A mix of youth and experience has the University of Mary Washington men’s basketball team headed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament for just the second time in program history.
The Eagles defeated Ramapo (N.J.) College 86-81 in the second round of the tourney on Saturday, winning their fourth postseason game in a row. Two of those victories came against ranked squads, as they defeated then-No. 8 Christopher Newport 71-66 in the Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Athletic Conference championship game on March 1 and upended then-No. 16 Drew (N.J.) University 73-58 in the first round of the NCAA tournament last Friday.
Freshman guard Kye Robinson scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds against Ramapo, both team-highs. Sophomore forward Jay Randall tallied 18 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Zack Blue scored 15 points and dished out six assists.
Two other guards — sophomore Jadon Burgess and freshman Ulysses Young — also reached double-figure scoring, finishing with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
UMW (15-14) will square off with No. 8 Emory (Ga.) University (22-5) at 4:45 p.m. on Friday at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
The Eagles last reached the Sweet 16 in 2014, when they went 25-6 and advanced to the Elite Eight.
“It’s huge for the [program] to make it to the Sweet 16,” said Blue, a fifth-year senior who played on UMW’s 2023 team that lost in the second round of the tourney. “And it means a lot to me because I love this program.”
Blue and reserve guard Cameron McCravy are the only seniors on the Eagles’ roster and the only players remaining from that 2023 tournament squad. Both have played in all 29 of UMW’s games this season, with Blue averaging 10.3 points per contest and McCravy checking in at 3.7.
Eagles head coach Marcus Kahn said Blue and McCravy’s biggest contributions to the team’s Cinderella run can’t be found on a stat sheet, though.
“It’s their experience,” he said. “We’re such a young team overall that we’ve been learning a lot on the fly, and that led to our weaknesses getting exposed earlier in the season. But the young guys have been able to lean on Zack and Cameron because they’ve been here before and know what to expect, and that kind’ve helped us stay the course through the ups and downs.
“I couldn’t be happier for [Blue and McCravey] to go out on a high note like this,” he added.
“You can just pick their brain because they’ve got four or five years of college basketball experience,” Robinson said of the senior duo. “It really helps to have them leading the way, and I’m just trying to soak up everything I can from them while they’re still here.”
Robinson blossomed into UMW’s top scorer, averaging 13.9 points per game. He’s stepped it up as of late, putting up 15 points or more in six of the past eight contests.
“He’s been everything we had hoped for during the recruiting process,” Kahn said of Robinson, who was a Virginia High School League first-team all-state selection as a senior at Alexandria City High School as a senior. “He’s a talented player and a humble kid, and he’s coming to realize what it takes to excel at the college level.”
Naturally a small forward, the 6-foot-4 Randall has displayed an uncanny ability to adapt and thrive on the fly in just his second season on campus. Due to a series of injuries and departures by players who Kahn had planned to play in the post, he’s found a new home in the paint, averaging 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per outing while shooting a blistering 57% from the field.
“Jay is playing way out of position for us, but he has just done a phenomenal job in every way possible,” Kahn said. “He’s a true example of doing whatever the team needs to win.”
Meanwhile, Burgess and Young are checking in at 9.0 and 6.9 points per contest, respectively, while sophomore guard Kaden Bates is averaging 7.4.
“Coach tells us he can’t treat us like freshmen or sophomores anymore,” Robinson said. “He says he sees us as veteran players now, so we’ve really embraced that and run with it. That and the leadership from Zack and Cameron really enabled us to shake off an up-and-down regular season and hit the reset button when tournament time rolled around.”
If the Eagles are to survive Emory and advance to Saturday’s Elite Eight, they’ll likely need all of those cylinders to continue firing. Emory has won nine of its past 11 games since a two-game skid in late January and is averaging 85.5 points per contest, which is good for 13th in the nation.
Junior swingman Jair Knight is one of four Emory players scoring in double-figures, averaging 18.8 points per game.
“He’s one of the best athletes in Division III basketball,” Kahn said of Knight. “Containing him is just one of the challenges we’re facing.”
Junior guard Ben Pearce averages 16.6 points per contest, while senior forward Logan Shanahan is at 13.9, and sophomore guard A.J. Harris checks in at 12.
The 6-foot-7 Shanahan poses a tall task for UMW, which doesn’t feature anyone taller than 6-5 in its rotation. Shanahan had 22 points and 16 rebounds in last Saturday’s 84-68 win over Berry (Ga.) College.
“We’ll come up with a plan and find a way to be in the game,” Kahn said. “We’ve proven we can get the job done against ranked teams, and our guys have come together and embraced the situation they’re in.”
