Men’s Basketball Program Made School History
The men’s basketball program ends their season on Mar.16. Photo courtesy of Islander Athletics
April 3, 2023
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi men’s basketball program has set milestones for the greatest season in school history.
The program has won the regular season champs, the Southland Conference Tournament, and won their first NCAA Tournament win in the first four.
The Islanders have made their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and were able to advance to play No. 1 seed Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama. Their season came to an end after falling to a 96-75 defeat and leaving behind a historical season for years to come.
“It’s never fun to end your season, especially with a great group of guys like this,” said head coach Steve Lutz during the press conference. “I’ve said it over and over on what these guys have accomplished in the two years here and the way they’ve dedicated themselves to being good people and basketball players.”
Lutz continued by saying how Alabamas’s length and athleticism are really good and how he is proud of the Islanders for the way that they played. After taking the Islanders to the NCAA Tournament in his second year, he leaves behind accomplishments that haven’t been done in school history.
“Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is going to be a force in the Southland Conference to be reckoned with,” Lutz said. “We’ve raised the bar now, we go to do the hardest thing and that’s to keep it at a high level.”
Senior Jalen Jackson said it meant a lot to him and his team to be the first team in school history to win an NCAA Tournament game. Jackson stated it was a crazy experience and how his team started to fight more in the second half to try to catch up.
“This season was a special season,” Jackson said. “The bond that we all created since we’ve been here is amazing.”
Two days after, Lutz stepped down as the head coach to pursue the new head coach position for Western Kentucky and Islander Athletics is conducting a national search for the men’s basketball program. As of right now, the new intercollegiate of athletics, Adrian Rodriguez, named Jim Shaw as the basketball interim head coach.
