A Look Back at the 2002-03 Men's Basketball Team

UNC Asheville's first trip to the NCAA Tournament for any sport happened close to 20 years ago.

The school will honor the men's basketball team of 2002-03 this Saturday at halftime of the Bulldogs' Big South game with Gardner-Webb.

Asheville has gone to the NCAA Tournament three more times since the 2003 team but none of those teams chose a more difficult road than the first Bulldog Tournament team. But the success of that team resonates today not just with UNC Asheville but the Big South as well.

The Bulldogs went into the 2002-03 season as the preseason favorite to end Winthrop's four-year reign as Big South champions. Senior guard Andre Smith was the league's Preseason Player of the Year and there was a lot of excitement for fans of the Asheville program.

The previous year had been one of Eddie Biedenbach's best coaching jobs. Asheville started the season 1-11 which included a stunning home loss to NAIA Montreat. But the Dogs turned things around and were in first place in the league standings going into the final week of the season. Asheville had a two-game lead on Winthrop and needed just one win to capture the regular-season title outright.

It sounded easy but Asheville faced road games at Charleston Southern and Winthrop to end the season. They lost both, finished tied for first but ended up being the second seed for the tournament. The Bulldogs then fell to seventh-seeded High Point, 71-70 in the quarterfinals of the tourney and went home very disappointed.

On paper, the Bulldogs appeared to be loaded going into the 2002-03 season but that wasn't the case. Some key players left school and transferred, making this team heavily dependent on freshmen.
Things looked even bleaker when the Dogs opened exhibition play with a loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. But when the season started, things began to come together as Asheville posted an impressive home win over Western Carolina at the Civic Center and then outlasted Campbell in overtime.

As usual, Coach Biedenbach had a tough non-conference schedule planned and this year was no exception. Before Christmas, the Dogs played at Connecticut and Holy Cross on back-to-back nights. The Dogs lost them both. After Christmas, Asheville headed to the Midwest and played Final Four squads Oklahoma and Kansas. The Dogs didn't fare much better at those places and limped home with a 3-7 record to start Big South Conference play.

But as usual the tough schedule had Asheville ready to play once league play opened up. Young players like Chad Mohn, Oliver Holmes and Omar Collington earned some incredible experience.

The Bulldogs had a 7-3 league record going into the final two weeks of the season. There was a chance to finish in first place. One of the more dramatic wins was a two-point win over High Point at Justice Center when freshman Oliver Holmes tipped in a missed Bulldog shot at the buzzer. There was also a thrilling double-overtime win over Elon.

What the Dogs really wanted was to finish in the top four of the league standings so they would host a Big South Tournament quarterfinal contest. They would only need one win to seal a home game at Justice Center.

But once again a tough road schedule awaited Asheville. They would play three of the final four games on the road and would finish up at home with Winthrop. A close loss at Elon was followed by frustrating defeats at Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern. Hosting a game would now come down to the Bulldogs beating regular-season champion Winthrop at Justice Center in the final regular season of the year.

The Eagles relished being a spoiler for Asheville and dominated the home team from start to finish. It was a rough game that featured near fights both on the court and in the stands. The Winthrop-Asheville rivalry seemed to be very one-sided for the Eagles at that point but there would be another chapter to this rivalry a few days later.

The late-season swoon cost the Dogs a home tournament game and would send Asheville to Elon for a quarterfinal game. The Phoenix was in its final year of play in the Big South and wanted desperately to make its final season in the league a championship one.

Before a sell-out crowd at Elon, the Bulldogs played quite well. It was like the pressure was off and Asheville could just concentrate on playing basketball. The visitors led most of the way but could never shake the Phoenix. It would continue into overtime. Overtime would become a pattern for Asheville over the next few weeks.

Neither team could shake each other. Andre Smith tried a long three-pointer with 30 seconds left but missed. Elon claimed the rebound but senior Alex Kragel would make a play that Bulldog fans would never forget. And Kragel was just getting warmed up.

Jackson Atoyi claimed the rebound for the Phoenix but Kragel quickly dived into the play and tied him up to force a jump ball. The possession arrow favored the Bulldogs. Suddenly Asheville had the ball with 25 seconds left, down one with a chance to win. Smith got open again and this time his three-pointer went in from 30 feet out to put the Dogs in front, 68-66.

Elon still had a chance but its last-second shot was off and senior center Ben McGonagil claimed the rebound. The Dogs had won and now it was on to the semifinals at Liberty against top-seeded Winthrop.

Gregg Marshall's Eagles had won four consecutive Big South Conference championships and they were the heavy favorites to make it five in a row. Winthrop would play Asheville in the semifinals at Liberty. The Eagles were 8-1 against Asheville in the Marshall era.

But the Marshall plan to win a fifth straight title would hit a snag against a determined Asheville squad. The Eagles led most of the contest but could never shake the Bulldogs. Smith and McGonagil were brilliant but sophomores Bryan McCullough and Joseph Barber were also hitting key shots and making key plays to keep the Dogs within striking distance.

Winthrop held a three-point lead late when a freshman would step up big for the Bulldogs. Chad Mohn didn't hit a lot of three-pointers in his career but he wasn't afraid to take a trey when he was open. He was open at the top of the key. Mohn's three-pointer knotted the game at 70-70 with 10 seconds remaining. The Eagles tried to win the game at the buzzer but Asheville's defense wouldn't let them. Once again the Dogs were headed to overtime.

In overtime, Asheville seized the momentum and led by Smith, roared out to a 79-74 lead with 1:20 left. Winthrop would not go away quietly and when a three-pointer by the Eagles went in with 8.7 seconds left, the Eagles suddenly led 80-79. It appeared a great effort by the Bulldogs was going to come up a little short.

The biggest shot in the history of UNC Asheville basketball history up to that point had been hit in 1971 when a guard named Joe Kagel hit a half-court shot to allow the Bulldogs to beat Western Carolina in the NAIA District 6 championship game.

Now another guard with a name that was only off by one letter would hit another one more than 30 years later. Alex Kragel took a pass from McCullough and streaked down the court. He eluded a Winthrop defender and put up an 18-footer as the buzzer sounded. With a close to sell-out crowd at the Vines Center in Lynchburg on its feet, the ball calmly went through the basket and gave the Bulldogs the dramatic 81-80 victory.

There was jubilation in the Bulldog locker room after the game as Asheville had vanquished its most bitter rival in exciting fashion. But there was still one more game to play. Ben McGonagil quickly quieted everyone down from coaches to administrators to players.

"Hey this is a great win but we didn't come here to just beat Winthrop. We came here to win a championship and the job isn't done yet," McGonagil declared. "We can celebrate tomorrow if we take care of business."

Suddenly the locker room was very quiet. McGonagil's words got everyone focused on the next game. The big one. The chance to go to the NCAA Tournament. Asheville had had some great teams under Biedenbach but had never been able to get to the NCAA Tournament.

Nobody slept that night. ESPN showed Kragel's shot again and again, while everyone was getting prepared to play old rival Radford with a chance to win a Big South championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

The setting was almost Twilight Zone-like. Five years earlier Asheville had faced Radford in the Big South title game on the same exact court and lost on a last-second shot to the Highlanders. The Dogs had been the top seed that year and went 11-1 in the league but had nowhere to go after the heartbreak.

Radford was coached by UNC Asheville graduate Byron Samuels who had a great career in the mid-80's for Jerry Green. His top assistant was Kevin Martin, a UNC Asheville graduate who had played on the 1998 team that had lost to the Highlanders in the title game.

The Bulldogs were ready to go from the start. They quickly took charge of the game and raced to an early lead. McGonagil dominated inside. Smith scored at will and Kragel was still hitting shots. The first half would end dramatically. Kragel would again force a jump ball with two seconds left to go in the half, giving the ball to the Bulldogs. Kragel took the inbounds pass and then threw up a halfcourt shot that once again swished through the basket giving Asheville a 45-29 halftime lead. It was the same basket Kragel had scored against Winthrop less than 24 hours earlier.

The second half saw the Dogs hold off some mild Radford comebacks. Asheville had come too far to let this one get away as the Bulldogs cruised to an 85-71 victory. Alex Kragel, Ben McGonagil and Andre Smith earned All-Tournament honors with Smith being named MVP. Asheville was going dancing!! The Bulldogs were Big South champions and headed to the NCAA Tournament!!!

And the story doesn't end here. The Bulldogs were assigned an Opening Round Game at Dayton against Texas Southern. No Big South team had ever won an NCAA Tournament basketball game. Asheville was about to change that fact.

Asheville would lead most of the way against Texas Southern but missed some key free throws down the stretch that allowed Michael Strahan's alma mater to tie the game at the end of regulation. Once again, the Bulldogs were headed to overtime.

It may have been an up-and-down year for the Dogs but overtime had been Asheville's time. They were a perfect 4-0 in OT during the season and had won two of their last three games in overtime. Mohn hit another big three-pointer. Joseph Barber would snag some huge offensive rebounds and score. The Dogs were never threatened in overtime and won going away, 92-84.

Asheville may have entered the NCAA Tournament with a losing record at 13-15 but the first game of the tournament was a winning one for the Bulldogs. A national television audience on ESPN saw the Dogs get the win and make Big South history with the victory.

The victory sent the Dogs to Birmingham to face top-seeded Texas and Eddie Biedenbach's good friend Rick Barnes. Asheville would fight gallantly against a Longhorn squad that would advance to the Final Four but fell, 82-61.

It would take a few years but the Bulldogs would be back in the NCAA Tournament and went three times in a six-year span from 2011-2016. Overall, Asheville has captured five Big South Conference championships, second most in league history.

No Bulldog fan will ever forget the dramatic ride the 2002-03 team gave everyone. A team that simply would never quit. Alex Kragel would sum it up best after beating Texas Southern.

"We don't care what our record is right now. We simply would not be denied. We wanted to be the first Asheville team to go to the NCAA Tournament and then we wanted to be the first Big South team to win a tournament game. Even though it went to overtime, we just were not going to be denied."

And that team that would not be denied will be honored on Saturday.

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

A Look Back at the 2002-03 Men's Basketball Team

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