MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Spencer Macke grew up in Fort Thomas, Ky. — right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati — as a man of the media.
His grandfather was a longtime copy desk editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer, while his mother, Tricia, was a news anchor at the Fox TV affiliate in Cincinnati.
Tricia Macke is also a basketball junkie of sorts.
“She had her own team and she kept trying to get me to play on her team,” Huggins said of his days when he coached at Cincinnati. “She kept telling me, ‘Well, the football coaches are playing.’ I told her that the football coaches don’t have as much to do.”
Spencer, a popular walk-on with the West Virginia men’s basketball team, is falling in along those lines. He’s majoring in communications and he seems to have great communication with the WVU student section.
Once the Mountaineers’ lead ballooned up to 20-some points during their 83-57 victory on Saturday against Nicholls State, the students began their chant:
“We want Macke. We want Macke,” they chanted.
“I love it when they do that,” Macke added. “It gets me pretty excited.”
Huggins granted the wish, summoning Macke into the game in the final minutes.
He scored his first points as a Division I college player moments later after Dexter McClanahan was whistled for a technical foul after arguing a non-call he believed should have been a foul.
Replays showed McClanahan may have had a case, as Macke got him pretty good across the arm.
Still, the record will show Macke went 2 for 2 at the line to score the Mountaineers’ final points of the day.
“I’m waiting to make a three,” Macke said. “That’s the dream.”
Macke’s teammates went nuts when the free throws went in. Emmitt Matthews jumped on him after taking the shots. Chase Harler gave the we’re-not-worthy bow from the sidelines.
“I didn’t get to see my teammates. I was so nervous,” he said.
His days at Silver Grove High sound like they were part of a pretty good dream, too.
He averaged 34.9 points per game as a senior and led the state of Kentucky in rebounding (15.8 boards per game), despite standing just 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds.
Coastal Carolina was the only Division I school that offered him a scholarship. Some smaller Division III schools were also interested.
Macke wanted something a little bigger. So, too, did his mother, who met back up with Huggins this past summer at an AAU tournament.
“I was in Louisville and she started telling me about her son,” Huggins began the story. “She told me he was averaging 38 [points] and 18 [rebounds].”
Huggins almost didn’t believe it.
“She said no one would give him a scholarship,” Huggins continued. “I said he could walk-on for us. It was pretty much that simple.”
Huggins got a first-hand look at Macke at an AAU tournament in Indianapolis, where he was there watching prized freshman recruit Oscar Tshiebwe.
“I just happened to be playing on the court next to Oscar,” Macke said. “Coach Huggins came over and watched my game. I had a really good game against an Indiana elite team. About a week after that game, he called me and told me I could walk-on if I was interested.”
He jumped at the opportunity.
“So many great players have played here,” Macke said. “I felt like it would be better for me to come here and learn under coach Huggins and all of his players.”
He earns his keep through dedication. At home games, he’s generally the first on the floor to put up some shots before warm-ups begin. He said he takes 500 shots per day in the gym.
He’s earned the respect of his teammates, who want to see him succeed just as much as the team.
“Spencer is one us,” WVU forward Derek Culver said. “He works hard every day. He’s in the gym all the time. He’s just a big a part of this team as anyone else.”
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