March Madness: Vermont's TJ Long suffers knee injury late in loss to Duke
Vermont guard TJ Long is assisted by a trainer after he was injured late in the second half of a first-round NCAA Tournament game against Duke at Barclays Center on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
TJ Long was in Brooklyn on Friday night looking for one more great night in what has been the best season of his life. Instead, he got a night that no one wants, that no one would wish upon another.
The kid from Rockville Centre who transferred from Fairfield to Vermont and led the Catamounts in scoring en route to the NCAA Tournament, saw his season end with injury, disappointment and anxiety.
It was hard to watch his right knee buckle in the waning moments of what would become fourth-seeded Duke’s 64-47 win over 13th-seeded Vermont at Barclays Center. But it was far harder to see the concerned look on the faces of his parents, Tom and Jacki, outside the Vermont locker room about 45 minutes after Long was helped off the court. A tear ran down one side of Jacki’s face.
“He’s very disappointed and anxious,” she said. “He can’t put any weight on it.”
“He’s in pain,” Tom said. “He’s going to have an MRI on Monday. We’ll know more then.”
Long was ahead of the Blue Devils’ defenders when Aaron Deloney’s long outlet pass approached. He twisted awkwardly as he went high for the ball, crashed to the floor along the baseline and stayed down, holding his knee. After a few minutes with the team’s medical staff, he was helped directly to the locker room.
Vermont coach John Becker said that when the team arrived at the locker room, Tom and Jacki had arrived and TJ was very upset. Rather than talk, Becker said he kissed the 6-4 junior on the head.
“I’ll go down with that kid every day of the week,” Becker said. “We’re not here today without his season, without his heroics.”
Long had finished his second season at Fairfield and had been named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year when he made the decision to transfer. Changing schools might be a agonizing decision for many, but there were two reasons it wasn’t for Long. First, he wanted to play in an NCAA Tournament more than almost anything. And second, he isn’t afraid of change, especially if it can bring a windfall.
Becker had taken Vermont to the NCAA Tournament in four of the previous six years it was held.
Long has changed schools several times in his career, seeking better basketball circumstances. He didn’t feel a fit at Chaminade High School and transferred to Holy Trinity, where he earned a Newsday All-Long Island selection. And when he hoped to garner better Division I scholarship interest, he took a postgrad year at Canterbury School in Connecticut and gained entry to Fairfield.
Thus, this banner season began and the good things started piling up. Long helped Vermont collect 28 victories, including 10 after trailing at halftime. He led the Catamounts with 12.2 points per game entering the NCAAs and made several winning shots, none bigger than the four-point play in the final second of a 66-65 win over Yale on Dec. 2.
And then came the victory over UMass Lowell in the conference tournament championship game. “My parents were so happy they were crying,” he said at shootaround Thursday. “They know I’ve put in a lot of work and changed schools a few times.
“It was pretty special,” he said, beaming.
That special moment is what brought Long and Vermont to Friday night’s South Regional first-round game at Barclays Center, a place he’d seen only with a floor of ice as a lifelong Islanders fan.
Long struggled against the Blue Devils, blanketed by 6-5 Tyrese Proctor. He got few good looks, and his basket in his 1-for-8 shooting night was a circus shot. He finally got a great look on a three-pointer to cut the margin to six with 5:27, but it missed.
“He’s got the magic — he’s had the magic all year,” Becker said. “He came here to have this opportunity and his first year plays at the Barclays Center, 20 minutes from his house . . . He’s made that all year. He didn’t make it tonight, but I’ll go down with that kid every day of the week.”
And now everyone should have their fingers crossed for him.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.