A highlight video of the Mules’ national championship run also was played on the arena video board, and Robinson and Gilliam spoke to the audience before Coach Anderson wrapped up the night. Anderson made special presentations to the governor, and thanked UCM basketball fans for their support throughout the season – noting that the win belongs to everyone from the players and cheerleaders to UCM employees and fans across campus and throughout the community. This was the head coach’s first national championship since joining the Mules 12 years ago. With a 274-95 record, he guided his UCM teams to three Final Fours, six MIAA regular season titles, four MIAA Tournament titles, and won at least 24 games five times. His six MIAA crowns are the most for any coach in UCM history. “This championship I’ve literally had hundreds of emails, phone calls and text messages,” he told the crowd. “I’ve been here 12 years but the most satisfying thing to me is when the guys I used to yell at, scream at, discipline…I want them to know and I want you to know, this championship was won by this group of young men, the 2014 team.” With the 2014 NCAA-Division II Championship, the Mules record overall was 30 wins and five losses. Thirteen of those wins took place at home, where they were undefeated. The team’s 30 wins are the second most in a single season in school history. Additionally, Mules player Daylen Robinson was named Most Outstanding Player of the Elite Eight, and teammates Dillon Deck, a junior from Smithville, and Charles Hammork, senior from New Orleans, were named to the AllTournament Team. The Mules were 16-3 in their conference, and 14-2 in non-conference games. They outscored opponents 2,820 to 2,398. While Anderson, as 2014 UPS National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Coach of the Year, credits his team’s success to his players’ strong teamwork and sticking together in adversity, his players make sure he gets the kudos he deserves. They point out his powerful coaching influence and the positive example he sets as a role model as the fuel that helped bring a basketball championship to UCM. As Robinson put it, “Coach Anderson deserves everything that’s coming to him. He did a great job. We had 10 new guys and he got us all prepared for this, and we came out and won. We won it for ourselves, and we won it for him.”
University of Central Missouri | today
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