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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > February > 07 > Entry
UD Flyers: Knock Them Suckas Out !!!
I know Chris Wright won the game’s MVP award after Dayton dismantled Xavier, 90-65, Saturday at UD Arena — and with 17 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots he deserved it — — but I’d give the honor to two other Flyers:
1 — Brian Gregory
2 — Rob Lowery
Gregory — as was the subject of my column in Sunday’s newspaper — showed himself to be the master motivator when, just minutes before the Flyers would take the court for the opening tip, he came bobbing into the team’s cramped dressing quarters to the beat of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out.”
The head coach was wearing a long red and white, hooded fight robe and boxing gloves and he fired off volleys of punches at each of the Flyers as LL Cool J — who Gregory, to the hoots of some of his players, calls “the greatest rapper of all time.” — provided the theme music:
“Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon…..
“I’m goin insane, startin the hurricane, releasin pain Lettin you know that you can’t gain, I maintain…”
“I’m gonna knock you out (HUUUH!!!) Mama said knock you out (HUUUH!!!)”
“None of us expected that,” senior center Kurt Huelsman said afterward. “He’s usually pretty serious and intense….But that really got to us. It riled us up and it really loosened us up, too…And that’s how we went out and played.”
Senior guard Mickey Perry agreed: “All year he’s just wanted us to get an identity of playing hard every game and today that’s what we did. He just wants us to always be able to show who we really are out there.”
No one did that more on Saturday than did Lowery
If you remember, a year ago when Xavier came to UD Arena, he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee midway through the first half. He crumpled right beneath the basket in front of the UD student section and lay on the court for several minutes cradling his knee.
When the training staff got him to the dressing room and told him the extent of the injury — that he’d need surgery and his season was done — he began sobbing uncontrollably.
He missed almost a year, returning Dec. 5 this season.
“I remember the play he got hurt like it was yesterday,” Chris Wright, who shares an apartment with Lowery, said after Saturday’s game. “We talked about that last night in the living room when we were watching SportsCenter and all the NBA games.”
Lowery admitted the memories of Xavier’s last visit — and what had happened to him — were on his mind Saturday.
“I thought about it a lot and it got me kind of emotional. This game does it to you anyway just because of the rivalry and all. When we go down to Cincinnati, they’re always on us and when they come up here our fans are on them.
“Our crowd makes us feel like we just can’t lose…That’s why I wanted to go out there and play with no fear. And I think I did.”
He finished with 16 points, five assists and two steals.
After the game as Marcus Johnson was about to hoist the Blackburn-McCafferty Trophy above his head to show the crowd, he looked for Lowery and called him over to help.
“I thought about what happened to Rob in this game last year,” Johnson said. “I remember going in the training room at half time and seeing him so upset and I told him we’d take care of things for him. Right after that I wrote 3s (Lowery’s jersey number) on my shoes to support him and, to this day, I still wear them at every practice.”
Lowery said when Johnson called him over, he understood:
“He knew what I had been through. I had cried to him that night it happened and poured my feelings out. And now he wanted me just to help show I was back and we had all done something pretty special.”
As LL Cool J — and Mama — had commanded:
They had knocked them suckas out.
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Comments
By seo lace
May 2, 2010 4:37 PM | Link to this
I am having a helluva time reading your bloog in SeaMonkey 1.2, I just figured I might telll you about it?
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By sec 311
February 11, 2010 12:47 PM | Link to this
Hey Arch, did you notice how amused the players were when they played that song during a time out at the Charlotte game last night? Chris Wright had some sweet dance moves, and you could see some of the other players getting into it as well. Gregory was in the middle of the huddle doing his coach thing, so we couldn’t tell if he noticed. I’d love to hear whether he or the players had anything to say about it…
By xugrad96
February 8, 2010 11:01 AM | Link to this
To 21: X plays in front of the UD crowd EVERY year so your point makes no sense. That being said, I will be 1st to say we didn’t show up to play. UD beat us in every aspect of the game. I thought the early fouls on Love were Ticky-Tac, but he still played 10 min in the 1st half so Im not gonna make excuses…we got beat bad. The good news is we are still 2nd in the A-10!
By 21
February 8, 2010 8:21 AM | Link to this
I don’t think it had anything to do with teh fouls. X NEVER plays in front of that kind of a crowd, they were shell shocked when they come to UD. Their OWN players say that. That is why UD has one of the BEST home courts in the country. Now lets win out and head to the NCAA’s!!
By SHAWN
February 7, 2010 10:25 PM | Link to this
HA - When you lose by 25 you can’t whine about fouls. But when you lose by FOUR and the hometeam is 26-30 in free throws you can b***h! Remember UD at X? Wright’s fouls? tons of X free throws? now there is a reason to complain (And we only lost by four). But a blow out is a blow out - just take your loss X! See you in the A-10 tourney!
By Nettie
February 7, 2010 7:11 PM | Link to this
Hey, Doughater, before you bash, get your facts straight. Tom Archdeacon wrote the article. Apparently you are as incorrect as your assessment of Rob Lowery. It’s a shame XU didn’t teach you how to read!
By DougHater
February 7, 2010 3:13 PM | Link to this
Lowery has only lost games for UD. he shoots just over 30% from three and from 2. He averages over 7 shots a game. He shoots early in the shot clock with contested shots, yes sometimes he gets a few. he is the most selfish player I have seen. How many times does he head down court with wide open players to dish the ball to on the break and takes it himself for a missed shot, turnover, or trip to the free throw trip where he sucks also. PASS THE BALL LOWERY. He shouldn’t even log more than 8 minutes a game. And you are calling him a hero? London Warren and Mickey Perry are the real PG’s and team players. Get a clue DOug.
By bub
February 7, 2010 2:04 PM | Link to this
Oh, give the fouls a rest. Those 2 guys had 38 more minutes to play, and you know what… they both ended the game with 2 fouls each! Where was the effort in the rest of the game? Seriously, if you have 2 fouls starting the second half and you continue to play like a castrated poodle, that’s a character issue - not foul trouble.
By #1 foam finger
February 7, 2010 12:57 PM | Link to this
Four fouls on Xavier’s big men in the first two minutes of the game helped too.