April 5, 2021 at 8:56 a.m.
RHS alum Owen White hungry for more after big season at Michigan Tech
RHS alum Owen White hungry for more after big season at Michigan Tech
"The year went really well. It was a lot of fun playing this year," he said.
All the Huskies did this year was go 15-8 overall, finish runner-up in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament and advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament for only the second time in school history.
And all White did was average 21.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, earn GLIAC player of the year honors and garner a spot on the NABC's Division II All-America Team.
It's been a steady climb for White at Michigan Tech. He was the team's most improved player last year as sophomore and took his game to another level this year.
"The biggest thing for me was just confidence. I got into a more confident mentality," White said. "I wanted to attack, wanted to score. That just helped my game blossom and our team I think."
White, who recently added team MVP to his list of season superlatives, really found his stride this season. He shot 48.3% from the field, reached double-figure scoring totals in every game and scored a career high 33 points on March 7 in the GLIAC championship game against Ashland.
That helped earn the Huskies a No. 2 seed in their regional for the NCAA tournament. Tech got past Southern Indiana 81-69 in the regional semifinal but fell to top-seeded Truman State 65-62 in the final, costing the team a shot for the first Elite Eight bid in school history.
White scored a team-high 19 points in that game including a pair of free throws that put Tech up 62-61 with 13 seconds to play. Truman's Cade McKnight, also a D-II All-American, had 21 points however. That included a go-ahead layup over White with three seconds left that proved to be the game-winning basket.
"He kind of beat me up a little bit inside," White said of Truman's 6-9 forward. "We were trading baskets toward the end and he just happened to hit the one with four seconds left and we didn't get another chance.
"It's been something I thought about ever since we lost. I'm not sure if I need to go hit the weight room and put on 25 pounds of muscle so I don't get beat up down low or what, but it's definitely something I'll think about for a while and something that will definitely fuel me."
Finding his way
Things did not start all that well for White at Tech - at least not as well as he wanted them. He played in all 27 of Tech's games as a freshman, making 17 starts and his stats were decent, averaging 9.4 and 4.0 rebounds a game.
But the most glaring weakness for White was his shooting. He shot 38.9% overall that year and only 22.4% from 3-point range.
"Freshman year, I was pretty bad. If you go look at the stats, I had a pretty horrible year," he said. "We were struggling that year (the team went 11-14) so I kind of tried to force the issue. It's like, 'OK, I've got to score, got to do more so we can win games.' That just wasn't the right thing for a young guy to be doing on a college level. It caused my game to hurt."
Plenty of time in the gym with coaches over the following summer and another year of maturity helped White as a sophomore. His numbers jumped to 12.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. More importantly, he shot 53% from the field and 48.8% from beyond the arc as he earned the team's most improved award, as well as All-Defensive honors from the GLIAC. He also made the conference's all-tournament team as Tech won the GLIAC tournament.
"Last year, I was more of a spot-up shooter," White said. "I didn't do a ton other than that, just catch and shoot, but I think I got a lot of confidence. All my teammates believed in me, and the coaches were very confident in my ability."
Learning from the best
During his first two seasons at Tech, White also had the chance to share the court with the program's all-time leading scorer, Kyle Monroe.
"If you know anything about Tech sports, he's the best player to ever play through here," White said of Monroe, who graduated in 2020 and holds the school's all-time game, season and career scoring marks.
Monroe was a D-II All American last year and White said he learned a lot from sharing the floor with him.
"Everything he did as a star player wasn't just to make himself look better, or score more," he said. "It was to help the team win. That was really the biggest thing I took from him - do what I can to help the team win."
After Monroe graduated, White knew the team had big shoes to fill, and that he wanted to help fill them.
"With Kyle being gone, just trying to step up and fill a role, not just so I can score 20 points a game or whatever, but just to win," he said. "Just having someone who's a threat and can facilitate, draws a lot of attention, is a role that needed to be filled so I tried to step up and fill it as best I could."
Playing through COVID
Of course, for much of 2020, it was not clear if there would be any roles to fill this season. Like virtually everyone else, White and his Husky teammates were waiting and wondering to find out if they would have a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The green light from the GLIAC to play this season came in November, but White said the team dealt with some COVID issues in December. White himself contracted the virus over the Christmas break. By the time he was healthy and able to return to action, he had only two practices before the team opened the season against Purdue Northwest on Jan. 9.
Though White said he was grateful for all of those who made sacrifices to make the season a possibility, all the protocols and precautions took their toll.
"Toward the end off the year it did get a little draining," he said. "Basketball is why we're here, so to be able to play is awesome and we're very grateful for that, but I didn't see my family for two months - no one on the team did. We avoided contact with anyone outside the team. Even if we had classes that were optional to go in-person we weren't going in person. Everything was online."
Oddly enough, White said the least alien facet about playing during the pandemic was games without spectators.
"That really didn't seem to have that big effect on me. Once you're playing the game, you're just so locked in that you don't really hear anything," he said, admitting he didn't really notice the difference until a handful of fans were permitted to watch the team play in the NCAA tournament.
What's next
If you think White and Michigan Tech are satisfied following a successful 2020-21 campaign, think again.
"We return a really good, core group of guys and I'm hungry," he said. "I know the guys are hungry. This is the second time we've ever made it to the Sweet 16, but to get that close to going to the Elite Eight and not getting there, is really going to drive us, I hope. It's definitely going to drive me for next year."
Though the team will graduate three seniors, the way this season ended - seconds away from the national quarterfinals - has White eyeing greater accomplishments next year.
"I really want to win a championship here. It's not something I really thought a whole lot about, but now that I was in a situation to make it to the Sweet 16 and be that close against a team of Truman's caliber, I know we can do it.
"I couldn't care less if I get All-American again, but I want to back in the national tournament and I know we want to win one."
Keeping tabs back home
Of course, before White went to Michigan Tech he was a standout for the RHS boys' basketball team for three seasons. He averaged 20.7 points and 10.2 rebounds as a senior during the 2017-18 season as the Hodags went 20-3 overall. White was named the Great Northern Conference's player of the year that year, received all-state honors from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and was selected to play in the WBCA All-Star Game.
White said some of his coaches and teammates from high school have reached out to congratulate him on a successful season on the college basketball hardwood.
"I'd like to thank the people from Rhinelander that have been reaching out to me throughout the year," he said. "It's fun to still have that support form the people at home - (RHS boys' basketball head) coach (Derek) Lemmens, coach (Terry) Berndt, coach (Kurt) Zalewski, guys like that reaching out, (coach Chad) Bolkema and some of the people in the community. It's been awesome."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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