‘I’ll always remember’: Clevin Hannah delays retirement to help AfterShocks win in TBT
A week ago, 34-year-old Clevin Hannah wondered if he was too old to help the AfterShocks in The Basketball Tournament.
On Monday night, the veteran point guard scored a pivotal basket in the Elam Ending and directed the show in crunch time for the AfterShocks in a 70-67 win over Bleed Green in the Wichita regional championship game.
Leaving the Koch Arena floor following the celebration with Wichita State fans, Hannah could be heard saying, “The old man’s still got it!”
“I’m just happy that I did choose to play with these guys again,” said Hannah, who was originally slated to just be a coach on this year’s TBT team. “As the oldest guy on the team, to have a game like I did (Monday) is unbelievable and it’s amazing for me, man.”
It was quite the spectacle to see the diminutive point guard slash through defenses and bring the Roundhouse crowd to its feet more than a decade after the 2010 Wichita State graduate departed the program.
In 19 minutes, by far the most of the first three TBT games, Hannah produced nine points on perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the field and four assists. He drilled a fourth-quarter triple to put the AfterShocks up 60-49, then his most memorable moment came when he drove past his defender, then Euro-stepped past another for a smooth layup to give the AfterShocks a 64-63 lead during the Elam Ending.
“These are just as special as my moments in Europe,” said Hannah, who has played in Spain’s top-tier league for the last five seasons. “These moments, playing in front of this crowd again back in this gym, I can’t even put it into words. For fans to still show me love 12-13 years later, it’s unbelievable and something I’ll always remember.”
Playing Hannah down the stretch of a tightly-contested game to stay alive for the $1 million prize was a bold and calculated move by the AfterShocks’ coaching staff of Zach Bush, Garrett Stutz and J.R. Simon.
Hannah played in just five minutes in the AfterShocks’ 70-60 win over the Air Raiders over the weekend. He also committed two turnovers in the first half of Monday’s game, which could have persuaded the coaches to leave the veteran on the bench.
But Hannah has earned the trust of Bush the way he has conducted himself in practice and off the court the last two summers. And Stutz, a former teammate of Hannah at WSU, knows exactly what the floor general is capable of.
So with their TBT run on the line, the 34-year-old was on the floor when the game was being decided.
“Clev is just a pro’s pro,” Bush said. “He’s proven it time and time again and you know what kind of person he is. As a coach, you value that consistency because you know you can trust him. And you know at some point, he’s going to make a play because he does it every year. Once again, in a critical moment, Clev is out there creating chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what.”
The $1 million prize was the furthest thing from Hannah’s mind during the pressure moments of Monday’s game.
Rather, he cherished the opportunity to play in front of his wife and children, including a 7-year-old son who is following in his father’s footsteps as a basketball player. Having his son see him excel and hear the crowd embrace him like that meant the world to Hannah.
It also helped that he has performed under pressure a time or two at Koch Arena.
“We have the advantage because all of us are used to these kind of moments here in the Roundhouse,” Hannah. “We have all experienced the same exact pressure in this gym and I think that’s why we were able to succeed.”
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