They nearly were a giant-slayer on Thursday night. Little St. Thomas out of St. Paul, new to Division I Basketball after moving up from Division III, took on a top-ten team on their home floor and hung in until the bitter end, eventually falling 84-79 to Marquette.
St. Thomas basketball coach Johnny Tauer is looking at a lot of positives in close loss to the Golden Eagles.
"It really was one of those, bittersweet when you lose, but after the game you just step back and look at how our guys played," said Tauer. "They're really fearless. I love coaching them and just the way they compete I think is inspiring."
Tauer sais that his team played very well against Marquette and never gave up despite large deficits early in the game.
Speaking to WCCO's Vineeta Sawkar on the Morning News, Tauer also said that it was remarkable to see so many St. Thomas supporters in the stands during Thursday night's game in Milwaukee.
Despite their newness to big-time college basketball, the Tommies have played several major opponents already this year. They lost by five points at Cal, by one point to Cal-Poly, by 13 to Green Bay, and beat Milwaukee by four in St. Paul.
But they have yet to play their neighbers at the University of Minnesota. Tauer says a lot has to go into scheduling any game.
"You have to have two people that want to play and they're doing what's best for their program," Tauer explains. "We're trying to do what's best for our program. But I think down the line, you look at Creighton (Omaha) and Nebraska, you look at Wisconsin and Marquette, and I think someday we'll see that game. But at the end of the day, it's like anything in life, you control what you can."
This is the third season of Division I basketball for St. Thomas who made the unprecedented move from Division III athletics, what has normally been a multi-year process of moving up in divisions.
Next for the Tommies is a little bit easier opponent. They'll take on another neighbor, tiny Crown College from St. Bonifacious Sunday in St. Paul.