Ben Richardson was flat on his back. He was laid out on the Philips Arena floor, staring up at the rafters, after having been fouled in the act of making a 3-pointer.
With their team now ahead by 15 points with a little less than 17 minutes remaining in the South regional final at Philips Arena, Loyola-Chicago fans were yelling for all they were worth. The Ramblers certainly looked like they were headed for victory over Kansas State and bound for the Final Four for the first time since 1963, in no small part because Richardson was playing the game of his life. Richardson flapped his arms once or twice as though he were making snow angels.
He said later that he remained on the floor because he was pretty exhausted.
“But I had to celebrate on the floor, and I’m glad I made the free throw,” he said.
It was the sort of moment he had been dreaming of since the time he learned to dribble a basketball, imagining clutch shots in big arenas with roaring fans.
There was one critical difference.
“Better than any dream,” said the South region’s most outstanding player. “Those kind of dreams kept me up at night. I’ve sat in my bed and just dreamed and thought of every moment: I would hit this shot, I would make this play, and the crowd would sound like this. But in real life, it’s way better than I could ever imagine. It’s something I’m never going to forget.”
A senior from Overland Park, Kansas, Richardson grew up a fan of the Kansas Jayhawks. He was an impressionable boy in 2008 when Kansas won the national title on “Mario’s Miracle,” Mario Chalmers’ game-winning 3-pointer to beat Memphis.
He and his best friend, Clayton Custer, took turns acting out Chalmers’ shot in the gym at Blue Valley Northwest High School. Those who have followed Loyola’s tournament run likely know well that Custer and Richardson are still teammates.
Because Custer and Richardson played for Blue Valley Northwest’s coach well before they got to high school, “we always had access to the high-school gym, so we’d be in there all the time reenacting it and reenacting other big moments – five seconds left, I’m coming down, kick it, 3-ball, game over, ehhhh,” Richardson said, mimicking the wailing of the buzzer. “Making the sound effects and all that.”
Richardson’s night – a career-high 23 points on 6-for-7 shooting from 3-point range along with six rebounds and four assists – was hardly anticipated. Richardson is far from Loyola’s star. He came into the game averaging 6.4 points per game, sixth on the team.
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
But he has been in the lineup since he was a freshman, when the Ramblers were coming off their first season in the Missouri Valley Conference. That debut season, they finished the season 10-22 and last in the conference.
This season, Loyola jumped from fifth in the MVC to first and then won the conference tournament, which it probably needed to do to get into the NCAA field. The stunning run went from there – No. 6 seed Miami, No. 3 seed Tennessee, No. 7 seed Nevada and, Saturday, No. 9 seed Kansas State.
Saturday night, the Ramblers were ready from the start. They had fallen behind 20-8 to Nevada before rallying in their Sweet 16 matchup, just as they were behind 15-6 to Tennessee in their second-round win. Richardson’s body spoke confidence and focus. He spread his arms wide on defense, his body crouched low. He moved sharply, jetting downcourt when a teammate secured a defensive rebound.
He made his first shot, a 3-pointer at the 16:30 mark of the first half, to give Loyola a lead it never surrendered.
“Probably after he knocked down that first three, I could tell he was dialed in,” said his father David Richardson, who watched from the stands with perhaps two dozen relatives, many of whom had rented an RV and driven overnight from Kansas for Saturday’s game.
“I know they were crushing Monster Energies,” Richardson said, referring to the popular caffeinated energy drink. “That’s my family and I love ’em to death.”
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Fueled by a similar rush, Richardson took off from there. He drove the baseline for a reverse to push the lead to 17-7. Late in the first half, Custer found him in the right corner and he bagged a second 3-pointer. He smiled up into the stands in the direction of the Loyola cheering section as he ran back upcourt.
“You know, that’s just one of those moments that, like, I can’t even explain,” he said. “I kind of just black out.”
After a second-half 3 from the corner, he held his follow through, the picture of confidence. It followed the pattern of this team in the tournament. Three different players provided the game winners in their first three wins. Saturday was Richardson’s turn in the spotlight.
“It’s surreal,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming about moments like this my whole life. You think about this when you’re putting all that work in, and it makes it all worth it when you have a moment like this.”
Loyola has a place in tournament history it will never have to surrender. Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the Ramblers became just the fourth No. 11 seed to make the Final Four. They’re the second Missouri Valley team to make it since 1979, when Indiana State and Larry Bird reached the finals.
“They were physical, very disciplined, and then Ben Richardson stepped up and had his shining moment, his magic game, and that’s what you need,” said Kansas State coach Bruce Weber, who showed interest in Richardson as a high-school prospect but didn’t offer a scholarship.
With under a minute to go and the game in hand, coach Porter Moser took him out of the game, and the two shared a fierce embrace.
“We’ve been through so much,” Richardson said. “We’ve been through ups and downs in this program. When I came in, we weren’t sought after. People picked us last in the league. People didn’t think we belonged in the Valley. And to go from there all the way up here, it’s a tribute to him and his determination and the kind of standard he holds us to. We demand that from him and he demands our best, and I think just to have that moment, it’s unbelievable.”
After the game, he was given the honor of snipping the final strand holding the net up to the rim. He flung it around in one hand, then the other and let out a primal scream. He wore the net around his neck.
He joined teammates in climbing into the stands, where he found his family and shared the moment. When he finally left the arena floor, he was holding up the region championship trophy with both hands, the net around his neck.
“We’re very, very happy, as you can imagine,” David Richardson said. “You couldn’t write a better storybook ending for his senior year.”
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