Valparaiso head coach Roger Powell Jr. called timeout in a tie game against Purdue with just over four seconds left in double overtime. His team, the sizeable underdogs at Mackey Arena, had a chance to pull off an epic upset. While Powell Jr. talked with his assistant coach Matt “Flash” Gordon, it was junior Justus McNair who stepped up.
“I was like, ‘Coach, I swear I got it. I’ll win us the game,’” McNair said.
The guard delivered on his promise. He went nearly the length of the floor to hit a side-step
3-pointer, shocking the Boilermakers on their home floor in double overtime.
For Valpo and Powell Jr., the win was massive, but it wasn’t a fluke. Valpo has a long history of winning tradition dating back to the Homer Drew era in the mid-to-late 90s. In his third season, Powell Jr. is bringing back that winning tradition through his Chicagoland roots.
“I can speak to the stories of all the guys that I’ve coached and I’ve recruited (from the Chicagoland area) that have had success,” Powell told Mid-Major Madness. “It’s kind of become a pipeline for me, not just as a head coach, but also as an assistant.”
While Powell Jr. has been recruiting the Chicagoland Area for over a decade, his first head coaching job gave him a unique opportunity. The first high school recruit who offered and committed to his Valpo program was a guard out of Joliet, the town that he grew up in. That guard’s name: Justus McNair.
Powell Jr.’s list of reasons to get McNair to Valpo was long. He mentioned his toughness and ability to play with other good players, but first he mentioned the family connection.
Powell Jr. grew up with McNair’s family. His best friend and best man at his wedding is Andrea McNair’s (Justus’ mother) brother.
“I wanted to give him an opportunity just because, you know, obviously I cared about him and the family and we had a great relationship,” Powell Jr. said.
The chance to play close to home and for a coach that knows his family was a big factor in McNair’s decision to come to Valpo.
“I loved that my family could come to games,” he said. “My support system is what really has brought me this far.”
Playing at Valpo was about more than McNair playing an hour and a half from Joliet. Powell Jr. being a terrific player at Joliet West stood out to him.
“When I was playing at West, I used to walk in the hallways in high school and see his picture on the wall,” McNair said.
Powell Jr.’s ties to the Chicagoland Area and Joliet have paid off many times before, but when McNair’s shot fell through on Friday, it gave the Valpo program an all-time moment.
“It was up there with Bryce Drew’s shot [and] Ryan Broekoff’s shot that got us to that [Horizon League] Tournament Championship when I was an assistant here,” Powell Jr. said.
In addition to McNair’s shot in double overtime, it was Rakim Chaney who sent the game to double OT with an intentional missed free throw and 3. Chaney finished the night with 35 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. His performance got him National Player of the Week from the Lou Henson Award. The honor is given to the top player from a mid-major league.
The Beacons also got a couple of other key contributions from Chicagoland Area natives, including 11 points and eight rebounds from J.T. Pettigrew, and a pair of clutch free throws from Hudson Scroggins with under a minute to play in the first overtime period.
Powell Jr.’s Chicago connections will continue to serve the program well as long as he is the coach there. This season, the Beacons have seven players on the roster from Chicago, the surrounding suburbs, or northern Illinois. While NIL has come into play in recent years, Powell Jr. is still proving that having roots and knowing an area is still valuable.
“If I don’t know everyone, they know me,” Powell Jr. said.
