JagBytes

Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Sports

Assistant Coach Matt Crenshaw. Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI Marketing Department

On the morning of March 11, 2003, Matt Crenshaw woke up early to treat some injuries, not knowing that later that night he would hit the biggest shot of his career.

Crenshaw, who was a member of the IUPUI basketball team from 2000-2004, hit a last second 18-foot jump shot to defeat Valparaiso in the Mid-Continent Conference championship to give IUPUI its first NCAA tournament bid in school history. Crenshaw recalls a pre-game conversation with teammate Odell Bradley that calmed the duo.

"Me and Odell actually talked about the game," Crenshaw said. "He wanted the ball to take the last shot, then I said that I wanted to take the shot to win it. We both relaxed and kind of prayed on it. If it came to that situation, that God would give me the strength to do that. When it happened, I was kind of calm. I felt like it was supposed to happen."

Crenshaw, who is currently in his second season as an assistant coach at IUPUI, is present to see the team's most successful season since. With the possibility that the Jaguars could make another trip to the NCAA tournament, head coach Ron Hunter is pleased with what Crenshaw brings to the team.

"It's really about the players," Hunter said. "The players absolutely respect him. They understand that he's a winner. He came through this program and he graduated. He's taken us to the NCAA tournament. When he talks, they listen to him."

Prior to his playing career at IUPUI, Crenshaw was a member of the United States Navy for six years. Being a former Navy man, his life was greatly influenced by the actions of Sept. 11, 2001. Crenshaw's friend, Kevin Wayne Yokum, was one of 184 people who were killed at the Pentagon in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"That was tough," Crenshaw said. "That season, earlier in the year, I went home and went to a local restaurant we used to go to all the time and where I worked at. I was with a group of friends. A guy was talking, and when I turned around it was my friend Yokum. I was stationed with him when he was in the Navy as well. I got to see him and talk to him. He actually died in the Pentagon. I knew a few people that worked in the Pentagon. At that time for me, I was playing basketball while people that I knew were putting their lives on the line. I was more focused on that than the game."

While at IUPUI, Crenshaw collected 510 assists, making him the school's all-time leader in that category. He also amassed 923 points and 422 rebounds. Attesting to his great success, Crenshaw's picture appears on the wall of the Jungle three times.

"That's just a great feeling to go into the gym and see yourself," Crenshaw said. "I enjoyed my time here, the all-time leader in assists. A lot of that had to do with my teammates. I had great teammates knocking down shots."

Hunter has high hopes for Crenshaw's future at IUPUI.

"I think that he's going to be a great assistant," Hunter said. "My goal one day, when it's all said and done, maybe he's the coach here. You'd love to have a former player come back. Todd Howard has been here too. Crenshaw is an absolute blessing to this program and it's not a coincidence that he's here and we're winning now."

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