Radford coach delivers endearing moment after blowout loss to Villanova
For a coach who just endured an 87-61 rout against top-seeded Villanova, Radford’s Mike Jones arrived at his postgame news conference in surprisingly high spirits.
When he sat down at the podium, he reached for his nameplate and asked permission to take it home with him. He then channeled Super Bowl media day Marshawn Lynch after the moderator asked him to make an opening statement.
“I’m just here so I don’t get fined,” Jones deadpanned before busting up laughing. “I always wanted to do that, man. I always wanted to do that.”
Villanova may have convincingly thumped 16th-seeded Radford on the floor, but they couldn’t crush Jones’ or his players’ spirits. The Highlanders were a proud and happy bunch after a game in which they trailed by double digits after six minutes, by 20 after 10 minutes and by as many as 33 midway through the second half.
Just making it to Pittsburgh and earning a crack at Villanova was a remarkable accomplishment for a Radford program that was in shambles when Jones took over seven years ago. Not only were the Highlanders coming off a 24-loss season in which they recorded only two Division I wins, the previous staff was also in the NCAA’s crosshairs for providing impermissible benefits to recruits and then misleading investigators about it.
Jones overcame crippling NCAA sanctions and gradually rebuilt Radford into an upper-echelon Big South program. The Highlanders (23-13) won this year’s Big South title game on a 3-pointer from guard Carlik Jones as time expired and then notched their first NCAA tournament victory in program history Tuesday night at the First Four in Dayton.
When Radford arrived in Pittsburgh to face Villanova, the Highlanders weren’t intimidated at the thought of going up against one of the nation’s elite teams. In fact, they were so loose that some of the players interrupted Jones’ pregame news conference by screaming and hollering from the back of the room.
Fun moment here in Pittsburgh. Radford’s players made a scene of their coach Mike Jones’ press conference. pic.twitter.com/iVPvU7f58C
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 14, 2018
While Radford’s dreams of becoming the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed died early, the Highlanders didn’t give up. Senior guard Christian Bradford insisted that his teammates “never thought in our mind that we couldn’t come back,” a comment that drew a big smile from Jones when he heard it.
One of the Radford players says he never thought early they couldn’t come back.
Coach Mike Jones leans into the mic, “swag!”— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) March 16, 2018
When the game was over, Radford players walked over to their cheering section in unison and saluted their red-clad fans. Those fans returned the favor and gave the Highlanders one last hearty ovation.
Awesome moment here, as Mike Jones leads Radford players over to the fans after Highlanders’ historic season ends with loss to Villanova. pic.twitter.com/DtGqjf9pZU
— Tommy Hamzik (@T_Hamzik) March 16, 2018
“The fact that they traveled this far just to watch us play in this tournament, just to be a part of something that we built, it was big for us,” senior center Randy Phillips said. “I know I just grabbed coach and started crying immediately as soon as they started going crazy. I know it was overwhelming for me.”
Jones said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision for the team to walk over to its rooting section after the loss.
Said the Radford coach, “They didn’t get a chance to cheer victory but at least they got a chance to cheer these young men.”
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Jeff Eisenberg is a college basketball writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
