Former Viking Patrick Suemnick hits key bucket, scores 20 against No. 3 Kansas

By Kelly Fenton

The Denmark News

With two minutes to play and West Virginia trailing by a point against No. 3 Kansas on Saturday afternoon, Noah Farrakhan dribbled from the top of the circle down the left side of the lane, got cut off and turned back inside. He spotted Patrick Suemnick a couple feet away on the other side of the lane and delivered him the ball. The 7-2 All-American Hunter Dickinson loomed over Suemnick who, six inches shorter but a whole lot quicker, spun to his right and launched a jump hook from eight feet. 

Rising Ceiling

Patrick Suemnick wasn’t even all that interested in basketball when he was a kid. He was tall already, sure. But even he will tell you he lacked skills or even much interest in the sport, preferring, he said in an earlier interview, skateboarding to basketball. 

But by the time he reached his freshman year, the Green Bay native had begun to develop both an aptitude for and a love of the game and soon he was getting up at 4:30 in the morning to practice at the nearby Kroc Center before heading off to school at Denmark High.

His ceiling kept rising and by his senior year he led the Vikings to the state semifinals at the Kohl Center in Madison, finishing the season with an 18.2 points-per-game average on 61 percent shooting. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 1.6 assists and earned all-state honors.

Even then, the path that led from Denmark to Morgantown seemed uncertain, maybe even unlikely. He spent time at Bosco Institute in Indiana, Robert Morris and Triton Junior College and even though he led Triton to the NJCAA Final Four and was named a first-team All-American, it wasn’t clear if he’d gone as far as he was going to go.

He had not. The summer before his Triton College breakout season he displayed his skills at a basketball showcase in Atlanta where West Virginia assistant and one of the nation’s top recruiters, Larry Harrison, liked not only what he saw but after talking to him, what he further discovered. Suemnick was heady, an academic All-American with a 4.0 GPA and a work ethic to match. 

Still, even after he joined Bob Huggins’ squad in 2022 his role was limited and he averaged just 5.4 minutes a game his junior year.

Had Pat Suemnick, finally, hit his ceiling?

Winning Shot

By the time Suemnick made his move on Dickinson with the game on the line on Saturday in Morgantown, he had already had himself a game. After a slow start – he made only one of his first four shots, and eight of his 11 first-half points came over the final two-and-a-half minutes – he began to flourish in a wild, up-tempo game. He had gone from setting high-lane picks designed to free up red-hot RaeQuan Battle and pull Dickinson away from the basket to a go-to player looking to score. 

“I would have never thought Patrick would get 15 field goal attempts,” West Virginia coach Josh Eilert admitted afterward.

Suemnick had used his quickness all game to overcome the size difference with Dickinson, a marvel on the offensive end but a slow-footed, sometimes listless defender. But this time, with the Mountaineers down 81-80 and the game up for grabs, Dickinson refused to give Suemnick space. Suemnick didn’t hesitate, spinning to his right and launching a high-arcing jump hook over Dickinson’s extended arm. It kissed softly off the glass and through, a bucket that would give West Virginia the lead it wouldn’t relinquish in the Mountaineers’ 91-85 stunner over the third-ranked team in the nation.

“Honestly, I go against two seven-footers in practice every day in Jesse and Ali (Ragab) so I know what that feels like and I felt like I had enough space to get that shot off,” Suemnick said. “But whatever I can do, I just want to help us win, whatever that role is for me. Last year, we had a lot of scorers and we needed rebounding and defense. This year with us having scoring droughts and with defense being more of an issue for us, I know I have to look to score more. 

“It’s been great getting the opportunity to be featured a little more.”

Suemnick finished with 20 points – Dickinson had 19 – and six rebounds – Dickinson pulled down just five. Four of Suemnick’s rebounds came on the offensive end. He made 8 of 15 shots. He also dished out a pair of assists.

“He played great,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “I thought he was the second-best player they had. And he made a couple of big plays late. I like him as a player a lot because he can play the four or five and he knows who he is.”

Asked if he thought he had outplayed the All-American Dickinson, Suemnick said simply, “All I know is we got the win and they didn’t.”

Eilert didn’t hesitate, though, calling Suemnick the more aggressive player and saying he thought he got the better of Dickinson.

With a portal haul that was ranked among the nation’s best, West Virginia figured to have plenty of talent. And with Syracuse’s 6-11 center Jesse Edwards among those transfers, Suemnick figured to be hunting minutes again his senior season. But a lot transpired from last year to this. Bob Huggins was fired after a drunk-driving incident and several players got held up in the portal by the NCAA, including the one the Mountaineers were counting on most, RaeQuan Battle, and West Virginia struggled mightily in the early going.

It took Edwards’ mid-December injury to really give Suemnick his chance. His minutes climbed – he played 34 of the 40 minutes against Kansas – but his offensive production didn’t necessarily follow as he was used primarily as a high-screen setter. But against Ohio State on Dec. 30, Suemnick went 4 for 4 and scored nine points, then went for 12 against Houston, 16 against Texas and nine vs. Oklahoma and he has made 26 of 39 shots in his past six games, averaging 10.2 points.

“We had three natural fours but no real backup for Jesse at the five,” Eilert said. “I told Pat at the beginning of the year – and I don’t know if he wanted to hear it that bad – the best opportunity for you is to buy in to being that backup five. It was late in the summer and we never had shored up that backup five.

“But Pat’s done an incredible job. He’s got strength and size and he just continues to build on that confidence each and every night. He’s getting the opportunity and he’s taking advantage of the opportunity. He’s one-hundred percent done that.”

‘...Going and getting a bucket’

Suemnick’s confidence was clear in the post-game press conference when he was asked about going up against the All-American Dickinson.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about his accolades or anything,” he said. “I’m watching film and I’m thinking about all his weaknesses. He’s tall, okay. But he’s slow. Or he’s maybe lazy. I’m not thinking about, he’s this or that. I’m thinking about going and getting a bucket.” 

Perhaps the best barometer of his confidence is just how unsurprised he seems to be by his own emergence.

“I don’t really feel like I’ve done anything special,” he said. “I’m just making shots and really, knowing the skill set I’ve always had, I don’t necessarily think I’ve shown all the things I can do. I’m as confident as I can be.”

Former Denmark coach Cody Stelmach is someone else who is not at all surprised by his former player’s breakout season.

“He prepares himself more than anyone I have seen before,” he said. “And because of all that time spent in the gym hour after hour, day after day, year after year this is the result you get. Pat is the ultimate example to any young athlete that if you put your head down and put in the work, when your opportunity finally comes, you’ll take advantage and give the coach no choice but to play you.

“Pat just makes winning plays. The sky is the limit and I couldn’t be happier for his success.”

Suemnick said he’s been hearing from people back home in Green Bay and Denmark, from former teammates and fans and family as his basketball career comes to full fruition.

“Every game I’ve got people texting me and calling me from back home,” he said. “It just means so much to be so far away from home but knowing I have all their support and that they all have my back. I appreciate that so much.”