While the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus, it still played out in Dalton Nixon’s head. The BYU forward had been looking forward to March Madness so much that each date that was scheduled for a game weighed heavily on him.
The senior suffered a gnarly double ankle sprain at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 13 when he went on a breakaway layup, was fouled in the air and landed badly on his right leg. At first, it seemed like a season-ending injury.
But Nixon was adamant about finishing his collegiate career with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. He rehabbed relentlessly, believes he could have played and thinks the team would have made a deep run.
Well, there's no knowing what could have happened.
“It was really hard when those dates came,” Nixon said. “I thought to myself, on the day that we would have been playing, 'how do I feel?' And I was feeling really good. Each weekend after that, it was hard to think about what could have been. Especially as we talked to the team, we were fully expecting to go into this NCAA Tournament and we wanted to make a run and we wanted to play as long as we could. … Each day that games would have been played on, it was even harder to think of where we would have been if we still would have been playing.”
The 6-foot-7 forward says he is now fully recovered.
“My ankle feels really good,” Nixon said. “Obviously, I wish I could have been playing. I probably would have been able to play in the NCAA Tournament, but just how things went, it's unfortunate. But I am healthy, which is a positive thing.”
For how many games he lost, in the regular season and the West Coast Conference tournament, he’s even more grateful for the few seconds he got in the final home game against Gonzaga.
Only 10 days after sustaining his injury, Nixon ditched the bulky, black boot and got dressed to be able to walk out with his wife and family for senior night celebrations. He wanted to be able to have photos of himself in his BYU jersey.
What he didn’t know was that coach Mark Pope would give him a memory that Nixon’s been holding onto dearly during this pandemic and will continue to look back on.
With 21 seconds left on the clock in what turned out to be a 91-78 victory over No. 2 Gonzaga, Pope had Nixon check in. The injured Cougar stepped onto the court, a few feet away from the officials’ table, stood there and dribbled and held the ball for eight seconds until the officials whistled a shot clock violation.
Nixon then walked off the court alongside four other seniors — Yoeli Childs, TJ Haws, Jake Toolson and Zac Seljaas — for the last time.
“The whole night was really special,” Nixon said. “Even if I hadn’t gotten in, I still felt like I was a really important part of the team being on the bench and still talking to the guys as if I was playing on the court. But to have that opportunity to go back on the court, hold the ball, feel the crowd at the Marriott Center — it was a really special experience. Throughout these past few weeks of basketball coming to an end, I’ve had that opportunity to reflect on and it stands even brighter amongst all the experiences that I had throughout the season.”
So, what’s next for the BYU reserve? For now, just trying to finish up the semester while quarantining with his wife, BYU volleyball player Taylen Ballard-Nixon.
He’s also in the process of figuring out where he will continue his playing career. Nixon still has a few more classes to take before he is able to graduate and Ballard-Nixon has one more year of eligibility, but ultimately Nixon is eyeing a professional career in another country.
Luckily for Nixon, he is able to seek guidance from his father, Kevin Nixon, who also played at BYU (1991-93) and went on to have a professional basketball career overseas.
“Obviously, this is a really weird time in the world with the pandemic, but I really do hope to be able to continue to play basketball,” Nixon said. “That would really take my basketball dreams to the next level.”
