The team ended its program-record sixth straight year with at least 19 wins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 11 in a shootout against Northern. Despite cutting their deficit to one possession in the game’s final minute, a deep three from Wildcat guard Max Bjorklund with 11 seconds left effectively ended the game.
“There’s always going to be regrets at the end of a season, always moments you want to have back and things you wish you would have done differently,” fifth-year center Peter Kalthoff said. “Personally I have some of those and I’m sure as a team we feel certain ways, but it was a tough game, I thought we battled well.”
The team was down as many as 12 points with under six minutes to play, but used a 18-9 run to pull itself back into the game. Senior guard Jack Gohlke scored nine of the team’s points on the run, while Kalthoff and senior guard Kyle Goessler combined for the remaining nine.
“There were a couple moments on the court when Jack and I were yelling at each other ‘we’re not going home like this,’ we were giving it our all and there’s a sense of real fun, of real joy, in that,” Kalthoff said. “It didn’t end the way we expected it to of course, but that’s just the way the sport goes, and it teaches you life lessons sometimes, and some of those are hard to swallow.”
In the wake of his fifth year with the program, senior guard Jack Gohlke announced he has entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer, while Kalthoff said he is mulling options for his final year of eligibility.
Both Kalthoff and Gohlke redshirted their first year with the program, allowing them to fifth-year, and each has another year due to the NCAA’s response to COVID-19.
“I’ve really loved my career here and I’m not ready to give up basketball unfortunately,” Gohlke said. “I’ve had a lot of great memories throughout my whole life playing basketball and I want to keep playing, and I’m lucky enough to have a free year of eligibility from the whole COVID fiasco.”
Kalthoff echoed a similar sentiment, saying he isn’t ready to give up basketball yet, and that he feels healthy despite breaking his hand during last season.
“I think there may be some good opportunities for me to play another year somewhere, or head overseas, I’ve had some people tell me they think I could have success in that area,” Kalthoff said. “I’m definitely exploring my opportunities, and not throwing all my chips in one pond yet.”
Regardless of their decisions, they will be joined by seniors Noah Applegate, Jacob Ngobi, Cole Nau, and Goessler in an anticipated May graduation in May, and have all likely played their last game in a Charger uniform.
“I told them that I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people, when you try to put a team together if you’re the head coach, you kind of dream to have these types of kids in your program,” Tharp said “We’ve had a lot of great players and great teams, these six guys have won a lot of basketball games, and it’s been just a joy to be around them on a day-to-day basis.”
The graduating Chargers wrap up their careers with a third season in a row with more than 21 wins, the program’s longest such streak since a four-year run from 1977-81.
After a 23-8 finish last season, the team lost three key players to graduation, including first-team all-american Patrick Cartier. Despite the losses, the Chargers finished with the same in-conference record as last year, and a better overall winning percentage.
“These 16 guys, especially our veteran players, deserve so much credit,” Tharp said. “A year ago is when Pat decided to transfer and those guys had something that they wanted to prove, that the program wasn’t just about one particular guy, and I’m so proud of those veterans, they were so connected and had such a collective effort, we had so many different guys step up for us this year.”
All six Chargers will graduate having made the first NCAA Sweet Sixteen and, a year later, Elite Eight in program history. Multiple individual Chargers left their mark on the record books as well.
Gohlke knocked down 98 triples this season, the second most in any single season in Charger history, while his 184 career made threes are good for eighth most all time.
Additionally, Goessler’s 84.4 career percentage at the free-throw line sits at the sixth best in program history.
Despite their accomplishments on the floor, both Kalthoff and Gohlke said interactions with their teammates and coaches off the court will be missed the most.
“It’s one of those things that I’m sure everyone’s experienced in their life where you look back on some sort of period of time and it’s gone extremely fast but also, it feels like it’s been forever since you got to that stage,” Gohlke said. “Every year was amazing but especially those tourney runs are so much fun because those are the biggest games and if you can find a way to win them, it’s just extra time you get to enjoy with your teammates.”
