Here are 3 things to know about this Springfield star's second NCAA tournament berth

Terrion Murdix crumpled to the floor with a devastating knee injury less than three minutes after the opening tip.

Teammates immediately rushed over to help carry the heralded Southeast graduate off the court.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi initially reeled and fell behind as much as 26-10 in the first half of the Southland Championship game against Northwestern State on Wednesday.

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The Islanders (23-10) stemmed the tide by halftime and reclaimed their second straight SLC Tournament title with a 75-71 victory over the Demons.

Murdix reappeared after the win on crutches. The team presented the coveted trophy with unbridled joy. Even his high school coach, Lawrence Thomas, climbed the ladder to help cut down a piece of the net.

"They were all shell shocked. I was shell shocked," Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach Steve Lutz said, according to the Caller-Times. "It took everything to not cry on the sideline for that kid because he has given us everything he has. These guys are human. Terrion is best friends with half of them. He is that guy.

"You see him go down and it takes a good while to regroup. When you have good people and guys that care, they are usually going to get themselves out of that little funk, and to their credit, they did."

Barring a quick recovery, Murdix can at least find solace in another ticket to the Big Dance.

Murdix soars down south

The senior guard was recently named Southland’s Defensive Player of the Year. He led the league and ranked 12^th nationally with 71 steals (2.3 per game). He also generated a league-best 168 assists (5.4 per game), which was 17^th nationally.

He averaged 13.8 points per game to boot, third best on the team.

Murdix also guided the Islanders to last year’s NCAA Tournament by leading the team in assists (135) and steals (65) in 35 games. TAMUCC garnered the No. 16 seed and fell to No. 16 Texas Southern 76-67 in the opening round.

Lanphier graduate Xavier Bishop simultaneously led Montana State to the 2022 NCAA Tournament out of the Big Sky Conference. He was named first-team all-conference — and league tournament MVP — with 13.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game before graduating.

Murdix lifted Southeast to new heights

Murdix starred at Southeast alongside Anthony Fairlee.

As juniors, the talented duo powered the Spartans to their first state appearance in 2018. Fairlee hauled in boys basketball player of the year honors from The State Journal-Register that season.

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Murdix won the award the following season after averaging 18 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game and leading the team to a third straight sectional title.

He finished No. 12 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,039 points.

JUCO route pays off

Murdix initially verbally committed to Chicago State University before opting for NJCAA Division I Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri.

He tore his ACL freshman year but led Mineral Area to the NJCAA Elite Eight the ensuing season with averages of 9.8 points, 6 assists and 2 steals per game.

Murdix moseyed down to TAMUCC among a gamut of transfers beckoned by new head coach Steve Lutz, who was previously an assistant coach at Purdue for four seasons.

Murdix appeared in every game as a junior but didn’t get his first start until Jan. 27, 2022.

He ultimately led the conference with 3.4 assists per game and became the conference tournament MVP averaging 12.7 points and 6.3 assists per game in the three wins.

The Islanders will now make just their third ever trip to the NCAA tourney.

Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: NCAA basketball: Texas A&M Corpus Christi uplifts Southeast graduate