We Are D3 advances in TBT

Jul 20, 2024
Ty Nichols mobs teammate Dimitrius Underwood, while Kyler Stork waits to get into the act after Underwood's game-ending shot.
The Basketball Tournament photo
 

By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com

A year after taking Mass Street down to the buzzer as a No. 8 seed, We Are D3 had its best seed ever at The Basketball Tournament and lived up to that seeding and more. Dimitrius Underwood scored a team-high 26 points, while Ty Nichols scored 17 and Josh Treadwell added 16 to help lead the team of Division III alumni to an 88-72 win against Sweet Home Alabama in the opening round of the event.

For the first time ever, the team of Division III alumni advances in TBT. The four-seed awaits defending tournament champs Heartfire, the bracket's top seed, which defeated eight-seeded Rise and Grind 68-64. That game is scheduled for Monday evening at 6 p.m. ET in Dayton, Ohio.

Middlebury alumnus Alex Sobel, the 2023 D3hoops.com men's basketball Player of the Year, was a huge addition to the team and had big buckets, especially in the third quarter. With Sobel on the bench with foul trouble in the second quarter, Sweet Home Alabama cut the lead to as little as six, but Sobel was big in the third quarter as We Are D3 opened up a 20-point lead. And as if to emphasize that point, Sobel had a big block on the perimeter with his team up 86-67. Underwood, the former Texas-Dallas star, finished a huge game with an easy baseline jumper to close out the win.

The moment did not escape Underwood, who first joined the team last season after his career at UT-D and a postgrad year at College of Charleston. "It was surreal," he said about making the game-ending shot. "I honestly kind of just froze -- we did it, we won. In the moment it was a surreal feeling."

Full, final stats were not immediately available after the game, but Underwood had 16 points in the first half alone.

The new-look We Are D3 squad over the past two years has put together a couple of really stellar performances, especially in the backcourt, where the key players from 2023's near-upset win returned for the 2024 version.

"I was glad Rej (coach Mike Rejniak) got a lot of the key guys back," Underwood said. "Just being able to understand how we all play and then fit it all together, that's helped, because we have more chemistry and it will help us in this tournament."

"The three headed monster of Azor, Nichols and Dimitrius, I think we have three of the best backcourt players in the tournament," Rejniak said after the game, referring to Mass-Dartmouth alum Marcus Azor and Nichols of Keene State as well as Underwood. "They play as a team. They're absolutely killers. The ball isn't going to get turned over and you'll get high IQ play. Also defense -- I wouldn't call it a coming-out party because we've been able to see it before, but Dimitrius had an unbelievable performance."

Nichols had two key three-pointers and Sobel hit a floater and had a strong bucket in the paint, while Underwood hit three baskets in a run to open the game as D3 built a 20-4 lead and the team lead 28-11 at the end of the first of four nine-minute quarters. But Sweet Home Alabama, which dressed just seven players and had only one coach on the bench, rallied to cut it to as close as six points with Sobel on the bench after an offensive foul. A Nichols three-pointer made it 44-35 at the half for We Are D3.

Limited to four points in the first half after he picked up three fouls, Sobel had two key baskets early in the third quarter after SWA missed two open threes from the corner on one-and-done possessions, then added a sweet-looking left-handed hook shot to extend the lead out to 54-42 midway through the quarter. Josh Treadwell, formerly of Rutgers-Newark, hit a three from the win and Nichols hit a huge three to cap a flurry of eight consecutive points and give D3 a 62-42 lead late in the third.

"From what I've heard, the third quarter has been kind of the kryptonite to this team, after being up at half," Sobel said after the game. "I was just trying to be a third quarter player and help build that lead."

"I think last year, even though we lost, it was really good for us because it showed us we can compete with anyone out here," Underwood said. "We had been talking about it in the locker room (at halftime), not wanting to let that happen this year. The third quarter was really big for us, getting momentum and keeping that fire."

Treadwell scored a team-high eight points, while Sobel scored six and Nichols added five. The former Rutgers-Newark player was a big boost after he started the game 1-for-5 from the floor.

"Josh is a different type of player, a different cat, and sometimes when he's on you gotta ride with it and when he's not on, you gotta keep the faith," Rejniak said. "I wanted to keep the faith in him as a player. At the half, we said to him to make sure to just let the game come to him, and that happened in the second half. And that came out, with his one-on-one capabilities.

"He hit Sobel on a really nice slip and that's a play he wouldn't have made last year."

With the score 80-65 at the under-4, We Are D3 needed just eight points to win the game under the event's signature Elam Ending. The first six points came easily on a Treadwell slam, an up-and-under from Underwood and a putback on which Treadwell never even needed to leave the floor. And a handful of possessions later, Underwood hit his little baseline jumper to close the game and send the We Are D3 team, coach Mike Rejniak, and staff into a celebratory frenzy.

Underwood finished 12-for-19 from the floor and added a game-high 12 rebounds. Sobel was 5-for-6 shooting and had three boards on his way to 10 points, while Azor added eight and Arcadia alumnus Da'Kquan Davis scored seven off the bench for We Are D3.

"Today we're going to enjoy the win because it was a long time coming," said Rejniak. "And tomorrow it's back to work."