Several thousand fans bought their popcorn for the Saturday matinee at Savage Arena, and didn’t realize the show would be a thriller.
Toledo — an 18-point favorite over 2-6 Canisius — trailed for most of the second half, and its top offensive threat fouled out with just under three minutes remaining.
Enter RayJ Dennis, this act’s protagonist. He put the Rockets on his back and lifted them to a 69-68 victory on a day UT scored its fewest points and had its worst shooting performance of the season.
“I wanted to win. Nothing else mattered,” said Dennis, who had a career-high 29 points, with 15 coming at the free-throw line. “I knew we were down. We needed a boost of energy. JT [Shumate] went out, our best player and our best scorer. We needed a boost to win.”
With a LeBron James flair, Dennis scored Toledo’s final 15 points and 19 of their last 21. He was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes, with a final stat line of 29 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals, and only two turnovers in 38 minutes.
Dennis drew 12 of Canisius’ 24 fouls.
“It just reaffirms to me, thank God for RayJ Dennis,” Shumate said with a wide smile.
The final two minutes had enough action to satisfy the 4,320 in attendance. Toledo outscored Canisius 9-5 during that span, forcing two turnovers and not allowing a made basket.
Two free throws by Dennis with 1:13 left tied the game at 64. Canisius missed a fadeaway 3 on its next possession. Dennis was fouled again as he drove to the basket, making one of two free throws with 34.6 seconds left.
The Rockets made another crucial defensive stop with 18 seconds left, but the ball glanced off UT and went out of bounds. With 8.8 seconds left, Canisius’ Jordan Henderson stepped out of bounds.
Both teams made four free throws in the final 7.9 seconds, as Toledo fouled twice ahead by three points.
Toledo threw an in-bounds pass the length of the floor in the final seconds, a loose ball ensued, and Canisius missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.
“Do you want me to give away my strategy for the year? We are a team that believes in [fouling up three],” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “I’ll give you the analytical mathematical formula written by a Division III head coach in Indiana. If you read it and don’t foul, you’re probably an idiot.”
Long-time high school and college coach Denny Kuiper, a friend of Kowalczyk’s, has a motto, “We’re gonna win anyway.”
“And we won tonight,” said Kowalczyk, who referenced another coach in his post-game comments.
Bob Williams led UC-Santa Barbara to three NCAA tournaments, and he’s a regular viewer of Toledo games, telling Kowalczyk that the Rockets have to find a way to win when they aren’t at their best.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday.
“We didn’t make shots,” Kowalczyk said. “We’re 13th in the country in free-throw shooting, and we didn’t make foul shots. But we guarded and we grinded it out.”
Toledo shot less than 40 percent, made 3 of 15 3s, and was a dismal 24 of 36 from the free-throw line, more than 10 percentage points lower than its season average.
Shumate had 20 points.
Canisius had 17 offensive rebounds to UT’s eight, and the Griffins forced 15 turnovers. They led for more than 12 minutes and by as many as six with less than five minutes left.
“I thought we played hard,” Kowalczyk said. “We missed some shots we normally make and we were 3 of 15 from 3. I’ll watch the film and grade the shot selection, but I don’t remember a bad shot.
“I remember some missed ones, a lack of finishing, and some casual turnovers, which we have to clean up. Fifteen turnovers are too much.”
Toledo had perhaps its best game on defense. Canisius shot even worse than the Rockets — 37.7 percent from the field and 4 of 23 from long range — and turned the ball over 21 times.
UT had 12 steals and a six-point advantage in points off turnovers. Canisius didn’t make a field goal in the last 2:40.
“That was the thing we needed to bring along with us,” Dennis said. “We did a good job tonight and leaned on [defense] and got stops when it mattered.”
First Published December 11, 2022, 12:36 a.m.
