LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With some teams the scouting report tells you to check the rebounding numbers. There’s a great chance the three-point shooting will matter, too.
With the Bellarmine University men’s basketball team, I’d recommend checking the odometer. By my count, coach Scott Davenport’s gritty team has traveled roughly 16,180 miles and played in a dozen states this season.
The Knights understand so much about the teams in the Top 25, they should have a vote in the Associated Press weekly poll.
Know this about Bellarmine: The odometer will continue to roll another 470 miles into Lynchburg, Virginia Friday.
All those games against Purdue, Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, UCLA and Murray State translated into the poise and persistence the Knights needed to dispatch Florida Gulf Coast, 81-68, Thursday night in the quarter-finals of the ASUN Tournament at Freedom Hall.
Their reward will be a semifinal game against Liberty, the ASUN regular-season champions, Saturday at 6 p.m.
The Knights have won 18 of 31 games this season and at least six of the losses have come against teams that will make the NCAA Tournament.
“When young people believe in themselves, when young people come together and they all want the same thing and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it, that’s powerful,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said.
The bus for Virginia will depart Friday morning — after a brisk 10 a.m. practice and the Knights’ student managers return from the Smoothie King on Bardstown Road with the $5 smoothies that Davenport’s players savor like $75 ribeyes.
Give the Knights another ovation like the one they earned from the crowd of 1,593 after they broke open a game that was tied at 64 with about 9 minutes left by scoring 14 straight points.
When you’ve already played against Jaden Ivey, Zach Edey, Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren and Johnny Juzang, you’re not going to flinch against a taller, stronger, faster team that had won eight of its last nine games like FGCU.
Was that when the benefit of Bellarmine’s ambitious schedule kicked in?
“Absolutely,” said Bellarmine senior Ethan Claycomb. “It’s a learning experience. Those games are difficult for us but it puts us in the right spot.”
Ask the coach. The FGCU coach. Davenport already knew his guys would not retreat.
“I just think in the second half, they were tougher than us and they played harder than us,” said Florida Gulf Coast coach Michael Fly. “That’s what got us.”
Yes, it did.
Let’s be truthful here: This was a big deal. This was Bellarmine’s first home post-season game as a Division I program.
“This journey since we transferred to Division 1, it’s another first,” said Dylan Penn, the Bellarmine senior. “It’s a blessing and I feel honored.”
A decade ago, Florida Gulf Coast was the talk of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles popped Georgetown and San Diego State to crash the Sweet Sixteen in 2013. FGCU made the tournament two more times over the next four seasons, winning a play-in game against Fairleigh-Dickinson in 2016.
That NCAA pedigree and the sunshine of Fort Myers, Florida enabled Fly to stock his roster with seven Division 1 transfers, including guys who have played TCU, Ole Miss, Tulsa, Duquesne, Richmond, Western Carolina and McNeese State.
Bellarmine will not be able to create that kind of magic this season because the Knights have two years remaining on their transition period before they are eligible for the field of 68.
But Bellarmine is not supposed to be succeeding so consistently in its new league, just like Ken Pomeroy’s computer power formula has Liberty favored to defeat the Knights, 73-65, Saturday at 6 p.m. Liberty won the first meeting between the teams, 66-53, at Freedom Hall a month earlier.
Against FGCU, Bellarmine did what Bellarmine does. Share the ball. Move the ball. Value the ball. Minimize good shots. Maximize great shots. Davenport tightened the playing rotation to essentially six guys. Bellarmine defended straight up. No gimmicks allowed.
The Knights survived being out-rebounded 37-21 because they forced 14 turnovers and committed only six, three in each half.
And something else happened: Bellarmine made 14 of 31 shots from distance. Four of Davenport’s starters made a three-point field goal, including freshman forward Curt Hopf, who made three of six.
“If you would have told me before the game they were going to make 14 of 31 three-point shots, I would have laughed you out of the gym,” Fly said.
“Sometimes it’s just as simple as the ball goes in,” Davenport said.
Every Bellarmine starter contributed at least 10 points and 2 rebounds. Penn had 17 points and 10 assists while guard Juston Betz had 10 points and seven boards. C.J. Fleming was the only Bellarmine player who went to the foul line, making three of four while scoring 19.
The bus for Lynchburg departs at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Davenport expects the trip will require about 7 1/2 hours with minimal stops. For Bellarmine basketball, the odometer never sleeps.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
