RICHMOND, Ky. – Forty-five years!  All those amazing players.  All those outstanding coaches.  All those opportunities.  Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances came, but one trophy eluded the Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball program for 45 years. 
 
Until a February night in 2024.
 
From Feb. 19, 1979 – the night James "Turk" Tillman poured in a career-high 41 points to help the Colonels clinch the Ohio Valley Conference Championship with a 100-72 victory at Tennessee Tech – until Feb. 24, 2024 – the night Isaiah Cozart scored 22 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked three shots to help his team clinch the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship with a 95-82 win over Central Arkansas – 44 teams had attempted and failed to win a regular season league crown.
 
Fans had a feeling this would be the year from the very beginning.  Multiple national preseason publications, and two preseason polls conducted by the league office, picked the Colonels to win the ASUN Conference in 2024.  CollegeInsider.com had the Colonels ranked as the 20th-best team in their Preseason Mid Major Top 25.  All for good reason, EKU was one of only 10 teams in the nation to return 70 percent or more of its points, assists, steals and blocks from the season before.
 
Sometimes things don't go as planned.  As the saying goes – it's not how many times you get knocked down that maters, it's how many times you get back up.  As the Colonels adjusted from being the "hunter" to being the "hunted", they got knocked down nine times in their first 13 games.  However, this team kept getting back up, kept working hard and stayed together.
 
It was there in late December, if you were looking for it.  Faced with the daunting task of going on the road to face two teams that would ultimately make up half of the 2024 Final Four, the Colonels didn't quit.
 
Trailing Alabama by 29 at halftime in Coleman Coliseum, EKU scored the first 13 points of the second half.  Michael Moreno's 3-pointer closed the margin to 15 with 15:14 left in the game.  Against a Crimson Tide team that won 25 games, tied for second in the SEC and knocked off No. 1 seed North Carolina on its way to the Final Four, Leland Walker scored 20 points and dished out six assists, and Cozart blocked five shots on his way to a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.  Moreno hit six 3-pointers against the Tide and finished with 18 points.
 
A few nights later, the Colonels rolled into West Lafayette, Indiana to face No. 1 ranked Purdue and Cozart put on a defensive performance for the ages.  He held national player of the year Zach Edey to three points in the first half and 13 for the game.  Cozart tied the contest when he hit a hook shot over the 7-foot-4 Edey.  Cozart had three blocks that night and as a team EKU blocked a Boilermaker squad, that would go on to reach the national championship game, seven times.
 
The Colonels may have lost those two late December games to a pair of Final Four teams, but they didn't stay down.  As the calendar turned from 2023 to 2024, this team found its footing.
 
EKU did the knocking down in January.  The Colonels went undefeated during the month, winning their first seven conference games.  It tied the best start to conference play in program history.  No squad had started the league schedule with seven straight wins since 1959-60.
 
The win over Jacksonville on Jan. 25 was A.W. Hamilton's 97th as coach of the Colonels.  He moved past Max Good (96) as the fourth winningest coach in program history.  Paul McBrayer (214), Jeff Neubauer (188) and Rome Rankin (135) make up the top three.  Hamilton finished his sixth season with 104 wins.
 
The Colonels won at Kennesaw State and beat Florida Gulf Coast on national TV early in February.  On the 17th, EKU went on the road and beat in-state rival Bellarmine by 10.  A 3-point victory over North Alabama on Feb. 22nd put this team on the precipice of history. 
 
Two nights later, EKU clinched the 2024 Atlantic Sun Conference title with its win over Central Arkansas.  Tayshawn Comer hit 8-of-11 from the field and scored 22 points to go along with Cozart's big game double-double performance.
 
Fans flooded Baptist Health Arena as the Colonels marched their way to the ASUN Championship.  EKU led the conference in average home attendance (3,084) for the second straight year, and was the only team to average more than 3,000 fans per game.
 
EKU set a number of other program records in 2023-24.  The Colonels set a new program mark for blocks in a game with 13 against Troy on Nov. 27.  For the second straight season, the team set a new single season blocks record with 190.  This squad also set a new mark with 6.13 blocks per game.
 
The Colonels were fifth in the nation in blocks per game, 14th in rebounds per game (40.13), 17th in offensive rebounds per game (13.23) and 29th in scoring (80.8/game).
 
Hamilton was chosen as the 2024 ASUN Conference Coach of the Year, becoming the first coach in program history to be chosen as the conference coach of the year twice.
 
In addition to winning the first regular season championship in 45 years, the 2023-24 season featured some outstanding individual performances.
 
Isaiah Cozart
It's ironic that Tillman and Cozart both had stellar performances in regular season championship clinching games, as both turned in two of the most spectacular individual seasons in program history – 45 years apart.
 
In 1978-79, Tillman scored a program record 780 points and became the first Colonel to earn conference player of the year honors.  No other EKU player took home that honor until Cozart did this year.
 
Not only did Cozart earn ASUN Player of the Year honors, he became the first player in conference history to win the player of the year and ASUN Defensive Player of the Year awards in the same season.  He was chosen first team all-conference, first team all-district by the NABC and played in the Reese's Division I All-Star game in Phoenix during the Final Four.  Following the season, Cozart was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Lou Henson National Mid-Major Player of the Year Award and the 2024 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year Award.
 
All these honors came after Cozart averaged 15.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.87 blocks per game while shooting 65 percent from the field.  He led the NCAA in blocks (116) and blocks per game.  He ranked fifth in the nation in offensive rebounds (4/10/game), sixth in field goal percentage, 17th in rebounding and 26th in double-doubles (14).
 
Cozart finished the 2023-24 season with 467 points and 301 rebounds, just the sixth time in program history a player has eclipsed 400 points and 300 rebounds in the same season.  He was the first EKU player to average a double-double since Curtis Fincher in 1995-96.  That feat has now only been accomplished 25 times in program history and only four times since 1978-79.
 
Cozart scored a new career-high 33 points against Wilberforce on Nov. 10.  He recorded EKU's first triple-double with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 11 blocks against Troy on Nov. 27, breaking his own single game program record and the ASUN record for blocks.  No other player in the nation had more than 11 blocks in a game during the 2023-24 season.
 
When Cozart blocked a 3-point attempt against FGCU on Feb. 7, he moved past Nick Mayo (177) as EKU's career blocks leader.  Cozart broke the record in just 59 games as a Colonel.  He finished his EKU career with 210 blocks.
 
Against Stetson on Feb. 10, Cozart recorded his 500th rebound as a Colonel.  He was the 31st player in program history to reach 500 boards and finished his career ranked 19th with 579.
 
With his third block against North Alabama on Feb. 22, Cozart broke his own single season EKU record of 94, set last year.
 
Cozart's double-double the ASUN Tournament quarterfinals was his 14th of the season and 21st of his career.
 
The 3-time ASUN Player of the Week led the conference in rebounding, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding (5.93) and blocks.  He was second in field goal percentage and ninth in scoring.  Cozart's 116 blocks in 2023-24 are the second-most ever by an ASUN player, five short of matching the single season record.  His 210 blocked shots during his EKU career are tied for third on the ASUN career blocks list, 24 away from matching the league record.
 
Michael Moreno
Moreno's spectacular 5-year career came to an end this season.  He served as a first-rate ambassador not only for the basketball program, but the entire university.  Moreno ended his career first in program history in 3-pointers made (334) and games played (161), second in rebounds (958), sixth in scoring (1,631) and eighth in steals (168).
 
With his appearance in the game against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 21, Moreno passed Eric Stutz (2011-15), who had played in 133 games, for the most games played in program history. 
 
Moreno broke EKU's career 3-pointer record when he dropped in a triple from the right wing with 15:35 left in the game against Bethany College on Dec. 10.  It was his 284th career 3-pointer, moving past Matt Witt (2002-06) who had 283.  Moreno hit six 3-pointers at Central Arkansas on Jan. 11, including the 300th of his career.
 
On Feb. 3, Moreno hit a season-high seven 3-pointers and finished with a season-best 23 points at Kennesaw State.  He also set season-highs for minutes (39), field goals (8), field goals attempted (14) and 3-pointers attempted (13).
 
Moreno was just the fourth player in program history to record 1,400 points and 800 rebounds, joining Nick Mayo (2,316/834), Eddie Bodkin (1,587/812) and Jack Adams (1,460/870).  During EKU's game at Stetson on Feb. 10, Moreno grabbed his 900th career rebound.  He is now the only player in program history with 1,500 points and 900 rebounds.
 
With nine rebounds against Central Arkansas on Feb. 24, Moreno moved to second on EKU's career rebounding list.  He finished his career with 958 career rebounds, 19 behind all-time leader Mike Smith (1988-92) with 977.
 
The 2023-24 Academic All-ASUN selection was eighth in the conference in rebounding (6.42/game), fourth in defensive rebounds (5.26/game) and 12th in 3-pointers per game (2.13).
 
The one stat that goes mostly un-noticed from Moreno's career is that he grabbed at least one rebound in every game, a streak of 161 straight games with a rebound.
 
Leland Walker
Walker earned First Team All-ASUN honors and Second Team NABC All-District recognition after averaging 15.4 points and 4.1 assists per game.  He was 10th in the ASUN in scoring, fourth in free throw percentage (83.2 percent), sixth in assists, seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.64) and 11th in field goal percentage (43.3 percent).
 
When Walker threw a pass across the court to Turner Buttry for a 3-pointer against Wilberforce on Nov. 10, he broke the EKU game record with his 16th and final assist.  Wendell Green Jr. held the mark with 15 against Tennessee Tech on Jan. 9, 2021.
 
Walker scored what was then a career-best 25 points at Western Kentucky on Dec. 3.  He dished out 10 assists against Jacksonville on Jan. 25.
 
On Jan. 27, Walker scored a career-high 29 points in a win over North Florida.
 
Devontae Blanton
Devontae Blanton earned Third Team All-ASUN honors after averaging 14 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.7 steals per game.  He ranked 17th in the league in scoring, 17th in field goal percentage (41.9 percent) and 17th in rebounding.
 
The ASUN Preseason Player of the Year earned a spot on the EKU Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 16 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in two games. 
 
Against Troy on Nov. 27, Devontae Blanton became just the 30th player in program history to grab 500 career rebounds.  He is now 17th with 639 career boards.  He finished the season 12th on EKU's all-time scoring list with 1,510 points.
 
Additional Individual Accomplishments
John Ukomadu finished second in the 2024 College Slam Dunk Championship in Phoenix on April 4.  Ukomadu scored a perfect 10 on five of the six judges' cards in the finals when he jumped over three people to dunk – 6-foot-9 Langston Wilson of Milwaukee, 6-foot-8 ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and 6-foot-2 Boo Buie of Northwestern – lined up front-to-front-to-front.
 
Ukomadu tied for ninth in the ASUN in offensive rebounds (2.00/game) and tied for 13th in blocked shots (0.80/game).
 
Comer was 12th in the ASUN with 2.97 assists per game.
 
Buttry was selected to the 2023-24 Academic All-District® Team.  The Academic All-District® Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom.  In the classroom, Buttry carries a 3.56 cumulative grade-point-average while majoring in sport management.