On February 11th in an away game against Texas Wesleyan University, the Lions came out on top 76-60, moving their overall record to 24-2 and claiming the SAC title. The SAC is a 12-team conference that spans the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas.
The Sooner Athletic Conference consist of teams from Langston University, Panhandle State, Southwestern Christian University, Oklahoma City University, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Mid-America Christian University, Wayland Baptist University, Southwestern Assemblies of God University, University of North Texas at Dallas, Texas Wesleyan University, John Brown University, and Central Christian College.
The win locks their spot as the first seed for the conference tournament following the end of the regular season, as well as punches their ticket to the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament as the regular season champion and the conference tournament champion in the SAC are awarded automatic bids to the national tournament.
This is the first time in program history that the men have won the conference title and Langston is now the first HBCU to win the title.
The Lions now have the highest win total they have had since 2016-2017 when they finished the year 24-11. This comes previously after only having one win together from the past two seasons. In what head coach Chris Wright described as “the biggest turnaround in the history of college basketball.”
Wright has become the SAC John Hudson coach of the year during his first year as the head coach of the Langston Men’s basketball team. The turnaround isn’t only just on the court; off the court the support and coverage of the program has been amazing as well.
“It’s crazy to see the difference from last year,” Kristian Baccus a sophomore guard who was on the team last year and now on the team again this year. Baccus is the only player from the team from last year’s team that had a final record last year of 1-27 to return to the team.
Baccus described the “energy” of the team and the “togetherness” within the team is a what has been a big part of the success they have had this season. Baccus said the next steps for the team are to focus on the conference tournament, even though they have their bid to the national tournament “We still need to handle business,” Baccus said.
The team ends the season as the fifth best team in the country in the final NAIA Men’s Basketball Top 25 Poll with a 26-2 record. They are the only team from the Sooner Athletic Conference to be in the top 25. The Lions are set to host the first and second round of the NAIA Men’s Basketball national tournament at CF Gayels Field House. on March 7th and 8th.
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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.
