SAN DIEGO – At least Long Island University has the right though going into Friday morning’s game with the West’s top-seed Arizona here at Viejas Arena.
“With the mindset you’re going to win,” said Shadrak Lasu, after hearing No. 16 seeds rarely have success vs. No. 1s. “We’ve prepared all the way for this game. We have the mindset we’re going to come in and win. If you come in doubting yourself, you’re going to already put yourself back.”
So, their motto is: go hard or go home in facing Arizona, (32-2). LIU is 24-10.
“That’s our drive,” Malachi Davis said.
They likely won’t be driving 55 either. LIU likes the pace to be fast, scoring at an average of 74.1 points per game. It led the Northeast Conference in scoring.
“We want the ball out in transition,” LIU coach Rod Strickland said, “dribble drive kind of offense, drive and kicks. Looking for the best possible shots.”
In essence, 3s and Ds. Kind of, because it doesn’t shoot a lot of 3s.
Arizona used to be that team, but now its scores in a different way and still averages 10 more points than LIU. Arizona plays inside outside and thrives with pace.
Pace and punch down low. The need for 3 isn’t there but it can be.
“They’re going to be physical,” Strickland said of UA. “They are not a great 3-point shooting team, so they compensate by doing other things.”
And, of course, being confident – no matter who you play. Strickland mentioned it at least three times.
“There’s no way you can walk into any game feeling like you’re defeated,” he said. “Our goal from the beginning was to win the regular season, win conference, and then get to the dance and make some noise … they are confident, but they also know what they are up against.”
In Arizona, that would be one of the odds-on favorites to win the whole thing. Still, the biggest question for UA here at Viejas Arena has been: sure you are good, but you play a few freshman. How will that turn out?
Tobe Awaka said he’ll just say take it one game at a time and “don’t try to reinvent the wheel.”
“(The freshmen) have been successful throughout the whole season; they’ve done a great job handling adversity,” Awaka said. “…So just stay true to who you are and just keep doing what you are doing.”
LIU will do the same, although the Internet – TikTok – has taken over. Apparently, the TikTok world has turned the Sharks into favorites – yes, in the tournament.
“As much as I get some of it as a joke – most of it is a joke – it definitely stores belief in us,” said LIU’s Greg Gordon. “It makes us feel like the world kind of believes in us. So, it give us a different type of drive. We’re not going to come out scared or timid. We’re going out to play.”
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