WKU senior forward returns home and has a chance to right a wrong in the NCAA Tournament
Indianapolis, Ind. (WBKO) – WKU is back in the NCAA Tournament as they prepare to face Marquette tomorrow afternoon at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Almost the entire team has not played in a tournament game but one Hilltopper has been in multiple.
Brandon Newman played for Purdue for the last three season before coming to the hill and played in the big dance on multiple occasions. He’s happy to be back in the tournament and get another run at it in his final season.
“There’s no better feeling, there’s no better place to be in college basketball than the NCAA tournament,” Newman said. “Just the platform, the crowds, there’s a good team in every round. Every game, the energy is just different.”
In Newman’s last season with the Boilermakers, Purdue was the 1-seed and fell to the 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson, making it the second time ever a 16-seed beat a one seed. And now Newman finds himself on the other side of the equation as a 15-seed with the Hilltoppers taking on the 2-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles.
In that first round upset, Newman played 15 minutes, shooting 1-4 for 2 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists and played in 88 games during his time as a Boilermaker in West Lafayette.
Now Newman has been a key piece to this Hilltoppers team, especially in the CUSA Tournament where he averaged 13 points, 3 rebounds, nearly 2 steals a game and shot 42% from behind the arc, on his way to becoming a member of the first CUSA Tournament champion Hilltopper squad and earning All-Tournament honors.
“(I’ve) been telling everybody all morning, the seeds and numbers next to everybody’s names, it don’t really matter. You still got to go out and play the game and win the game and compete. I never really pay attention to the predictions or talk before the tournament and stuff like that I’m just focused on WKU and focused on playing Marquette tomorrow.”
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Newman is a native of Valparaiso, Indiana and with him being home again, playing in front of his people, he feels good being back in a familiar environment.
“It definitely feels good to be back in Indiana, being able to have my family come see me. It’s been nothing but love since I’ve been back in Indiana. From Purdue, from random fans, from social media, it’s been nothing but love.”
Now in front of his hometown friends and family, he looks to be a part of another upset, but on the winning side.
“We got to play harder than Marquette, we got to make sure we have good guard play, got to guard their guards and limit their big three.”
WKU takes on Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. CT at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
