Magee: ‘I let everyone down’ with 0-for-12 day
Wofford’s Fletcher Magee misses his 12th 3-pointer of the game to set an NCAA tournament record. (0:17)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Wofford guard Fletcher Magee went from setting the NCAA Division I record for career 3-pointers to another NCAA record he surely wishes he could give back.
Magee went 0-for-12 from the 3-point line in a 62-56 loss to Kentucky on Saturday, the most attempts from that distance without a make in an NCAA tournament game. Afterward, Magee blamed himself for the loss, saying, “I just feel like I let everyone down.”
“I just needed to hit a couple of shots,” he said. “We had the momentum sometimes and I had a big shot and it ended up not going in, but I’ve got to own up to it and swallow it. I went in there, I prepared like I always prepared. I did everything I’ve always done. I shot them how I always shoot them. They just didn’t go in.”
Kentucky opted to have Tyler Herro guard Magee, and Herro said his No. 1 goal was to “stay on Magee at all times. Couldn’t lose him. I had to stay connected to him at all times.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari said he hoped Kentucky’s size would bother Magee before adding, “It was the effort and energy, and my hope is they got a little worn down because these guys did not stop. They just chased, and they knew they couldn’t let up in this game or they were going to score baskets because it’s how they play.”
Wofford guard Fletcher Magee set the NCAA Division I career 3-point record on Thursday night, surpassing Oakland’s Travis Bader, as the Terriers advanced in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
Saturday has been good for the higher remaining seeds so far, with every higher seed winning, including FSU ending the Ja Morant show.
Magee was 0-for-11 on contested 3-pointers, an area in which he had success Thursday against Seton Hall, going 6-for-11. Though Magee said Kentucky did a good job on him, the senior did not necessarily think the No. 2-seeded Wildcats played him any differently than his other opponents.
“I’ve shot the shots I got tonight against every team in the [Southern Conference], every other team I’ve played,” Magee said. “They were no harder. I just didn’t shoot it well. Some of them felt good and were short, some of them felt good and were long and some of them were just off. It’s just what happens.”
In the first round of the NCAA tournament against Seton Hall, Magee set the Division I career 3-point record in making seven against the Pirates. He ends his Wofford career with 509 3-pointers.
His previous career-worst game without a 3 came earlier this season in an 0-for-9 showing at Kansas on Dec. 4, a game Wofford lost 72-47, its lowest point total of the season. It was the fourth time in his four-year career he failed to make a 3.
What hurt the most Saturday was knowing how close the No. 7 Terriers played Kentucky, and the thought that just a few shots going in could have made the difference.
“The ride that we’ve been on — just doesn’t seem right to end on a game going 0-for-12 from 3 when if I go 3-for-12 we win the game,” Magee said. “I just don’t understand how that happens. I’m sure I won’t really get over it for a while. Sometimes that’s how the game goes.”
“If I would have played a little bit below average, we still would have beat Kentucky,” he added. “It was just a horrible performance from me, and we lost.”
Magee, known for his ability to take and make shots from any angle, said he felt his shot was a little off at the start of the game. But in the second half, he felt good about the shots he took, and thought if he could just make one, they would all start falling. So did the coaches, who never wavered in their belief that he would get going. They’ve seen him make too many 3s — like he did with his clutch performance in the opening round — to start going away from him.
“It’s athletics, it’s hard to understand,” Wofford coach Mike Young said. “The baseball player that goes 4-for-5, knocks four home runs the day before and goes 0-for-5 and three strikeouts and he’s in a rut. It’s athletics. It happens. I know how much he puts into it and how devastated he is, but we’ll get him through that in a hurry. He’s an all-timer.”
To his credit, Magee not only answered every question during his postgame news conference, he answered every question in the open locker room afterward, owning his performance.
“It hasn’t really hit me about what all just happened,” he said. “I’m still in shock.”