NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee State clinched a share of its first regular season conference championship in 31 years with wins over Southeast Missouri and UT Martin last week.
Now the Tigers head to the OVC Tournament in Evansville, Ind. looking to make more program history.
As the top seed TSU gets a double-bye to Friday’s semifinals and will need to win two games to cut down the nets as conference tournament champions and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.
“Regular season champs is a big accomplishment, we haven’t done that in a long time,” TSU star guard Aaron Nkrumah said after practice Wednesday. “But we really want to hang the real banner.”
First-year coach Nolan Smith challenged the Tigers that they could reach these heights in his very first team meeting after being hired last summer. He asked him how long it had been since TSU last won a conference title and if they were prepared to change that.
Smith has also consistently prodded his players to look up into the Gentry Center rafters this season to look at the 1994 tournament banner and remember what they are playing for.
Tennessee State heads to Evansville this week as the tournament favorite thanks in large part to Nkrumah, the OVC’s Player of the Year. The transfer from Division III Worcester State developed into a star in his second season in the program, becoming the first Tiger to take home the league’s top individual honor since Carlos Rogers did it back-to-back in 1993-94.
“It’s a blessing,” Nkrumah said. “Coming from where I came from a lot of people said it wouldn’t be possible, but I came here, put in the work, had people believe in me and then I made it happen.”
Nkrumah leads TSU on both ends of the floor. A strong, two-way player, he ranks second in the OVC in scoring at 17.7 points per game and leads the conference in steals with 87 to help set the tone night in and night out for first-year coach Nolan Smith.
“To have a two-way player that does it on both ends be the leader of your team, it’s big time,” Smith said about Nkrumah. “He’s a guy who’s had nine steals in a game, five steals in a game. It makes us as a staff feel really good knowing that he’s on our side.”
Nkrumah and the Tigers have set a school record for regular season wins in the Division I era with a 21-9 record, capped by four straight wins to earn a share of the conference title with Morehead State.
It’s been an impressive first season at the helm for Smith, who was honored as the OVC’s Coach of the Year. The former Duke National Champion guard joins Frankie Allen as the only TSU coaches to earn the honor.
“Obviously, last year we fell short,” Nkrumah said. “We believed that we could come back and get to the same spot and go even further, so Coach Smith did a good job taking us to the next level.”
But the Tigers are quick to point out that they aren’t done yet. They have a game to win on Friday night against the UT Martin/SIUE or Eastern Illinois winner. After that would come a championship game and a chance to further cement this team’s legacy as one of the best teams in the program’s history.
Smith has praised his team’s focus and togetherness this season and believes they are totally locked in on making the most of this opportunity.
“What we’ve done to this point, can’t be enough,” Smith said. “So (we need to get) quickly turned on to this tournament and get ready to go get the job done.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at steve.layman@newschannel5.com.
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