It was a tale of two halves for the fifth-ranked UW-La Crosse men’s basketball team in its first-ever Elite 8, losing to No. 17 Washington University 80-66.
After shooting 55% and leading 38-35 at halftime Saturday at in front of 1,188 fans Mitchell Hall, the Eagles (25-6) shot 30% in the second half including 1-for-12 from 3-point range.
UW-L oach JT Gritzmacher said he’ll be working this offseason on how to generate offense when the shots aren’t falling.
“I have to go to work in the offseason to figure out how to get us into different actions when we’re struggling,” he said, “and when our initial action has been taken away. I think we had good looks but we could never find that switch.”
Sophomore guard Sam Grieger was an offensive bright spot, with 30 points on 13-of-25 shooting.
“He’s going to want to be in the gym first thing tomorrow.,” Gritzmacher said. “We’re going to have to keep him out. That’s just who Sam is. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be a preseason All-American as a junior. Whatever body of work we saw from him this year, I can promise you it’ll be more next year.”
Washington forward Drake Kindsvater leg all scorers with 31 points, and the Bears snagged 11 offensive rebounds and turned it into 15 second-chance points.
Gritzmacher said Washington’s length inside caused issues for their smaller lineup.
“We know who we are. We like to play with four guards and our big guy is a skilled four,” Gritzmacher said. “We’ve had that happen all year and sometimes we got away with losing the rebounding battle and tonight it poked its head. I don’t think it was an effort thing.”
It was a historic season in several ways for the Eagles. Most wins in a season with 25, most NCAA tournament wins with three, and the firstever Elite 8 appearance. Gritzmacher said the special year shouldn’t be seen as a one off.
“The standard has been set,” Gritzmachersaid. “It’s not about what they did on the floor, it’s about the people that are in the program and have come into the program. That doesn’t mean we’ll ever get back to the Elite 8 again, but we’ll remember this feeling and everything we do will be to get even better.”
