‘I’ve been doing that my whole life’: Vinales Guides House Of Paign To Massive TBT Upset Win

Kyle Vinales, who was likely unknown to Illinois basketball fans before the start of The Basketball Tournament, endears himself to Illini faithful during a Round of 16 upset win over Carmen’s Crew.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For Illinois fans clearly not familiar with the game of Kyle Vinales, making the final two baskets that led House Of Paign to a massive upset in The Basketball Tournament are what he’s known for.

“I’ve been doing that my whole life,” Vinales said with a smile.

The 28-year-old hit highly back-to-back contested runners in the lane to send the House Of Paign team to a 76-68 victory over the top seed and defending champion Carmen’s Crew team Wednesday afternoon. Vinales, who is one of three non-Illinois alums on this House Of Paign team, took control in the second half to end the upset win with 16 points in 23 minutes including half of the team’s points in the critical Elam Ending phase.

Kyle Vinales (0, orange) had 16 points including his team's last two baskets in a 76-68 win for House Of Paign over defending champion and top-seed Carmen's Crew in the Round-of-16 game of The Basketball Tournament :: Ben Solomon/The Basketball Tournament

Vinales, who became the quickest player in Central Connecticut State to reach the 1,000-point plateau and averaged 19.2 points per game in his three-year college career, said the team got direct instructions from former Illini star Malcolm Hill before the last two possessions for House Of Paign.

“That goes to show Malcolm Hill’s leadership in the huddle because he said ‘give the ball to Kyle’,” Vinales said in the post-game media conference. “Those were his exact words. He said ‘He has a mismatch’ and I was just trying to exploit it. My teammates gave the space I needed and I was lucky enough to make those baskets.”

Vinales was selected to this House Of Paign team based on the recommendation of former Illini forward and Champaign native Michael Finke after Finke had played professionally with the 6-foot-2 guard for BC Kalev/Cramo in Estonia.

The House Of Paign team celebrates after Kyle Vinales hit the game-winning shot in a 76-68 upset victory over top-seeded Carmen's Crew Wednesday in the Round-of-16 game of The Basketball Tournament.  :: Ben Solomon/The Basketball Tournament

In what had been primarily a tournament filled with higher seeds winning, TBT 2020 saw arguably the event’s biggest upset Wednesday as House Of Paign, a newly-formed team of mostly Illini alums, knocked out top-seeded Carmen’s Crew thanks to a remarkable second half that saw them outscore the host squad 37-24.

“What I love about this team is we can win in different ways,” House Of Paign head coach/general manager Mike LaTulip said. “I thought in the first game we were trying to get people the ball with sets and we did that. This game was about ‘let’s find mismatches (and) let’s give the ball to guys who put it in the basket.”

Carmen’s Crew, which was playing its first game in this year’s TBT, were stymied from the perimeter as they missed 19 of the 30 shots attempted from beyond the three-point arc. The game likely represented the final professional game for former two-time Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year selection Aaron Craft. Before this tournament started, Craft, 29, said publicly he would like to focus on his medical school pursuits. The former four-time Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection would finish Wednesday evening with just four points in 27 minutes as he appeared to suffer a knee injury in the second half of the contest.

Craft and 6-foot-5 William Buford never seemed to find any rhythm as former Illini guard Andres Feliz, who is the only member of House Of Paign not yet to start his professional basketball career, held the duo to just 4 of 15 from the field. The native of the Domincan Republic also poured in 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Mike Daum led House Of Paign with 23 points and eight rebounds but was forced to do it Wednesday in a completely different way than the blowout opening round win over War Tampa on July 4. Daum got his point on just 10 field goal attempts and was a perfect 3 of 3 from three-point range. After halftime in which House Of Paign saw a 44-39 deficit, Carmen’s Crew elected to double the ball-handler and therefore, leaving the NCAA’s seventh all-time scorer all alone at the arc for open looks, which LaTulip admitted in the post-game media conference “was surprising” to the entire House Of Paign bench.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen in a group of guys that met eight days ago is the connectivity we have on and off the court,” Daum said. “You can just tell we band together no matter what is going on in the game.”

Top half of The Basketball Tournament 2020 bracket

House Of Paign will now face Red Scare, which is a squad primarily filled with Dayton alums, on Friday in the TBT quarterfinals at 3 p.m. CST