SI

No. 11 Rhode Island upsets No. 6 Creighton and then gets its own surprise—Lamar Odom

Despite being the lower seed, No. 11 Rhode Island had no trouble downing No. 6 Creighton in March Madness. The bigger shock for the Rams was a surprise appearance from program legend Lamar Odom.

Stewart Mandel

No. 11 Rhode Island upsets No. 6 Creighton and then gets its own surprise—Lamar Odom
No. 11 Rhode Island upsets No. 6 Creighton and then gets its own surprise—Lamar Odom /

This article originally appeared on FOXSports.com.

SACRAMENTO — As Rhode Island players took the floor for their school’s first NCAA tournament game in 18 years, a few looked up into the stands to see a surprise visitor: former Rams star and NBA veteran Lamar Odom.

None of them had ever seen him in person. It was kind of a big deal.

“Our kids went crazy when they saw him,” said Rhode Island assistant Jim Carr. “We’ll take all the good luck charms we can get.”

Eleventh seed Rhode Island didn’t seem to need much luck Friday against sixth seed Creighton. Fueled by a suffocating defense, the Rams led the entire way en route to an easy 84–72 victory. It was the school’s first tourney win since reaching the Elite Eight in 1998—the year before Odom arrived.

The 14-year NBA vet, best known for winning two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, played just one season (1998–99) for Rhode Island yet remains a legendary figure there for hitting a game-winning shot in the 1999 Atlantic 10 championship game against Temple.

“It feels just like yesterday that I hit that shot,” Odom said in the Rams’ locker room after Friday’s game.

How big a deal was his presence? When the locker room doors opened, TV crews from Rhode Island darted straight for him, while the guys who’d just beaten Creighton watched. A couple of locker room visitors asked for a picture with him afterward.

It was the first time the Rams’ current players had seen him in person.

“Once we saw him, it was like man, he really came back,” said junior Jarvis Garrett. “He’s a legend here.”

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Outside of Rhode Island, Odom is better known to many as a tabloid figure for his marriage and subsequent divorce from reality star Khloe Kardashian. In 2015, he suffered a near-fatal drug overdose at a brothel in Nevada. His appearance Friday came as a surprise mostly because he’s only a couple of months removed from leaving a rehab facility near San Diego.

Odom told USA Today on Friday, “Life is great” and he’s as “good as ever.”

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Odom, who spent part of Friday’s game sitting with his former Rhode Island coach Jim Harrick, said he plans to return for the Rams’ second-round game Sunday against No. 3 seed Oregon.

Why does Odom remain so connected to a school where he only spent one year?

“College,” he said. “It was the best time of my life.”

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Stewart Mandel
STEWART MANDEL

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Stewart Mandel first caught the college football bug as a sophomore at Northwestern University in 1995. "The thrill of that '95 Rose Bowl season energized the entire campus, and I quickly became aware of how the national media covered that story," he says. "I knew right then that I wanted to be one of those people, covering those types of stories."  Mandel joined SI.com (formerly CNNSI.com) in 1999. A senior writer for the website, his coverage areas include the national college football beat and college basketball. He also contributes features to Sports Illustrated. "College football is my favorite sport to cover," says Mandel. "The stakes are so high week in and week out, and the level of emotion it elicits from both the fans and the participants is unrivaled." Mandel's most popular features on SI.com include his College Football Mailbag and College Football Overtime. He has covered 14 BCS national championship games and eight Final Fours. Mandel's first book, Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy That Reign Over College Football, was published in 2007. In 2008 he took first place (enterprise category) and second place (game story) in the Football Writers Association of America's annual writing contest. He also placed first in the 2005 contest (columns). Mandel says covering George Mason's run to the Final Four was the most enjoyable story of his SI tenure.  "It was thrilling to be courtside for the historic Elite Eight upset of UConn," Mandel says.  "Being inside the locker room and around the team during that time allowed me to get to know the coaches and players behind that captivating story." Before SI.com Mandel worked at ESPN the Magazine, ABC Sports Online and The Cincinnati Enquirer. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1998 with a B.S. in journalism. A Cincinnati native, Mandel and his wife, Emily, live in Santa Clara, Calif.

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