He will be the last player to step on the court for pregame warm-ups and the last one to walk off of it after his Senior Night speech, but every second in between for Toby Hegner on Tuesday night will about two things:
1. Doing whatever it takes to get a win that as a result may very well secure an at-large bid for the upcoming 2018 NCAA Tournament.
and
2. Trying to savor every moment from tip to buzzer as he plays his final game in front of 18,000 Bluejay fans at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
And you better believe that nobody in a uniform on that court appreciates the gift of the next possession better than the 6-foot-10 senior forward from Berlin, Wisconsin.
Because of all the pain and soreness in his ankles and feet from five seasons of wear and tear, injuries, surgery, and rehab, Hegner admits there are days when a short stroll from his bed to the bathroom turns into an uphill battle. His concerned girlfriend of five years, whom he now lives with, will ask if he’s going to be okay. His answer is always the same as he takes one slow step at a time.
“I just need a couple seconds.”
“You have to laugh about it,” he said. “Our bathroom is probably 100 feet away from our bedroom and it takes me a solid couple minutes to get there. I feel so old. It’s so sad.”
Hegner had surgery on his right ankle after the team lost to Rhode Island in the NCAA Tournament last March. Repairing the bum wheel had him excited for a senior season that he hoped would be the best year of his career. A chance to go out on a high note. Then came injury to the left ankle. A few possessions after hitting a 10-footer near the baseline to give his team a three-point lead, Hegner landed on the foot of Northwestern center Dererk Pardon and went down on his back along the baseline. Bam. Two games and six and a half minutes into his final collegiate season, he immediately feared the worst.
“I was scared that I broke it,” Hegner said. “I’ve rolled my ankles a lot, and normally you can move it right away, but I couldn’t move my ankle and I was really nervous. I was really scared about it being broken.”
As it turned out, it was just a severe sprain that was expected to put him out of action for 3-6 weeks. Despite staring at more crutches, more rehab, more painful shuffles around the apartment the day after games, retirement was never considered.
“It never crossed my mind at that point,” he said. “I just wanted to get back healthy because I saw the potential in this team. I wanted to be a part of something special, and we still can do something pretty special. My main goal was to get back and try to help this team win games.”
Toby Hegner rises up for a jumper against Nebraska in December. (Photo by Mike Spomer / WBR)
Hegner returned to the court 16 days later, five days ahead of even the most optimistic timetable. In Creighton’s loss at Gonzaga, he came off the bench and played one minute for every day he missed, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the process.
He came off the bench in the next game as well before returning to the starting lineup for the Jays’ win over in-state rival Nebraska on December 9th. He has been in the starting lineup for every game since and has scored in double figures 10 times, including a season-high 19 points in a blowout win over Georgetown in the nation’s capital.
Even on his best days at this point, it takes a good amount of effort from several people to get Hegner ready for each game. He’s usually the last player out on the court for pregame warm-ups because it takes a solid 4-5 minutes to stabilize each ankle with tape, then another five just to put on his socks and shoes over the wrap. As for the games themselves, sometimes it looks as if he’s having no trouble at all, others it appears like he can barely make it across half court in time for the possession. But no matter how slow or hobbled he looks at times, giving his best effort is always his main priority.
“I know offensively I’m not going to be the biggest threat at the hoop,” Hegner said. “I don’t try to save it for the defensive end, but I try not to make mistakes on the defensive end and let my feet get in the way. There are definitely games where I’m just struggling to move.
“I have tried to pride myself on the defensive end. I try to not let certain situations get the best of me. If I can’t walk in the morning because I gave it my all I’m going to accept that every time. That’s basically what it comes down to. The next day is going to be pretty bad, but I’m going to leave it all out on the court because Omaha deserves that. They don’t deserve me playing half ass. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win. I’m not necessarily filling up the stat sheet every night, but I’m definitely doing my part. Whether it’s being in the right spot, helping guys up, diving on the floor for a loose ball, or boxing my guy out every time. Those are the little things I try to focus on. That’s what is important to me.”
Hegner takes a charge against Providence. (Photo by Mike Spomer / WBR)
More than those little things on the basketball court, family is what is most important to the youngest of three sons raised by Brian and Traci.
That family foundation was shaken recently when he learned shortly after the conclusion of Creighton’s “Pink Out” game on January 27th that Traci had been diagnosed with the very disease that event is designed to combat and raise awareness for. As difficult as it was for him to hear the news, it was even more difficult for his mother to deliver.
“It was really hard for her to tell me because I’m the youngest and she’ll always tell you I’m her baby,” he said.
The family kept the news quiet for the month to follow and the 23-year-old internalized his feelings about it.
“It’s been hard on me,” he said. “It’s been a hard month.”
After learning of his mom’s illness, he leaned on his coaches and teammates to get him through it until the time came to fly home for a few days after the game at Butler to be with Traci for her surgery.
“She tries to tell me not to think about her and her situation, but it’s tough,” Hegner admitted. “The last month has been really tough on me just because I’m playing basketball, I have school — I’m getting my master’s — and then you have this bomb dropped on you that your mom has cancer and you can’t even do anything about it besides sit there and wait. It sucks. Obviously having Coach Mac and all of the coaches behind me has been unreal. I am forever grateful for that. It’s been easier because of them.”
Hegner returned to Omaha two days later, just in time to send his mom a keep fighting memento when he and his teammates ended a three-game Big East losing skid with an 89-83 overtime win over 3rd-ranked Villanova — the highest rated team the Jays have ever defeated in the history of the program.
As difficult as his own aforementioned ailments will be to get through physically on Tuesday night against DePaul, it will be even worse emotionally for him and his family as Traci will be forced to miss her son’s final home game while she recovers from surgery.
“When she first told me it was really tough and I took it really hard,” Hegner said. “It sucks. It’s my last home game, it’s my last college game at the CenturyLink. There is no other person you want in the stands besides your mom or your dad. Luckily enough my brothers are here and hopefully I can bring them out, and bring my dad out … I’m a big family guy. Mac wanted me to go home [for the surgery] and I was all about it, because my family is so close … the fact that she can’t be here is tough, but I just try not to think about it as much. When the day comes it will be tough, but I’m not going to think about it until after the game. We’ve got business to deal with, and she knows that, and I know that. She wouldn’t want me out there thinking about it anymore.”
While cancer robs a mother and her youngest son the chance to share that Senior Night moment together, it won’t stop the senior forward from appreciating a time of his life filled with the highest of highs and, most recently, lowest of lows, and the family that guided him through it from eight hours away in Berlin to the one he gained over the course of five years in Omaha.
“Looking back at it, I remember the first day I stepped on campus and everyone was telling me ‘it’s going to fly by, it’s going to fly by — I’m telling you it’s going to fly by and you need to take it for what it is and take everything in,'” Hegner said. “You don’t think of it when you’re a freshman. You think these guys are nuts. I’m doing redshirt workouts and I’m losing my mind. I’m calling home, ‘Mom! I want to come home, I need a break.’ You’re not used to it, but it has truly flown by, and I’m grateful for the opportunities that the coaches have given me. They have stuck with me through a lot and they truly have trusted me over the years. I’m forever grateful for what they’ve done for me, and obviously Ben [McNair] and my surgeon Katie Grier — they’ve all stuck with me through this whole thing and it’s unbelievable.
“And you can’t give enough appreciation to the city of Omaha and the fans … we’re sitting in our gym right now and it says ‘17,000 Strong’ and when you think about [the Villanova game], that’s exactly what that was. Omaha helped us win that game. It wasn’t just us, it was everybody. That’s something that I’m always going to cherish. As a freshman you didn’t really realize it. I remember the New Year’s Eve game [against Marquette]. It was pretty cool, it was pretty loud, it was the first Big East game, but there is going to be no game that is ever going to compare to what happened on Saturday. I didn’t play as much because I wasn’t doing as well … and I had a chance to look around and take everything in. It was unbelievable. That wasn’t just a win for us, that was a win for the city, and that’s what it’s all about.”