of both sessions during the day.  Wisconsin/Montana and Vanderbilt/Harvard played in the opening session, but neither could compare to the fan enthusiasm for the South Dakota State/Baylor game. 

It just goes to show that people are always fans of good basketball.  Whether it’s their team or another team, people are willing to admit when they’ve been entertained by a basketball game no matter who is playing.

It may not have worked out the way Seth Davis had predicted or stated it would, but I don’t think even he would be disappointed at the respect the Jackrabbits and Bears earned from the crowd in New Mexico Thursday night. 

South Dakota State played a different Cinderella role.  They may not have won the game, but they won the hearts of thousands of fans in attendance. 

In the end, that is a victory in itself.