INDIANAPOLIS — Joe Pleasant took deep breaths as he tried to block everything out. A 58.5% free-throw shooter, he had to do something outside of his repertoire to send his team into the history books.
The first was a swish. The second rattled in. Two seconds later, his teammates were streaming onto the court, behind the basket and in front of their fans. They’d win, 53-52.
Abilene Christian shot onto the national scene with an intense and unrelenting defensive display, shocking the state powerhouse Texas Longhorns.
A decade ago, this basketball program was a legitimately bad Division-II program that lacked funding. It was well below .500 in the Lone Star Conference. As Saturday night turned into early Sunday morning, the small private university slayed the biggest state school with the biggest brand.
In this game, the swarming defense forced 23 turnovers. It took 27 more shots than the Longhorns whose offense was as bad as Abilene Christian’s defense was good.
Texas got out to a 10-4 lead to start the game. Then it was up by nine in the early part of the second half. But there was opportunity to pull away. The first deficit was answered by an 11-1 Wildcats run, spurred by five straight points from forward Pleasant.
The second deficit was answered by an 18-4 Wildcats run, spurred by two acrobatic shots from the aptly named Reggie Miller. He capped off the run with a flex under the basket.
There was a stretch of nearly nine full minutes where Abilene Christian didn’t score a point. But its defense never took a moment off.
The entire city of Abilene was not in attendance, but it sure felt like it. There appeared to be more Abilene Christian fans in attendance. And they stood the entire game. Even during the timeouts.
The play of the night came from the 5-foot-7 Damien Daniels. With the score tied and 3:42 minutes left to play. His drive to the basket rattled in and he was fouled. It gave the Wildcats a three-point lead that it wouldn’t give up.
With Miller at the line with 79 seconds to play, there was a break in between his free throws, the fans started to chat “A-C-U,” acknowledging that this program was on the precipice of actually pulling it off.
In the eight years since Abilene Christian went Division I, it has been a steady incline in performance, program interest and funding. It took the first real step two years ago in going to the NCAA Tournament, where it lost by more than 30 points to another blue blood, Kentucky.
But facing this challenge on this night, it was more than up to the task.
