Junior guard Mekhi Doby was in it for the long haul from the start when Aurora University coach Steve Christiansen convinced him this was the school for him.
Three years in, the Rockford Guilford graduate is certain he made the right choice. And he’s playing an integral role for a program that has definitely turned the corner.
“He didn’t tell me I was gonna come in and be the man,” Doby said of Christiansen, who was completing his first season at the school when he recruited Doby. “He wasn’t promising me the world. He was straight with me, telling me I’d get a chance and had to work for it.
“What made me stay was our relationship that developed. He was hard on me some days when I needed it.”
This season, there has been many more good than bad.
Doby came through with another good one Wednesday, picking up 10 points, six rebounds and three assists as the Spartans cruised past visiting Rockford for a 84-70 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win in an afternoon matinee.
The 6-foot-3 Doby entered the game as his team’s second-leading scorer with a 15.3-point average for AU (19-3, 14-1), which posted its 17th straight win.
“I’m a little surprised at the streak,” said Doby, who had endured back-to-back 11-15 records his first two seasons. “I knew we could go pretty high once we got going, but that’s a lot.”
Devon Richardson, a 6-8 junior center who transferred in this season from Joliet Junior College, delivered a dominant performance with 34 points and 18 rebounds to lead AU.
Junior Juan Madrigal, a 6-4 forward who transferred in from NCAA Division II Christian Brothers and averages a team-high 15.5 points, added 12 points for the Spartans.
Richardson and Madrigal are joined by a third transfer in the lineup — 6-1 junior point guard Cullen Rauls. They have helped key AU’s surge along with Doby and 6-4 junior guard Jeffery Hillmer, the fifth starter who came in the same recruiting class with Doby.
Rauls, who transferred from Madison, is third on the team in scoring at 14.9. Hillmer, a native of Sycamore who graduated from Wheaton Academy, averages 11.7 points.
“It was tough,” Christiansen said of his transition to AU.
A Hinckley native who played for Bob Barnett at Hinckley-Big Rock and then at North Central College, Christiansen took the job in spring 2022. He had coached 17 seasons at Triton, winning a national title in 2018 and assisted one year at Northern Illinois before making the move.
“The way I coached at Triton was a different game,” Christiansen said. “I had to adjust my style and decide how do we play and be effective based on who we can get when I came here.
“It’s easier when you have (athletic) scholarships like we had at Triton. We got better each year, but the record didn’t reflect it.”
Dolby and Hillman have progressed as Christansen planned, but another recruit from their class — who was the NACC’s freshman of the year — transferred out.
“At the start of this year, we had no idea how these guys would coalesce and work together,” Christiansen said. “But the group has been amazing.”
Three games remain in the regular season, with AU entering Saturday’s 3:15 p.m. home game with conference co-leader St. Norbert, followed by a home game next Wednesday against Benedictine, the only conference team to beat the Spartans this season, and a Feb. 21 finale at Milwaukee School of Engineering, which is one game behind.
AU hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since back-to-back appearances in 2018 and 2019. Getting the top seed for the conference tournament could go a long way in reaching that goal.
Doby saw the progress coming in preseason.
“I knew it was gonna be a different team,” he said. “Everybody was doing things for each other. Even preseason runs, we weren’t just running to run. We were running to get something out of it.
“It was really special.”
