The Notre Dame College Falcons men's basketball season ended on March 4th when they lost to West Liberty in the MEC Semifinals but that does not tell the whole story of the year. "It was a long season and we had a lot of ups and downs, "NDC grad student Tyland Crawford mentioned in the post game press conference after the loss to West Liberty. "We just tried to stick with it everyday. We wanted to enjoy everyday and lead by example. I'm going to remember this team forever."
The Good:
NDC won the first MEC Tournament game since the 2018-19 season when they put it all together in a 92-79 win in the MEC Quarterfinals over West Virginia State at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.
NDC opened the season with a 72-68 win over Division I Cleveland State University. The win was the Falcons second in a row against the Vikings as they also defeated CSU in the 2019-20 season.
Jaedon Wills made all MEC First team for the second straight season as he averaged 21 points per game which was good for second in the MEC and seventh in program history for a single season. Willis was the first Falcon since Will Vorhees to make the all-MEC team in consecutive seasons. The senior from Baltimore scored 630 points on the year which is good for eighth in program history in a single season. He is second in program history shooting 38.8 percent from the 3-point line, and is second in school history shooting 87.7 percent from the free throw line in a single season. Willis is sixth in school history with 171 free throws made in a season and is sixth in free throws attempted with 191.
Obinna Ugwuakazi scored 22 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in the win over West Virginia State in the MEC Quarterfinals. The 19 rebounds were top five in both program history and MEC history for rebounds in a game. After the tournament Ugwuakazi was named to the MEC All-Tournament Team.
The Falcons knocked off the University of Charleston 77-64 on February 15th. With that win NDC had the most home wins in a season (10) since the 2018-19 campaign.
The Bad:
NDC lost the regular season finale on February 25th at Alderson Broaddus after being steam rolled 100-53 by West Liberty in the home finale in the game prior.
NDC opened the season with a pair of losses in the Conference Challenge. The first being a 100-73 drubbing against Seton Hill followed by a 82-72 loss to Slippery Rock the following day.
For the first time since the 2018-19 season The NDC Falcons were unable to defeat the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons in either meeting.
About a month prior to the MEC Tournament looking to complete a perfect week after knocking off Glenville State to begin the week NDC fell 78-63 to Davis & Elkins inside Murphy Gym.
NDC fell to Concord 85-80 on the road December 3rd. The last time the Falcons won at Concord was in the 2018-19 season.
"The most important thing that we did this year was stuck together, "Willis explained. "When we lost a couple games in a row, our focus never wavered, especially in practice. We came ready to win. We have a tough group."
Tyland Crawford (#12) celebrates the victory in the MEC Quarters over West Virginia State with teammates DeAirius Barker (#1,) Kaleb Torrence (#2,) and Gbolahan Adio (#0) also pictured.
Barker with the pull-up jumper.
Ugwuakazi gets to the rim.
NCAA Atlantic Region Results:
Atlantic Region Semifinals:
Atlantic Region Finals:
NCAA Elite Eight (All games played on 3.21 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana:)
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