Down goes Redlands! Chapman men’s basketball upsets rivals in a classic
Photo courtesy of Larry Newman
There was blood dripping down the face of Joe Keegan when he stepped up for free throws with two minutes to go. After battling for yet another loose ball, the sophomore guard and business administration major was wearing his effort for all to see. It was a symbol of everything that Chapman men’s basketball gave in their Wednesday night game against the Redlands University Bulldogs.
Hustle. Big shots. No fear. The battle scars were to be expected. They were worth it. Because when the final buzzer sounded, the Panthers were victorious in their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) game of the season by a score of 75-63.
Redlands came into the game as the No. 5 ranked team in the nation by the D3hoops.com poll, which is voted on by coaches and media members across the country. They were 5-0 on the season and had scored over 100 points in four of their first five games. The Panthers on the other hand were ranked fourth in the conference before the season and had gone 2-2 to start the year.
But that didn’t make Chapman scared. They didn’t back away from the challenge. From the opening tipoff, there were zero plays that the home team gave up on. No let up. No excuses. Just play hard and play smart.
The Bulldogs were in full-court press right after their first basket. It's their signature approach. But luckily for senior guard and business administration major Cruz Billings, he has seen it before. He knows what to do. How to break the trap. He split defenders almost every time they came at him, always finding a pass to the open man.
Billings zipped and buzzed around the court, annoying Redlands like a fly they couldn’t swat. He stepped back into three-pointers. He made no-look dimes look so good that they turned into quarters. It was a magic show — you never knew what was going to happen or how Billings pulled it off, but you walked away with a smile on your face.
Yet Billings may have had the biggest smile of anybody in the Harold Hutton Sports Center once the game ended. You couldn’t have wiped it off his face if you created a device that made people frown. Chapman’s 5-foot-8-inch point guard ended the game with 14 points and four assists but his impact went well beyond the stat sheet.
Both he and fellow senior guard Jake Heberle, a data science major, were dealing with cramps as they closed in on an upset victory. Heberle poured in 22 points on over 50% shooting from the field. The bloody, energetic Keegan added 13 points, including a massive dunk and three shots from beyond the arc.
The Panthers’ biggest players didn’t spare a drop of sweat for this one.
The pain was worth the statement victory in front of a loud and raucous crowd. 230-odd fans made the small court feel like Rupp Arena or Allen Fieldhouse at times. The upset became more and more inevitable and the energy grew and grew as the night went on.
And who wouldn’t get loud when Keegan slams it down right in a defender’s grill? When Heberle and Billings are making impossibly tough shot after impossibly tough shot? How could you not stomp your feet and chant “defense” when your team is making every hustle play and getting to every 50/50 ball before their opponents?
It wasn’t just heart, however, that won the Panthers this game. It was a genius gameplan from head coach Dan Krikorian, executed to perfection that let Chapman pull away from Redlands.
“This is four years of doing this (for me and Billings),” Heberle said. “You just gotta play solid, and you can’t do too much. (You can’t) overthink. They’re gonna get up to you, and get up in you and press you and make you turn it over. We’re experienced enough to get past that.”
Billings said that passing out of the press was a key focus over the past week.
“We literally simulated in practice a seven verse five drill,” Billings said. “We had seven people playing defense… that’s what it feels like (against Redlands) so we just simulated that and I think it worked.”
Redlands is also known for getting transition buckets. Even off of Chapman’s made shots they were pushing the ball up the floor. Shouts of “scramble” from the home bench were common, as players needed to find their defensive assignment faster than a cheetah hunting its prey. And they did. Chapman stopped a majority of transition moments from becoming easy buckets, slowing their opponents down in the half-court setup.
“Our one-on-one defense was huge tonight,” Krikorian said. “(We were) trying to keep guys in front and make it as hard as possible on (Redlands).”
Of course, the Bulldogs weren’t completely shut down. Big plays by senior guard Omari Ferguson helped keep the score tied at halftime, and strong work from senior forward Lucas Gordon in the post troubled Chapman at times. But mostly, Redlands got stuck into a slow and powerless rut. They were forced to pass and try to penetrate the Panthers defense in a more methodical fashion. It simply never worked.
Krikorian couldn’t have scripted it any better. The second year head coach has been looking for a signature win. And although he gave all the praise to his players after the win, there is no doubt that this was his best coaching performance to date.
Chapman cut off all of Redlands’ biggest strengths. They dictated the pace. They played past the press with poise, creating open three-point shots that kept falling. They frustrated Redlands to no end.
“We spent a lot of time with our team on what great shots are against Redlands,” Krikorian said. “You gotta let it fly and have confidence, and our guys did tonight. Credit to them, they made ‘em.”
All three of Krikorian, Billings and Heberle said after their win that the team was ready to go from before the jump. After losing in overtime to the University of Puget Sound in their last game, this was an opportunity to bounce back in a big way. And there is no bigger way than beating a top five team in the nation — your conference rivals — on your home court.
But Billings knows the team can’t get complacent. This may have been a great win, but it needs to be a springboard for the season. Not a one-off night.
“It shouldn’t matter if we are playing the number five ranked team in the country or the worst team in our league,” Billings said. “Our preparation has to be there. Stick to the details. Just stay locked in.”
Heberle echoed that sentiment, saying that he wants to see Chapman bring the same intensity from this game into the rest of their season.
The Panthers first chance to build off of this upset victory — against a Redlands team who had beaten them in five out of the last six matchups — came in an 80-68 win over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Chapman is now 2-0 in the SCIAC. Their next game is Dec. 15 against University of California, Santa Cruz while their next SCIAC game is Jan. 5 at California Lutheran University.
