Colgate Postgame Quotes
MILWAUKEE – Another opportunity on the main stage and Colgate once again put on a show.
The Raiders (23-12) went toe-to-toe with third-seeded Wisconsin (25-7) and led by as many as five points in the second half, but couldn't quite close it out. Johnny Davis scored the final 14 points for Wisconsin and that's what it took for the Badgers to hold on 67-60.
Colgate was in front for nearly half the game (19:59) while Wisconsin led for just over 14 minutes. The game was back-and-forth from the opening tip and neither team led by more than two possessions almost from start to finish.
Nobody on the planet was hotter than
Tucker Richardson coming out of halftime when the score was tied 28-28. He was 4-for-4 from the arc and had 12 points in FIVE minutes and not a single one of those 3-pointers hit anything but the bottom of the net.
Oliver Lynch-Daniels' 3-pointer from the wing quieted the favorable home crowd with the Raiders leading 44-39.
But Wisconsin kept answering bucket for bucket and then turned up the defensive pressure. The seventh and final lead change of the night came when Steven Crowl hit a 3-pointer as part of a 10-0 run that put the Badgers in front for good 58-52 with 3:54 showing.
Before the 10-0 swing
Jeff Woodward converted an and-one that put Colgate in front by four and prompted a full fist pump. But his two free throws with 3:33 left were unfortunately the Raiders' next points, ending a seven-minute scoring drought and trimming the deficit to 58-54.
A
Keegan Records layup kept the margin at four points 60-56 with 3:02 left but Wisconsin scored on three straight possessions when the Raiders desperately needed a stop.
Nelly Cummings sank two free throws to close within seven points in the final minute and that was the winning margin for Wisconsin.
Cummings finished with 20 points to lead Colgate's scoring contingent. Richardson scored 15 and made five of Colgate's 10 treys for the night. Records had seven points while Lynch-Daniels and Woodward each scored five. Cummings added six assists and Richardson hauled in seven rebounds.
The Raiders connected on 10-of-22 from behind the arc, including 6-of-10 in the second half.
Cummings scored seven of Colgate's first nine points and had an assist on the other basket that led to a two-handed slam for Records. His deep 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock gave the Raiders an early 9-2 lead.
It turned into a 7-0 Raider run and Wisconsin was scoreless for more than four minutes until a second-chance layup from Ben Carlson sparked five unanswered for the Badgers. Wisconsin used a 9-0 spurt when a step-back jumper from Chucky Hepburn made it 19-15 in favor of the "home" team with 7:31 left on the clock.
But Colgate countered with five straight to retake the lead. Cummings took it down the court and cashed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to start the spurt, and then back-to-back triples from Richardson and
Jack Ferguson kept the Raiders in front 26-23 at the final timeout of the half.
Colgate finished the half 1-for-7, but the one made basket was a big one. Out of the timeout with eight seconds left, Cummings drove to the basket and watched the ball bank off the backboard and sink through the net as the horn sounded to tie the game 28-28 at intermission.
Lynch-Daniels canned a trey from the wing after Richardson swished four in a row to give Colgate its largest lead of the second half.
Ryan Moffatt connected from deep to keep Colgate in front 49-48 with 11:18 left but that would be the Raiders' final 3-point shot of the night.
Back-and-forth through the guts of the second half, Wisconsin's late 10-0 run proved to make the difference and Colgate saw its season come to an end in the NCAA tournament, 67-60.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"The first and most important thing is credit to Wisconsin, the Big Ten regular season champion. They played a lot of close games throughout the year and we saw the result of all those close games tonight.
"The second thing, I've been to a lot of great venues in this country. I don't think I've ever been in an environment for college basketball better than the one tonight. I know that it typically doesn't happen in NCAA tournament games, but just like last year when we played in a bubble and had an incredibly unique experience, this is one that our guys – although it does not sit well right now – will remember for a long, long time.
"I'm just really proud of the effort and the competitive instinct that our guys showed. How they played together and fought right until the end. I'm not surprised in any way, shape or form by the performance that they put out there tonight."
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- Colgate captured the program's fifth Patriot League championship, second straight, and third in the last four years under head coach Matt Langel.
- Excluding the shortened 2020-21 season in which Colgate only played 16 games, the Raiders claimed their third consecutive 20-win season – the only three in program history.
- Colgate matched the Patriot League record with 16 conference wins during the regular season, setting a new program record in the process. The Raiders won the League by four games – just the second team to do that in Patriot League history.
- Langel became the program's winningest coach of all-time with his 166th career victory in early February. The 11th-year head coach now has 176 victories at Colgate.
- Entering the tournament, Colgate ranked in the top 10 nationally in four different categories: second in 3-point field goal percentage, fifth in assists, seventh in 3-point field goals made, and eighth in assist-turnover ratio.
- The Raiders carried a program-record 15-game winning streak into the NCAA tournament, which at the time was the second-longest win streak in the country.
- Colgate's three starting guards – Jack Ferguson, Nelly Cummings, and Tucker Richardson – all reached the 1,000-point milestone this season.
