As the Long Beach State men’s basketball team prepares for the upcoming Big West Tournament, the NCAA Tournament looms large overhead. The last time the 49ers were apart of March Madness most of us were in elementary school.
In 1995, Long Beach State was led by head coach Seth Greenberg, is currently the head coach at Virginia Tech. The 49ers had a 20-10 overall record and finished second in the Big West Conference. In the Big West Tournament championship game, Joe McNaull hit a last second shot to beat Nevada on its home floor. Thanks to the game-winning shot, McNaull was named Most Valuable Player of the Big West Tournament.
“That was a fun team to watch,” Jim McCurdie, who covered the 1995 49ers for the Long Beach Press-Telegram said. “They never really blew anybody out but played really hard and had great team chemistry.”
The 49ers were led by McNaull, who averaged 12 points and seven rebounds a game. Other standouts of the 1995 team were forward Terrence O’Kelley (11 ppg, 6.7 rpg), point guard Rasul Salahuddin (9 ppg, 8 apg) and forward Tye Mays (6.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg).
“That team loved to grind it out and pound it inside,” McCurdie said. “They had some tremendous big men who could really run the floor.”
The 49ers lost to an upstart Utah team, 76-64, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That Utah team featured future NBA All-Stars Keith Van Horn and Andre Miller.
In the first half, LBSU gave Utah all they could handle for about 18 minutes as the Utes never led by more than two. But in the last two minutes of the half, Utah pulled away, taking a 39-28 lead into halftime and never looked back.
According to a March 21, 1995, Daily Forty-Niner article, “49er fans show spirit as team faces defeat,” more than 200 people showed up at the University Student Union lounge to cheer on the 49ers in their game against Utah. Student’s watched the game on a rented big screen and showed their support by wearing black and gold, and some wore pyramid hats honoring the newly opened facility.
“The thing that I remember most about that team is that they had a lot of heart,” McCurdie said. “They weren’t going to win any games by just showing up, in fact almost every team they faced had more talent, but they played so hard and to me that was a reflection of coach Greenberg.”
