Tournament Tales ... with Larry Nance Jr.
Cavs High-Flying Big Man Looks Back on His College Days in Laramie
by Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG)
3/16/18 | Cavs.com
It’s not an easy connection to see how Larry Nance Jr. – the high-flying scion of the Cavaliers legend – wound up playing his college ball way out in Wyoming. But that’s where the Cavaliers starting center cut his teeth before being drafted with the 27th overall pick by the Lakers in 2015.
A four-year man at Laramie, Nance Jr. grew with the program – and grew the program – during his stay, eventually guiding the Cowboys to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 seasons as a senior.
Wyoming fell to Northern Iowa in the opening round in the 2015 Tourney, but it wasn’t so much how they fared in March as it was that Nance and Co. were able to resurrect a dormant Division-I program and put it back on the NCAA map.
Individually, Nance Jr. was outstanding – earning all-Mountain West Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team honors as a junior and senior and being named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2015.
As the Wine & Gold’s longest road trip of the season rolls on, Cavs.com sat down with the affable 25-year-old from Akron to talk about his memories from the Cowboys’ run in this opening installment of Tournament Tales ….
Larry Nance Jr. celebrates with fans after the second half of the Mountain West Men's Basketball tournament game between the San Diego State Aztecs.
Troy Babbitt/USA TODAY
What are your memories from the Mountain West Tournament – knocking off some tough teams to reach the Big Dance?
Larry Nance Jr.: It was a lot of fun. I think we were picked 5th (in the Conference) that year, so we just had a chip on our shoulder because I thought we were better than that.
We had an older group, an experienced group, and we knew when you get into the Tournament, anything can happen.
So we won our first game -- like we should have -- and our second game was close. And we knocked off San Diego State – which was, at one point, ranked in the Top 10.
Our point guard, Josh Adams, was the player of the Tournament -- he was outstanding.
Teams were double- and triple-teaming me. And I think he had, like, 24, 27 and 28 points, respectively, in those games – and he really got us to the Championship game. And once we got there, I think we won that game, like, 41-39, or something like that.
We just slowed it down and played defense, defense, defense.
What are college hoops like in Laramie, Wyoming?
Nance: It's like a way of life. Honestly, they love their basketball there. They really do.
Outside of the students, there's like 10,000 people in the entire city. So, we'd get about 10,000 fans for every single game -- and it was awesome.
They love their basketball and they supported us die-hard every single game.
"We took one visit out to Wyoming and thought: We can really do something out here."
Larry Nance Jr. on his visit to Laramie
Sounds like ‘the only game in town’ kind of thing …
Nance: It really was, because football wasn't that great at the time and no other sport was really that entertaining.
We talked about it all the time: In terms of entertainment, our team was incredible. The athletes we had was ridiculous. I wasn't even the best athlete on that team. We had two better athletes than me.
Our starting center is now playing ball in Australia and he's a superior athlete to me. And at our point guard, he's playing professional ball in Turkey and he's like 6-1, and he was doing windmills and putting his head at the rim.
So we had us three and every game they kind of coined it "Dunktown U.S.A."
Was there any kind of culture shock going from Northeast Ohio out to cowboy country?
Nance: It wasn't as difficult as you might think.
My roommate for all four years, Jack Bentz, was also from Cleveland. So we kind of went out there together. He played at University School and was a walk-on for us. He's one of my best friends in life.
So, he made the transition so much easier just because I had somebody to say: 'Do you see these tumbleweeds?! This is insane!' It's something you see in a movie.
What was the recruiting process like?
Nance: (Laughs) The recruiting process was interesting, now looking back on it.
I probably got exactly what I deserved. You know, I wasn't really that good. I wasn't that talented, I wasn't big. So, I didn't have that many offers.
Michigan was kind of sniffing around, but ended up not pulling the trigger. So at the time I committed, the University of Wyoming and Bowling Green were my only two offers.
But we took one visit out to Wyoming and thought: We can really do something out here.
As an avid outdoorsman, was your dad happy about the locale?
Nance: (My parents) hated it! (Laughs) It was too far away -- just too far for the parents.
It’s unusual for a player to stay four years in school. What was it like rebuilding a program over that time?
Nance: It was great. The team was flipped, it was a whole new coaching staff the year before we got there and so we started fresh, no expectations.
And in our first year that we got there, we made an impact right away -- won 20 games. And then the next year, won 20 games. And then by my junior year, the older guys had graduated and it was kind of my team at that point. We were on our way and we were going to make the tournament as an at-large bid and I went down with an injury -- I tore my ACL -- and it kind of derailed things.
We were having a really great year, too.
The plan was that we were supposed to make the Tournament in my junior year, but we had the same team, pretty much, coming back.
So we came one year older, one year more experienced and one year better.
And it came down to the fact that wasn't going to happen if we didn't win the Mountain West Tournament. And we weren't ready to be done playing, so it was just the culmination of a lot of different things. But it's something I'll never forget.
Even though you didn’t have a long run in the NCAA Tournament, what was that experience like up in Seattle?
Nance: Well, we had a TON of Wyoming fans who came up there. And honestly, most of them drove up there.
Our following was really cool, just because we knew how die-hard they were and that they had to drive up. My girlfriend at the time -- now fiancé -- even drove herself up there and everything.
It was a lot of fun and we really expected to win but it just didn't happen that way.
Finally, just in general, what’s it like being back home playing for the Cavs?
Nance: It's awesome, it really is. It's so cool.
The first call I made was to my parents after I found out, and they were both just like: 'No way. Just stop.' And I said: 'OK, just wait. In about 30 seconds you're going to get a notification on your phone. You'll see.'
But everybody was just so excited and people are still so excited that I'm back home -- as am I.
I think it's a great situation for me as well as the team.