Tag: kennesaw state basketball

Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim tearfully reflected about his program’s progress after Xavier loss

This was awesome from Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim.

After making school history and coming close to a major March Madness upset, Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim didn’t hide how much the moment meant to him in a postgame interview.

As he sat with a host of his players, Abdur-Rahim became visibly emotional talking about how far the program had come to get to the 2023 NCAA men’s tournament.

A teary Abdur-Rahim said he was crying “tears of joy” at all his team had accomplished in going from rebuilding years to winning the Atlantic Sun Conference for the first time and making the Big Dance.

“We made a commitment to this university,” Abdur-Rahim said. “We made a commitment to these guys sitting next to me, man, that we were going to show up every day for, and when you get to a place like this…again, these are tears of joy because it takes a special group of people to commit to something and stay, to see that vision through.”

That is just awesome perspective from Abdur-Rahim after such a tough loss.

Kennesaw State has been one of the best stories out of this college hoops season, and they’ll be contenders for years to come when there are people like Abdur-Rahim leading the charge.

This crooked rim created chaos for NCAA tournament games and may explain Iowa State’s rough start

This doesn’t seem fair.

No. 6 Iowa State and No. 11 Pittsburgh had a delayed start to their first-round game in the NCAA tournament caused by a crooked rim at Greensboro Coliseum.

The Midwest Region game followed a wild comeback from No. 4 Xavier to survive an upset bid by No. 14 Kennesaw State. During the victory, with less than a minute left on the clock, Xavier’s Souley Boum missed a wide-open layup following a pass from teammate Colby Jones.

It was one of several crucial shots that didn’t fall for Xavier, who won the game despite the missed field goals. But the troubles may have continued into the following game considering Iowa State was not able to warm up as expected.

UPDATE: The NCAA issued a statement noting that Iowa State was offered additional warmup time but declined.

Although NCAA tournament officials made sure that the rim was level before the game finally tipped off, Pittsburgh was able to warm up before the game.

The Cyclones, however, were not. When the game finally started, Iowa State missed each of their first twelve attempts from the field and did not make any of their field goals until over ten games of game time had passed.

All five of the starters for Pittsburgh made field goals before a single player on Iowa State was able to connect. After trailing 21-2, the Cyclones went on a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to 26-19.

While we don’t know if this was the reason why the Cyclones had such a slow start, the two teams will switch rims at the end of the first half.

If the Panthers also struggle to connect from the field, it’s time that we all start to raise some eyebrows about whether or not the crooked rim was ever legitimately fixed.

Either way, however, it seems a bit unfair that Pittsburgh was able to warm up before the game but Iowa State was not given the same opportunity before tipoff.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5x3v4hcz7e10g image=]

[lawrence-related id=2029195,2029186,2028348,2027851]

Xavier survives Kennesaw State upset bid on a very questionable non-call before the buzzer

Was this a foul on Xavier during its win over Kennesaw State or a smart non-call?

After nearly pulling off the incredible upset, the No. 14 Kennesaw State Owls couldn’t quite hold on against No. 3 Xavier on Friday in the 2023 NCAA men’s tournament.

After the Owls led by 13 down the stretch, the Musketeers mounted a ferocious upset and put the game on razor’s edge as the final moments winded down.

With Xavier up 68-67 with just a few seconds to go, Kennesaw State guard Terrell Burden drove to the basket and had his shot blocked by Xavier forward Jack Nunge.

Owls guard Spencer Rodgers snagged the rebound and got some contact from Musketeers forward Colby Jones and guard Jerome Hunter. However, the refs held the whistles on Xavier, and Kennesaw State couldn’t turn the possession into a game-winning basket.

Xavier would hold onto win and advance, 72-67.

Some folks felt that Rodgers got fouled on the sequence, but CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore said that the officials were wise to let the play fall as it did.

After such an exciting game, nobody likes to see the final horn sound with questionable officiating souring the final result.

Kennesaw State had a lot to be proud of for the school’s first NCAA men’s tournament bid, but the ending will undoubtedly sting.