BUFFALO — Little Hofstra’s Big Dream had been shattered 86-66 by Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State was too big, too strong, too tough, too experienced, too everything. The NCAA Tournament, this East Regional first-round game, was too big for Little Hofstra.
Inside the Hofstra locker room now, head coach Jay Wright wasted no time picking up the pieces of this shattered dream and put it all in perspective.
“We just have to learn a lesson,” Wright began. “Sometimes we get to a spot, fail, learn a lesson, and maybe you’ll do it the next time. What this team did a great job of was, two years ago you got to the [America East] semifinals. But you learned what you had to do to get to a championship game. Then you got to the championship game, and without having to fail and learn, you did it. We could have gotten to that championship game against Delaware and failed, then next year won, ’cause you guys [would have known] what you have to do in big games. But you guys learned that fast.
“If you think anything different than what I’m gonna tell you, you’re dead wrong. What’s most important is where our heads are leaving this game.
“This basketball team and this program is built to win games like this. We are not one of those programs that gets in the Tournament, plays a game, everybody hugs each other, ‘Yeah, we made the NCAAs,’ and go home. That’s not what we’re building here. Granted, we had to get here.”
Now Wright, in blunt words that he would prefer remained behind closed doors, basically told his New York kids that they did not rise to the occasion.
“There’s nothing wrong with us coming here and failing,” he went on. “There’s nothing wrong with it. There’s nothing wrong with failing. As long as we take that from here and we learn from it, and it doesn’t happen again. That’s all. You gotta get there and experience it, make some mistakes, and learn from it.
“I’m proud as hell of this team.” He turned to star Speedy Claxton, who made this improbable journey possible. “Speedy, I thank you for four unbelievable years. You made my life — all these guys’ lives — a lot better than it started, and you took us here. And now I’m gonna count on the junior class to take us here again. And then we’re gonna win in this game next year. We’re gonna win this game! ‘Cause we’ll learn from what we did here. I never want it to be, ‘Hofstra gets there, OK, everybody’s happy. I never want it to be that way here. We had to get there first. And we did. I’m proud of you for that.
“And we walk out of here with our heads up. We’re a very good team that just didn’t play a good game in a big game. But in all our other big games, we did play a very good game. We did.
“You are one of the best basketball teams in the history of this university. This group right here. No one can ever take that away from you.” Wright thanked his players again, and his staff. “We’re gonna win these games,” he said again. “I’m telling you, we’re gonna win these games. You don’t make any excuses. No excuses to anybody. We didn’t play well. That’s all. That’s really all it is.”
That’s really all it was. For two minutes, it was a game. For two minutes, Hofstra could feel like Cinderella. No. 14 seed Hofstra grabbed a 5-3 lead and then the roof caved in. Hofstra had no answer for NBA-bound Desmond Mason (30 points) or point guard Doug Gottlieb (eight assists and tenacious defense on Claxton) or 6-10 center Fredrik Jonzen. The third-seeded Cowboys reeled off 12 consecutive points and it was 15-5. “We came out a little sluggish,” Claxton said. “We kind of were waiting to see what happened instead of forcing the issue.”
Claxton had four turnovers in the first half, and was never a major factor. With 10:20 left before intermission, he had to retreat to the locker room clutching his left hand after colliding with Jonzen. He returned several minutes later with a dislocated pinkie. “I thought my finger was broken,” Claxton said. “It’s the first time I ever experienced anything like that.”
