Andover's Connor Wilkie kept basketball team up when losses mounted

Andover junior guard Connor Wilkie expects people to scrutinize his team's 10-19 record going into this week's state basketball tournament.

The Huskies are the only team out of 32 with a losing record, a distinction not lost on Wilkie.

"People can dog on us and say we don't deserve to be in the state tournament" Wilkie said. "And it stinks for us because sometimes you think, 'Why couldn't we fix our mistakes earlier in the season?' Because when we're clicking we're tough to stop."

Persevering through a season with limited victories is no easy task. Andover coach Nick Tibesar credits Wilkie, a 6-4 guard who averages 18.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, for keeping players positive.

"He didn't let guys get down and you really need that mentality when you're grinding through a season," Tibesar said.

The Huskies open Class 4A state tournament play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against No. 3 seed Edina (22-7).

Wilkie talked about enduring the regular season, playoff comebacks and fulfilling a state tourney dream.

Q: How did you help the team deal with the adversity of not winning too many games during the season?

A: We tried to keep a positive mind-set all season. When we lost our first game at East Ridge we didn't know what to expect. It was a tough way to start. So we came into the Armstrong game with a chip on our shoulder thinking we would win and we lost that game. Then I busted my nose playing Centennial and couldn't finish the second half. And I missed the Osseo game. To see the guys out there battling and not being able to do anything was tough.

When we looked at the part of the schedule with Anoka, Blaine and Cambridge-Isanti, I told the guys, 'We've got to make a run here.' And we did. We won three in a row and that helped us get our confidence up.

Q: But then you went on a season-high six-game losing streak after that. Take any positives from that?

A: We have a pretty tough conference so we just tried to play hard. We led Maple Grove at the half. And we kept it close in the first half against Osseo even though three of our starters were out.

Q: Looking back, does the experienced gained by playing a tough schedule make the losses seem more worthwhile?

A: It would have been nice to play a cupcake schedule and have 25 wins but our schedule made us battle tested. We know how to play against teams that like to run and the ones who hold the ball for 45 seconds on offense. So it's helped us.

Q: The playoffs seemed to set up nicely for you. You had Blaine in the first round and you had beaten that team twice during the season.

A: It's tough to beat a team three times in a season and we were down about 19-3 to start. Our coach called timeout and told us we were playing too tight. He challenged us to hold Blaine under 30 points for the rest of the half and we responded.

The same thing happened in the section final against Forest Lake.

Q: What are your thoughts about playing Edina?

A: They've got Graham Woodward and he's a great player. But we've got a couple of guys that maybe could D him up. We're pretty confident playing them. … No one expects anything from us so let's just go play hard and try to do this. This is a dream for all the guys, especially [junior guard] Kyle Kettler and me. We went to state every year to watch Andover when they made it from 2005 to 2007.