{"id":11191,"date":"2012-03-16T20:27:17","date_gmt":"2012-03-17T01:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=11191"},"modified":"2012-03-16T20:27:17","modified_gmt":"2012-03-17T01:27:17","slug":"oquinn-norfolk-take-down-2-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2012\/03\/16\/oquinn-norfolk-take-down-2-missouri\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Quinn, Norfolk Take Down #2 Missouri"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster<\/strong><\/p>\n

After defeating the Jayhawks on Feb. 4th<\/sup>, in Colombia, MO., the University of Missouri printed T-shirts that read \u201cNot In Our House\u201d. After beating\u00a0 #2 seed Missouri 86-84 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, #15 Norfolk State printed off t-shirts of their own, theirs read \u201cThis Was No Upset\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kyle O\u2019Quinn knew that going into the game, his father and brother \u2014 who were sitting courtside during O\u2019Quinn\u2019s 26 point 14 rebound rampage against Missouri \u2014 didn\u2019t see it coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea he could do this,\u201d Tommie O\u2019Quinn, Kyle\u2019s father, said. \u201cHe surprised us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did he astound his family, but also anyone watching Norfolk State \u2014 with the exception of the two people who correctly selected the Spartan upset on ESPN.com \u2014as Missouri became the fifth #2 seed to lose in the NCAA tournament to a #15 seed.<\/p>\n

But Norfolk State \u2014 rather O\u2019Quinn \u2014 should not have been overlooked. O\u2019Quinn was the 2012 MEAC defensive player of the year, a finalist for the mid-major player of the year, and ranked in the top 15th<\/sup> nationally in double-doubles, blocks, rebounds, and field goal percentage. And it took him what could have been his last game as a college athlete to make himself a household name.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the most intense basketball games that I have ever been a part of,\u201d Norfolk State coach Anthony Evans said.<\/p>\n

After the victory, the Spartans found out what it means to have mid-major tournament success. Brandon Wheeless had 96 text messages and counting, NSU\u2019s student newspaper\u2019s website crashed, and Jamel Fuentes was giving shout-outs to President Barack Obama saying, \u201cWe love you, but we ruined your bracket,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew coming into this game if we let them hang around toward the end it was going to be a ballgame,\u201d Missouri guard Phil Pressey said. \u201cThey stuck with us the whole game, congrats to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But sticking around with the Tigers wasn\u2019t as easy as Pressey made it sound. Missouri shot 44.8% from three, Norfolk shot 54.6%. Missouri gobbled up 25 rebounds, the Spartans grabbed 37. Every time Missouri came down and hit a big shot, Norfolk answered with a bigger one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shocked the world,\u201d O\u2019Quinn said. \u201cYou always play around and say it but feels good to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While O\u2019Quinn previously compared the game to David vs. Goliath, he admitted Cinderella looks so much better.<\/p>\n

As each Spartan player exited the locker room they passed by one last message on their whiteboard: 32 Left \u2014 it was circled in green and accompanied by exclamation marks. And as Norfolk prepares for a Sunday match-up with Florida, O\u2019Quinn is looking to continue his search for a glass slipper \u2014 about size 15.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster After defeating the Jayhawks on Feb. 4th, in Colombia, MO., the University of Missouri printed T-shirts that read \u201cNot In Our House\u201d. After beating\u00a0 #2 seed Missouri 86-84 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, #15 Norfolk State printed off t-shirts of their own, theirs read \u201cThis Was No Upset\u201d. Kyle O\u2019Quinn knew that going into the game, his father and brother \u2014 who were sitting courtside during O\u2019Quinn\u2019s 26 point 14 rebound rampage against Missouri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/NCAA20Basketball20Logo1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}