When most talk of love, they speak of feelings of warmth. On Wednesday night true love meant cold, wet rain to over 200 students standing outside Humphrey Coliseum.
The students kept their minds off the cold by singing “Hail, Dear Old State” and “Hey” while they waited on the basketball team’s midnight return from Columbia, S.C., after a come-from-behind 79-75 overtime victory.
When the much-anticipated bus rolled into the lot the crowd clamored with shouts of joy and clanging cowbells. The students surged to the door of the bus and patted the players on the shoulders and high-fived each other.
The players, clad in smiles and ‘Road Warriors’ T-shirts, fed off the energy of the crowd.
“This is unbelievable,” Bowers said. “To come in off the road on a cold, rainy night and see this-it just shows that our fans love us and we love them right back.”
Groups of people said they saw the idea posted on Gene’s Page (genespage.com). It is a Web site that covers MSU athletics. The site is managed by Gene Swindoll out of Lowndes County.
“I heard it (the idea of gathering at The Hump) was posted on the Internet,” Sean Covich said. “Some girls called me about it. Word spreads quick with cell phones.”
Swindoll said some people also gathered when the team left on Tuesday.
The rainy 39-degree temperatures could not stop students Alyson Vinson and Brenner Davidson from coming out to greet their Dawgs. Davidson’s brother John Crisler heard about the gathering at the Kappa Sigma house and phoned her.
Vinson and Davidson listened to the game on the radio, even when South Carolina took a 66-54 lead with 5:21 left in regulation.
The girls were rewarded with their faith in the team when senior point guard Timmy Bowers forced the game into overtime by sinking the tying three pointer with eight seconds.
“I screamed,” Vinson recalled.
Bowers said his game-tying basket came at the top of the key.
“The defender had his hands down. I had total confidence because my coaches kept telling me to look for my shot,” Bowers said. “I knew it was good when I released it.”
“This is the first time I have seen something like this,” said Branden Vincent. “It’s amazing-all these people supporting us and the game wasn’t even on TV.”
Vincent collected a career-high 18 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, despite picking up a personal foul six seconds into the game.
“Oh-that foul was (Winsome) Frazier’s fault.” Vincent said with a grin. “He missed his man and I picked up the foul when I went over to block the guy’s shot.”
Bowers and Vincent gave credit to South Carolina for playing a tough hard-fought game.
“(After a game like that) it was good to feel the love and support when we got back,” Vincent said.
The traditions of supporting the team keep growing as the team continues to climb in the polls.
First, the formation in 2001 of the student spirit goup Rick’s Rowdies energized The Hump.
Then, this season everyone has started wearing White to stand out from the Maroon seats in The Hump.
Could another tradition of send-off and welcome home rallies be developing?
“If this keeps happening, it will get better and better,” Bowers said. “This could only help as we wind down the conference season.”
Bowers said the team will probably leave The Hump between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Friday for Fayetteville, Ark.