At 23 years old, senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald is a late bloomer.
The road he took to last Saturday's Senior Day match-up was a winding one. After his freshman year, he took a leave of absence from school to work. Returning the next year, Fitzgerald hadn't planned on playing basketball, deciding only on the eve of the tryouts when Tufts basketball player and friend Blaine Lay encouraged Fitzgerald to attend a fraternity event on Halloween.
Having never seen him at any of the workouts, coach Bob Sheldon initially told Fitzgerald to get off the court.
"I didn't know who he was so I said 'this is a tryout, so you have to get off the court,' and he said 'I know - I want to try out,'" Sheldon said. "Because he was 6'4", I let him. If he was 5'8", I probably would've told him to get off the court."
Three years later, on Saturday, Fitzgerald was one of two Tufts seniors honored on Senior Day. In three years, he transformed from walk-on, to bench player, to starter and captain.
"It was kind of funny how it all happened," Fitzgerald said. "I think it's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm not sure I'd be this far along in my graduation if I didn't have the basketball commitment."
Before Saturday's match-up against the red-hot Bates Bobcats, Fitzgerald didn't receive the loudest cheers. During the game, he didn't get the most attention from the Bates defense. But while fellow senior tri-captain Dan Martin earned both of those honors, it was Fitzgerald who made the loudest statement.
After going scoreless in the first half, Fitzgerald reeled off 15 second-half points on 5-7 shooting to lead the Jumbos to an upset victory over Bates, ending the NESCAC frontrunner's 16- game win streak. The game was particularly sweet for the Jumbos, who lost to the Bobcats in the NESCAC tournament semifinals last year.
"It was definitely bittersweet, but it couldn't have had a better ending because they knocked us out last year," Fitzgerald said. "There was some talking after [last year's] game. They did some things that were disrespectful to some of our seniors, so I had that game circled on the schedule. It was kind of a storybook ending for me."
For all the shots Fitzgerald hit, perhaps no play was bigger than the one he made on the defensive end in the final two minutes. With 2:23 left in the game and the Bobcats trailing by nine, Bates senior star Rob Stockwell stole the ball from Tufts junior tri-captain Dave Shepherd, giving the Bobcats a chance to cut into the Jumbos' lead.
Bates missed three consecutive three pointers, but each time, it grabbed the offensive rebound. After his team failed for the third time to get the big defensive board, Sheldon had seen enough. He subbed in Fitzgerald, his second-highest rebounder, and when the Bobcats missed their fourth three, Fitzgerald pulled down the rebound and drew a foul.
"He means a lot to the team," Martin said. "He does a lot of the little things. He works his ass off in practice, first of all. He goes after the boards and shoots the three. He does a lot of the intangibles that you don't see in the stats at all."
While Fitzgerald's contributions may not be visible as his 6'8" classmate's - Martin's scoring in the past week earned him his second NESCAC Player of the Week Award - they fill a crucial niche for the Jumbos.
"We have so many scorers on this team, so my role is a defensive presence inside," Fitzgerald said. "I would like to think of myself as someone who just adds to team chemistry and just helps the team win, maybe not necessarily by putting up huge scoring numbers, but by doing the dirty work."
And this is what Fitzgerald was asked to do on Saturday when he guarded Stockwell. This is not uncommon for the Jumbos, as Fitzgerald is often assigned to guard the other team's best post player. He is asked to provide defense, rebounding and, if the opportunity presents itself, knock down the open shot.
"[Fitzgerald] and [Martin] are the heart and soul of our team and [Fitzgerald] is a big part of that," Sheldon said.
Fitzgerald has started all 22 games for the Jumbos so far in the season, playing 20.3 minutes per game. He's second on the team in rebounding, averaging 6.4 per game, and second on the team in blocked shots with 15 on the season.
"I really feel like on this team, my main objective is to bring a defensive presence, some rebounding and some fire," Fitzgerald said. "I take a lot of pride in defense."
On the offensive end, Fitzgerald takes just over four shots a game, but he is efficient and selective. He shoots 45.6 percent from the floor and is the team's best free throw shooter, at 86.1 percent. Perhaps most impressive for a big man, he is the team's second best three-point shooter, shooting 54.5 percent from long-range.
He hit all four of his three point attempts against Bates, including a nail-in-the-coffin trey with the shot clock winding down at the end of the game.
Knowing that the team does not rely on him to post significant scoring numbers, Fitzgerald waits for open shots.
"I hit shots, but they were all wide open looks," Fitzgerald said of his performance on Saturday. "Jake [Weitzen] hit me with a few good passes and [Martin] was passing well out of the post. It wasn't so much me, but it was my teammates getting me the ball with good looks and me being fortunate enough to knock them down."
In the past several games, Fitzgerald's teammates have been looking to get him the ball more often. Fitzgerald has averaged almost 12 points a game over the last three games, scoring in double-figures each time. Still, Fitzgerald will not be relied on to be the team's main scorer down the stretch, a clutch role that Sheldon has designated to Weitzen.
At times this season, as he did on Saturday, Sheldon has manipulated his substitutions at the end of games to make sure that Fitzgerald is in on the defensive end of the floor and Weitzen is in on the offensive side.
"We always joke around on the team that if you combine us two you could have one of the best players on the team," Weitzen said. "We compliment each other very well. I have a sense that coach Sheldon allows us to be one player, when he subs us in offensively and defensively."
The Jumbos will need contributions from both Fitzgerald and Weitzen if they hope to make a run in the conference tournament, in which Fitzgerald expects the team to excel.
"I've never felt so positive about a team that I've ever played on before," Fitzgerald said. "I just know up and down the lineup everyone is going to step up and play their role. Last year, I thought that we were going do something in the conference tournament. This year I'd be shocked if we didn't elevate our play and really do something special."
