By De Asia Montgomery
Staff Writer
Photos provided by Langston Athletics
In the fall 2022 The Langston University men’s basketball team took a major turnaround. Everything changed from the coaching staff down to the players. Head coach Chris Wright joined the Langston family back in May of 2022. Before coming to Langston, Wright coached at Talladega College, an HBCU in Talladega, Alabama. During his four years coaching there, he took his team to four national tournaments and then to the NAIA National Championship game during his last year.
Wright then brought his 22 years of experience to the Langston University men’s basketball team. After hearing of the opportunity and seeing how much former President of Langston University Dr. Kent Smith Jr. wanted to see the program strive and grow, Wright knew where the next path led. The goal was to make an elite NAIA program right away. In the season before Coach Wright came to Langston University, the Basketball team had only won one game. Today, the team holds a record of 66-5 over the past two seasons.
“We have a great team culture. We have a team that’s very unselfish, guys that care about each other, guys that can put their own egos aside at the end of the day and just care about winning basketball games,” Wright said.
When Wright came to Langston, he and his staff brought together players with a wide range of backgrounds and skills. Toru Dean is just one of many players that have been there since the beginning of the new team. Dean was born and raised in Florida City, Florida. He is a graduating liberal arts education major and point guard for the team. He first started playing basketball around the age of 11. It wasn’t until middle school that Dean knew how far he could go. After receiving so much positive feedback and grace on his skills from his community, Dean decided to push forward with his basketball career. Being inspired by the footsteps of his father and being a role model to his six siblings keeps him going. Dean originally attended Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida.
Sad to say, during the transition to the transfer portal Dean was shot twice. He was shot the first time in his right leg next to his hamstring and the second shot went through his upper left leg. Dean went to rehab, unsure that he would return to basketball. He did though, stepping out on faith with encouragement from assistant coach Chris Vincent, which led him to attending Langston University. Since joining the program, Dean and his team have excelled beyond anything the Langston University community has seen from a basketball team.
Originally their focus was to get comfortable with the school and to get people to come out and support. Through much hard work and dedication, they managed to do that and start a winning streak. The 22-23 season officially ended with the team’s participation in, and eventual loss of, the Sweet Sixteen. After taking that defeat, it was back to the drawing board. The team knew they had to come back better and stronger than before. The goal for the next season was to perform their best and to all be set to one system. Following through with that plan, the team came back in year two harder than before. Not only did they open their eyes to what was happening, but the eyes to those around them.
For Dean, the most memorable game of the season was playing against Southwestern Oregon. Dean said, “I never seen a gym so packed. I’ve packed out a lot of gyms. I’ve never seen a gym that packed and with that many people wearing the same color cheering on seven, eight group of guys.”
He shared the court with his best friend and brother AJ Rainey. The two had moments in their first season where they felt they should give up but overcame it together. “Me and Toru could look at each other on the court and be like ‘come on man let’s get it man, like let’s go, let’s get after this.’ But that game me and Toru just started off hot,” former teammate AJ Rainey said.
In the following season, the team went farther than any other in school history. The Langston University Men’s basketball team would play in the 86th annual NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship. The lions played in Kansas City, Missouri, against Freed-Hardeman. The two teams would go back in forth in the first half until Langston ended up with a 40-31 lead. Coming back from the locker room after halftime, the lions had the mindset that the game wasn’t over even though they were in the lead. Unfortunately, the lions fell short at the end of the second half with a final score of 71-67. They knew not to get comfortable and didn’t settle because this was the championship game; However, Freed-Harderman’s strategy prevailed coming into the second half of the game.
“It was a great experience; I mean for me and my brothers, for the guys that’s coming back that will have the opportunity to go back again. We all enjoyed the week we were there, the time spent with each other there,” Dean said.
Many viewers of the game had their thoughts on what happened during the last few seconds, But the Lions take all accountability. “We can blame the refs all we want to, but all in all that’s on us. We can control that game. We’ve been in those situations’ multiple times. We can’t blame nobody but ourselves honestly,” Dean said. He emphasized how being in that game was big for him and a lot of his teammates. The Lions had one of the quickest turnarounds in history, winning only one game in the two years before Wright’s hiring.
These players will be able to go on to tell their story for many years to come. They will be able to share the joy they felt seeing the support that was filled in those seats, cheering them on waving their orange towels. “I love that family vibe that Langston brings, and that family spirit,” Dean said. “We all got each other backs and that’s what I came here for, you know. To come and play with a group with black young men that will back each other on the court, also off the court. We’ve built a brotherhood that could never be broken. I’ll be speaking about this the next 20 years of my life when I have kids, and my kid’s kids have kids.”
Before leaving Langston University he would like to thank everyone who has supported him during his journey. “I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. All the support was well needed and sorry I let you guys down. I know this was a historic experience for us, but we all left with something instead of nothing and I was just happy to be a lion. L’s up.”
De Asia Montgomery is a senior Broadcast Journalism major.
