Jordan Nixon’s two heroic shots — one to send Wednesday’s NCAA Tournament game into overtime, and another to win it — made the Texas A&M guard a social media star.
LeBron James and Gabrielle Union took to Instagram to praise her performance. As of Thursday afternoon, Nixon was still replying and thanking everyone who has reached out to her.
Yet the most meaningful accolade for Nixon actually came hours before the Aggies’ 84-82 win over Iowa State. Her mom called the Aggies’ star to say she was proud of her.
“She just called me out of the blue. I’m getting ready. (She said) ‘I just wanted to say I’m extremely proud of you,’” Nixon said. “That just gave me the confidence to know whatever happened on that court, it wouldn’t change how she perceived me or how much she loved me or anything of that nature.”
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Nixon, who averaged 9.5 points per game coming into the tournament, put up 35 points on 16 of 28 shooting against Iowa State.
With the game tied with seconds left in overtime, Texas A&M coach Gary Blair decided not to call a timeout. He trusted his players.
“I wanted to go with the flow and the emotion,” he said. “She shot the correct shot and the expression on her face when she made it. All of a sudden, she was just looking, and then about a second-and-a-half later, that big smile came out, and then it was dogpile.”
Now, the Aggies will turn their attention to third-seeded Arizona, their opponent in Saturday’s Sweet 16 game.
Nixon knows stopping star Aari McDonald won’t be easy.
“Make no mistake with Aari MacDonald: I don’t think there’s any shutting her down,” Nixon said. “She’s a great player, and the most you can hope is that you slow her down, right? Just limit her effectiveness and just make her uncomfortable and things of that nature.”
The last seconds
Arizona had some late-game heroics of its own on Wednesday. Trailing by four points with five minutes left, coach Adia Barnes called a timeout.
The Wildcats then went on a memorable run, cementing the win.
The final minute and-a-half was especially long for Barnes. She got hot and had to pull off her jacket, a throwback Nike parka. Barnes called it “surreal, because it was so tight.”
“We came up with some big plays. Those last seconds, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to Sweet 16. We got this game,’” she said. “I’m so happy for the players. We always believed in ourselves. First of all, no one thought we’d be second (place) in the Pac-12. No one thought we’d really make it far in the tournament because we don’t have experience. …
“Being able to celebrate with them on the floor, and just so happy and all our hard work paid off. This was a tough year. COVID it’s been a tough year. For all the players being resilient, being on lockdown all the time, being at the NCAA Tournament — (there’s) a lot going on; it’s not easy.
“I told our team before we even came here: the toughest team mentally, and the teams that can handle adversity and handle being locked in (and) handle things being different are probably the teams are going to be more successful. We’ve seen all kinds of upsets; it’s a different year. But this team is resilient. This team is not ready to go home. We’re here to win some games. I’m confident we can go a lot further.”
A good memory
Arizona guard Bendu Yeaney has been reluctant to talk about the last time she played in an NCAA Tournament game. It’s understandable.
On March 24, 2019, her Indiana Hoosiers were playing Oregon in a second-round game. Yeaney scored 10 points in the first 17 minutes, going 5 of 7 from the field.
Then, in the third quarter, she tore her Achilles’ tendon.
After Wednesday’s win to send Arizona into the round of 16, Yeaney tweeted this:
“March 24, 2019 … I use(d) to remember this day as the day I torn my Achilles. My life was put in perspective for me. I am just very blessed/grateful to be in the position to play this game I love. But from now on I remember this day as the day we made it to the Sweet 16.”
A look back
Barnes took part in a call with her teammates from the UA’s 1998 Sweet 16 team, including Marte Alexander, Felecity Willis, Lisa Griffith and Reshea Bristol.
Barnes says she doesn’t remember much from that year’s NCAA Tournament run, except that they were “scrappy.”
“We were a full-court press thing. I was at the top of the press, run and jump — very similar to how we are now,” she said. “That’s what’s kind of ironic. Everything is parallel — the story of how I built it (the program is) very similar to Joan (Bonvicini), to how I came (to coach at Arizona). They way we play: Joan was a player’s coach who had a connection with me — a lot like Aari and I, Cate (Reese) and I, and Sam (Thomas) and I. Just aggressive, blue-collar, scrappy. We’d make it look ugly sometimes but just played that type of defense. And that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Having seen both sides of things, Barnes said coach “is a lot harder than playing.”
“Because as a player, you’re kind of oblivious to a lot of things you just got to go out and play,” she said.
Advancing to the Sweet 16 means more this time around, she said.
“It feels better; it’s more special,” Barnes said. “I like watching the players, seeing their hard work, seeing Aari evolve since she was a sophomore in high school, seeing her grow. Seeing Sam grow, seeing Cate grow, it’s fun. I think it’s way more rewarding as a coach.”
Rim shots
- Arizona’s postgame celebration carried into the locker room, where the Wildcats squirted water on Barnes, and continued back at the hotel. There were chants and cheers as McDonald put Arizona’s name on a big board showing it had moved onto the next round.
- NCAA President Mark Emmert released a statement Thursday announcing it has hired the law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP do conduct an equity review for all championships. The NCAA expects to have “preliminary assessments in April with a final report this summer after all of our championships are completed.” The move comes after players and coaches pointed out disparities between many elements of the men’s and women’s tournaments.
- Texas A&M’s Nixon stated her own clothing line, APRBLEM, last August. She sells hoodies, stickers, hats and T-shirts. She takes all the photos on the company’s website.
