Little Giants put an end to Dannies’ four-game win streak
When Wabash basketball made the 28 mile trip to Greencastle, they knew it was kill or be killed. Sitting in a precarious position within the conference standings, the Little Giants would either live to fight another day, knocking their arch-rivals out of contention along the way or would themselves end up just out of reach of the top spot in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
On Wednesday, January 24, Wabash traveled to the school down south to prove once again the DePauw Tigers were no match for the Little Giants. With Wabash prevailing in a 69-61 winning effort to complete the season sweep and improve to 11-8 on the season, DePauw is officially eliminated from the conference championship race.
Meanwhile, the Little Giants currently tied for first in the NCAC standings with a 7-3 conference record, tied with Wittenberg University (13-6, 7-3 NCAC), Denison University (11-8, 7-3 NCAC) and The College of Wooster (11-8, 7-3 NCAC).
The Little Giants controlled the majority of the game, with DePauw only leading for about 2 minutes of the entire game. Wabash’s free throw shooting was the difference in the game, as they shot 19-23 (83%) from the line in comparison to DePauw’s lackluster 8-15 (53%) from the line.
Sam Comer ’24 led the way with a well-rounded 10 points, four assists and seven rebounds.
“It definitely felt like ‘do or die’”, said Comer. “We knew we had to make it happen tonight. Winning there wasn’t going to be easy, but we were confident as soon as we stepped off of the bus. We have significantly more urgency than we did during the mid season slump and we are really trying to follow the coaches game plan defensively.”
Right behind Comer was Vinny Buccilla ’25 with a team-leading 15 points and six rebounds. Even with a limited 22 minutes of playing time, Buccilla proceeded to shoot an astounding 4-5 (80%) from three-point range.
“We knew we had to come out with the most energy from the jump,” said Buccilla. “Especially playing on the road in a hostile environment at the school down south. We just had to be patient with each and every possession and we knew we had a great chance to win.”
Perhaps the most shocking performance from the night came from Noah Hupmann ’25, accomplishing a jaw-dropping 6 blocks, setting a conference record for blocks in a single game this season.
Off the court, a huge contributing factor to the success of the Little Giants was the crowd support from the Wabash community that walked into Greencastle and shocked DePauw’s disappointing student body size.
“Our support is so important to us,” said Buccilla. “We have the best fans in the country and they always show love in the most valuable ways. Going on the road and still having that support system especially from our students is special. Need the Chadwick Crazies to be in full force for the rest of the season.”
With six games remaining in the regular season, the Little Giants aim to finish strong down the homestretch of competition. Suddenly the conference has blown wide open. The Little Giants are currently tied for first in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with a 7-3 conference record, tied with Wittenberg University 13-6 (7-3 NCAC), Denison University (11-8, 7-3 NCAC) and The College of Wooster 11-8 (7-3 NCAC). Matchups at Denison and Wooster to conclude the season will likely shake out the final spots in the conference rankings.
“The expectations are high for the Wabash basketball program and this team is really trying to reach our goals,” said Comer. “We will accomplish this by playing harder than our opponents whenever we step onto the court and by continuing to lock in on the mental aspect of the game through following the scouting reports.”
However, to finish their ultimate goal of claiming the conference crown, the Little Giants must take it one game at a time, and focus on this Saturday, January 27th, when Little Giants host the conference leading Tigers of Wittenberg for a shot to avenge their loss from earlier this season and earn the top spot in the conference.