It had been so long since Thomas More played a home game, Saints coach Jeff Hans was already five wins past the 300th victory he was recognized for prior to their showdown with No. 3 Campbellsville Thursday night.
Make it No. 306 for Hans in his 12th season with the team in a 78-66 victory over the Tigers, proving they’re still the No. 1 team in the country and even more importantly right now, the Mid-South Conference.
Hans got No. 300 back on December 3, a win over Cumberland (Tenn.). The Saints improved to 16-0 on Thursday at the Connor Convocation Center and 10-0 in Mid-South play, knocking Campbellsville (14-1, 8-1) from the unbeatens.
While the recognition is well deserved for Hans, who has won at a little over a 91% clip in those 12 seasons at a 306-27 record, he’s more focused on the number to the right in the win/loss column.
“I don’t care about 306, I care about 27, the 27 losses. That’s on me,” Hans said. “But I mean that accomplishment, it’s just a lot of great players. The program that was here before and you know, we’re fortunate enough to have coach Hart, started her coaching career here with us. Now we got Coach Neal back with us who’s won a lot of games before I got here. Those guys are tremendous to have on staff and to keep us moving in the right direction. I mean, that’s where it all started was before I got here, and we’re just able to get some right pieces in place and make some really good runs.”
Just 27 losses in 12 years. And that includes a jump from Division III to Independent to NAIA. Next year they’ll make another jump to Division II.
“The transition to NAIA was difficult for a year. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t fun, but look where we’re at now and at this stage of the season. I like where we’re at and I don’t say that often so I hope it doesn’t come back to bite me,” Hans said. “Whatever win number it is I don’t know, but we want to make sure that number at the right side of the column remains at zero,” Hans said.
The defending national champs look just as potent as they have in the past, a deep Saints team having 11 players enter the game on Thursday against the No. 3 team in the country and 10 of them entering the scoring column.
They even got a career-high 13 points from Rachel Martin, the junior coming in averaging 3.7 points per game.
“Coach has been on me to shoot the ball a little bit more. You make your first one, it’s pretty easy to make the second and my teammates got me in positions for open shots that made it easy,” Martin said.
The Saints did it efficiently on Thursday, hitting 50% from the field, 46% from three and all five free throw attempts. Campbellsville’s tricky ball pressure in the halfcourt and offensive rebounding in the first half kept them in it, but much like what a champion does, Thomas More took their best punch and responded.
It was a 51-51 game with a little over two minutes to play in the third, seven minutes later it was a 68-57 Saints lead with less than five minutes remaining in the contest. Thomas More never trailed in the game, opening up hot as they hit 11-of-14 in the first, building a 28-17 lead.
It was their first home game in 28 days after all.
“The atmosphere of the CCC, we’re really blessed and fortunate to have all of our families and friends here. I had so many texts this week leading up to the game, people telling me I can’t wait to see your game Thursday. So just the energy that being at home is amazing and it’s so much fun to play in,” Saints senior Zoie Barth said.
Barth, who’s played under Hans for four years now, ended with a team-high 14 points including some big buckets down the stretch with 11 second half points. The team is well aware of Hans accomplishments, but more so point to what kind of all-around coach he is.
“It speaks for itself. He’s a winner not just on the court but off. He checks up on us. Always wants to know how our families are doing. It’s incredible that he’s won as many games as he has here and set the championship culture on the court,” Barth said. “But for me and I think I can speak for all of us when I say it, it just means so much more to play for a coach who knows how to win on the court. But he doesn’t look at you as just 13 points or five rebounds. He looks at you as one of his own and takes care of me like that. So it’s been a pleasure playing for him.”
Barth will graduate in the spring to go with two other seniors on the roster, Courtney Hurst and Emily Simon. Hurst recently set the record for most 3-pointers made in program history and finished with nine points, adding three more 3-pointers to her tally. Simon responded to the challenge at halftime that Hans presented his team with as they were outrebounded 11-3 in offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Simon would finish with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“Challenge is a great word for it. Emily answered the call in the second half, she knows she wasn’t very good in the first half with some stuff. She answered the call in the second half, challenged her at halftime to be better, be a senior. I thought she did a really good job in the second half. May not have had a couple of rebounds in the second half, but made some tips to get it to our guards to where their big’s didn’t get it or guards didn’t get it. She kept plays alive for us. That’s our seniors,” Hans said.
Once those seniors move on, they’ll start work on their careers. That means more to Hans than what shows up in the win/loss column.
“There’s more to it than basketball. They understand that, they know that. It’s more than here. We haven’t put it out there yet, but Zoie Barth and Emily Simon know where they’re going next year. Med school and occupational therapy school, that’s big, that’s huge. For those two to be in that position. Sammi knows what she wants to do with her business degree, Courtney needs to pass the board and she wants to be a nurse. It’s that part of it which is the biggest thing. Watching them walk across the stage,” Hans said.
