6 Conference Championships • 5 Conference Players of the Year • 20 First-Team All-Conference Selections • 3 Conference Coaches of the Year
2012-13 ORU Men’s Basketball Fact Book
2011-12 Season Recap ORU looked as dominant as they did all season, handing the Musketeers a 22-point loss, their worst loss inside the Cintas Center. The victory propelled ORU into the national spotlight, and also kick-started a 13-game winning streak, which tied for the fourth-longest streak in school history as an NCAA Division I program. The streak included victories over Texas Tech and eventual Summit League tournament champion South Dakota State at home, and over defending conference champion Oakland in front of more than 9,000 fans in the Mabee Center. While second to a 52-game winning streak (1969-1973) in the school history books, the 23-game winning streak was the longest inside the Mabee Center during the facility’s 40year history. “I think momentum started with that three-game road trip with Little Rock, Gonzaga and Xavier. All three of those games played a role in the turnaround. Although our record wasn’t terrible at that time, that shot certainly gave us some momentum. Any time a program like ours can get the attention that the shot awarded this team and Damen, I think it helps confidence. Then we went to Gonzaga and played an excellent basketball team awfully close and had chances down the stretch to win that game. Of course going to Xavier, even though they were short handed in that game, it was a top-10 team and the way we played and the way we beat them really served as a springboard for the remainder of the year and we really never looked back. We won 20 of the next 21 games and I think that trip was really key in giving this team confidence in how good they could be.” After going 45 days without a loss, the Golden Eagles were finally tripped up at South Dakota State, but recovered to beat North Dakota State and went on to win the final six regular season games, including a SEARS/ESPN BracketBuster matchup against Akron. With an incredible 17-1 conference record, the most conference victories in school history, the Golden Eagles wrapped up the regular season championship on the road against IPFW with one regular season conference game remaining, winning the championship by a two-game margin. The top seed in the 2012 Summit League Tournament, Craion blocked a shot with less than a second left and sealed a victory over IPFW in the opening round. The semifinals looked like another opportunity for this special team to once again defy the odds and find a way to win a close game, but a Western Illinois jumper with :26 to play proved the dagger, knocking ORU out of the tournament. With a 27-6 record and an RPI as high as 38 this season, a loss that would have normally dashed the hopes of the ORU faithful instead turned the attention to the selection committee to see if the Golden Eagles could become the third Summit League team and the first since Northeastern Illinois in 1991 to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.
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As Selection Sunday neared, the talk of ORU gained steam as analysts such as Doug Gottlieb continually built the case for the Golden Eagles on ESPN. The efforts nearly worked as reports had anywhere from the next team in, to one of six that would have gone to a vote if St. Bonaventure had not won the A-10 Conference Tournament. Even though they didn’t get the bid they were looking for, the Golden Eagles had a safety net for their season, earning an automatic bid into the NIT as a reward for having won the regular season conference championship. A number four seed in the tournament, ORU was selected to host the first round game, drawing a team in Nevada with a similar story to its own. Much like ORU, the Wolf Pack won their regular season championship but were knocked out in the semifinals of the tournament, and had hopes of an at-large NCAA berth. The matchup proved to be as good as advertised as the second half had 11 lead changes before Nevada eventually pulled away. The loss ended the season for ORU, and also ended a 23-game home winning streak that dated back to December 30, 2010 and was the third-longest active streak in the country. With 2,080 points, Morrison finishes his career fifth all-time at ORU, after posting 674 points in his senior campaign, the seventh-best season in the school’s storied history. He will finish his four-year career in the top-10 in points, field goals made, free throws made and free throw percentage. He was also a finalist for the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year Award and was named to the Naismith Midseason 30 watch list. In their respective junior seasons, Niles moved into the top-10 in 3-pointers made and attempted, and Bell-Holter moved up to seventh with 89 career blocks.
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