Lipscomb basketball honored one of its best senior classes in program history Monday night.
That’s no disrespect to Marcus Bodie, Darren Henrie, Phillip Hutcheson and Wade Tomlinson from 1990 or Mark Campbell, Andy McQueen and John Pierce from 1994 or Adnan Hodzic and Josh Slater from 2011.
This year’s group stacks up against Lipscomb’s best, and it might be the best.
“It’s a different era, for sure,” senior guard Garrison Mathews said. “I don’t know what it would have been like playing back then. We’ve been fortunate to come out and win some games.”
Make that 77 wins over the last four seasons, to be exact. The Bisons are in the midst of their third straight 20-win season.
“I think it’ll be one that people remember for a while,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said of the class. “The individual and collective accomplishments of [this group] are pretty impressive.”
But this column isn’t meant to spark a debate – I’ll leave that for another day. The 2019 senior class put Lipscomb basketball back on the national map, and for that, they are worth appreciating and celebrating on their own, especially given the NAIA-NCAA discrepancy.
The group of five seniors includes three 1,000-point scorers (Mathews, Rob Marberry, Nathan Moran) and two that came close (Eli Pepper and Matt Rose). More importantly, these five were instrumental in Lipscomb’s rise over the last three seasons, highlighted by an ASUN title and the team’s subsequent NCAA tournament debut against North Carolina in 2018.
“If you really want to gauge what those guys have done, that’s where you have to look,” Alexander said of the team’s accomplishments.
“They’ve got unbelievable individual numbers, but the three straight 20-win seasons for the first time, [the] ASUN tournament championship, [the] NCAA tournament…it’s been a really special group.”
Each player came to Lipscomb in a different way, although none travelled very far – three are from Nashville, two are from Kentucky. Alexander’s focus on local recruiting paid off in a big way.
It started with Mathews and Pepper as freshmen in 2015. It grew when Marberry transferred from Western Kentucky in 2016 and when Rose came from Samford in 2017. And it was completed by Moran’s medical redshirt last year, which bought him one final season.
That created the perfect storm of experience and skill that has helped the Bisons become the class of their conference and one of the top mid-majors in the country. And it’s a big reason why Lipscomb finds itself with a chance to return to the Big Dance.
“It’s not a traditional class in the sense that they all came in together,” Alexander said. “But they’re five incredible men that have been awesome for Lipscomb in every way.
“They’ve set the bar really high, and they’ve given us the chance to go out and get better. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Mathews, the crown jewel of the group, has been the team’s star and seems to will his way to 20 points nearly every time Lipscomb takes the floor. He’s scored over 2,000 points to move into 5th all-time on the Lipscomb career list. The Franklin High School grad has also played through numerous injuries that have required seven offseason surgeries – his toughness cannot be questioned.
Pepper arrived as a tremendous defender and rebounder, and he’s leaving the program as a talented scorer, too. His fly-flying dunks (including a posterization of Texas center Mo Bamba in 2017) will make the highlight reels, but the Kentucky native has drastically improved his free throw shooting to 76 percent this season. He’s Lipscomb’s all-time leading rebounder, and his best basketball might still be ahead of him.
Marberry has been a major focal point for Lipscomb’s offense since he left Bowling Green. Despite being just 6-foot-7, the center’s long arms and quick feet have given him an edge over taller defenders. His passing ability and vision open shooters on the perimeter, and his constant on-court communication has made him the team’s primary vocal leader.
Rose also joined the party a bit late, but he’s made the most of his two seasons. The sharpshooter was a key cog during Lipscomb’s run through the 2018 ASUN tournament, when he averaged 13 points per game and knocked down nine three-pointers. Had he chosen to return for his final year of eligibility, he would have likely become a full-time starter and a 1,000-point scorer next season.
Moran is the best story of the group. A former walk-on, the Franklin native had zero Division I offers out of high school and had to earn his keep. The 5-foot-10 guard quickly blossomed into a starter and a prolific three-point shooter (38 percent for his career) for the Bisons. Though his minutes have been cut this season, Moran is the team’s most experienced player and a trusted leader.
Mathews, Marberry and Pepper all have professional basketball careers awaiting them, while Rose has accepted a job at Merrill Lynch and Moran will likely join the coaching ranks. If their Lipscomb careers are an accurate preview, they’ll do well in whatever path they choose.
Monday’s 81-77 victory over NJIT was a fitting way to celebrate Senior Night at Allen Arena, and the outgoing seniors put on performances that were emblematic of their college careers.
Mathews went for 32 points and hit six free throws in the final minutes, just as he has so many times before. Pepper ended the first half with a rim-rattling dunk and later topped it with another jam that set off a wild celebration in the final two minutes.
Meanwhile, Marberry dished out four assists to continue his reputation as one of the best low-post passers in the nation (as proclaimed by Louisville coach Chris Mack).
Rose hit four shots from long range, and Moran played coach by calming Alexander after the Lipscomb skipper was issued a technical foul for throwing a whiteboard with 12 seconds remaining.
All that to say, Lipscomb’s 2019 senior class will be remembered for elevating the program to a level it has never seen. Each of the five players have etched their names in the record books in one way or another.
“We put in a ton of work – I can’t express how much work we’ve put in,” Mathews said. “But it has all paid off.”
So, while Monday night offered a nice celebration for this “Fab Five,” there’s still one final chapter to be written in the coming weeks. But everything from here on out should feel like icing on the cake.
Photos by Mckenzi Harris