Rider, Kevin Baggett prevail in MAAC opener, and ‘now all the pressure’s off’
Eighth-seeded Rider’s 78-76 win over Siena in the opener of the MAAC tournament was the program’s first win in Boardwalk Hall in three years.
ATLANTIC CITY – When Tariq Ingraham’s go-ahead layup dropped through the net with less than a second on the clock Tuesday, the Rider Broncs’ joy resonated through Boardwalk Hall.
Amid their celebration, freshman guard Flash Burton went to the sideline to hug his coach, Kevin Baggett. Several teammates congregated around them, too.
Yes, there wound up being 0.7 seconds left for Rider to defend against Siena. But besides preparing for that final play, the Broncs also wanted to use that time to show appreciation for their leader.
Eighth-seeded Rider’s 78-76 win over Siena in the opener of the MAAC tournament was the program’s first win in Boardwalk Hall in three years. The Broncs advanced to face No. 1 seed Quinnipiac on Wednesday.
The last time they had beaten anyone in this tournament, it was their stunning upset of a top-seeded, Rick Pitino-coached Iona team in the 2022 quarterfinals.
Following a few first-game exits – both at the hands of Saint Peter’s, who isn’t around to spoil their week this time – Rider needed a win just like that.
“We really needed to get by this first game,” Baggett said postgame. “Obviously, I’ve struggled in the first round of these games at times, and to get this game behind you, you know, that means a lot. Now all the pressure’s off and now it’s just, ‘Hey, let’s just go out and see what we can do for the next game. And not put any more pressure. Let’s just go do what we do and what we’ve been doing lately.’”
T.J. Weeks arrived at Rider two years ago as a transfer from Massachusetts thanks to a connection with assistant coach Geoff Arnold, who coached Weeks’ father Tyrone at UMass years back. I asked Weeks what it meant to share this moment with Baggett and the coaching staff.
“I think we have a great relationship,” Weeks said. “Some of the coaches already know me because of my dad, they coached with my dad, coached for him. So coming in, we already had that bond and then over the last two years, I feel like we built an unbreakable bond where I can go to (Baggett) about certain things, he comes to me about certain things and we just make it work on the court in split-second situations.
“It’s kind of one of them moments where it’s like, ‘Yeah, we finally got one.’”
The Broncs fell behind by 13 early in the second half after an evenly matched first 20 minutes. A 9-0 Rider run ensued, capped by a putback and a three from Zion Cruz.
Rider grabbed brief leads at 65-64 and 72-71, and Siena kept answering but botched some opportunities to create space. Justice Shoats and Gavin Doty failed to convert free throws on potential and-one plays. Shoats made it three late misses from the stripe when he went 1-for-2 at the line with 13 seconds left, and Siena settled for a 76-all tie when it could be a one-, two- or three-point margin.
Burton, a precocious freshman who was coming off the game-winning 3-pointer in the regular-season finale vs. Niagara, and Ingraham ran a straightforward pick-and-roll, and two defenders guarded Burton while Ingraham was left alone in the paint, no help defender drifting his way. Burton’s overhand pass hit Ingraham, who later said he couldn’t believe how open he was.
“That was my off-hand,” Ingraham grinned. “I didn’t know I was that wide open, so I turned around and made the layup. It was a good pass by Flash.”
Baggett and his staff deserve credit for, among other things, getting Burton (17 points, 8-of-16 shooting) up to speed and prepared to play in these spotlight moments. Baggett revealed that the staff considered redshirting Burton early on, until it became clear that they might not have the backcourt depth they thought they’d have.
“It’s good to see them jumping up and down, celebrating things,” Baggett said. “That’s what it’s about. It’s always about your guys, man. It’s never been about me, my record or what I’ve done in this tournament. It’s been about trying to get these guys to win, and understand what it’s like to cut those nets down and have that experience for the rest of your life.”
Baggett’s record as a head coach this week of the year, it should be noted, is underwhelming. Before Tuesday, he coached in 11 MAAC tournaments and had won six games. The 2022 run featuring the Iona upset was Rider’s only semifinal appearance of his tenure. There were early exits at the hands of Saint Peter’s in 2018, when the Broncs were the regular-season champions, and 2023, when they were the No. 2 seed.
The flip side of this is that Baggett has more experience in Atlantic City than any other coach in the MAAC except John Dunne, who spent more than a decade at Saint Peter’s before heading to Marist. He’s seen a little of everything here. He out-coached Siena’s Gerry McNamara down the stretch Tuesday; Ingraham credited his coaches’ game plan when discussing his 19-point, 13-rebound, four-assist night, saying he knew to anticipate double-teams near the baseline.
The future at Rider seemed murky when the team lost nine games in a row, including its first four in the MAAC, capped by an 18-point road loss Jan. 10 to a Canisius team that wound up 3-28. Trilly Donovan and Curry Hicks Sage, two of the most plugged-in people online in the college basketball coaching space, have at different points described Baggett’s seat as hot.
And on Monday, Rider parted ways with women’s basketball coach and alumna Lynn Milligan after a whopping 18 years. There’s room to debate whether that means Rider may be ready to invest more to rejuvenate athletics and seek basketball success, or that for financial reasons the school wouldn’t try to replace both coaches in the same offseason. Apart from one COVID-ruined regular-season championship in 2019-20, Milligan has had far less success than Baggett over a longer span.
Baggett on Wednesday didn’t look like a man coaching to save his job. He spoke after the game about preaching to his players not to get too high or too low. It’s fair to say he’s approaching his job the same way.
“Man, we’ve lost our share of games,” Baggett said. “So we remember that. It’s fresh in our mind. We talk about it. I don’t think you need to get this group up. I think that they know that, you know, it’s win or go home. And so they’ll be dialed in.”
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Scorecard for New Jersey D1 programs and where their seasons stand:
Men
Rider: Wednesday vs. Quinnipiac in Atlantic City, 6 p.m. (MAAC tournament quarterfinal)
Rutgers: Wednesday vs. USC in Indianapolis, 8:30 p.m. (Big Ten tournament 11 vs. 14 game)
Seton Hall: Wednesday vs. Villanova in New York City, 9 p.m. (Big East tournament 11 vs. 6 game)
Princeton: Saturday vs. Yale in Providence, R.I., 11 a.m. (Ivy Madness semifinal)
Monmouth: Season over (13-20, 10-8 CAA, lost to Charleston in overtime in CAA quarterfinal)
Saint Peter’s: Season over (12-16, 7-13 MAAC, missed MAAC tournament)
FDU: Season over (13-20, 8-8 NEC, lost to CCSU in overtime in NEC semifinal)
NJIT: Season over (6-25, 3-13 America East, missed America East tournament)
Women
Monmouth: Thursday vs. Stony Brook/Hampton winner in Washington, D.C., 2:30 p.m. (CAA tournament second round)
FDU: Thursday vs. Chicago State in Hackensack, 7 p.m. (NEC semifinal)
Princeton: Friday vs. Harvard in Providence, R.I., 7:30 p.m. (Ivy Madness semifinal)
Seton Hall: Awaiting their fate (22-9, 13-5 Big East, lost to Creighton in Big East semifinal)
Rutgers: Season over (11-19, 3-15 Big Ten, lost to Nebraska in Big Ten tournament first round)
Rider: Season over (7-22, 5-15 MAAC, missed MAAC tournament)
Saint Peter’s: Season over (11-19, 9-11 MAAC, lost to Iona in MAAC tournament first round)
NJIT: Season over (11-19, 8-8 America East, lost to Maine in America East tournament first round)