A Week That Brought Howard together
As Zennia Thomas returns home, Howard’s men and women turn March into a collective moment
This is a business trip for Howard senior center Zennia Thomas.
It just happens to feel like home.
The Ohio native will play two hours from her Cleveland home, only now under the bright lights of the NCAA tournament. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year leads No. 14 seed Howard against No. 3 seed Ohio State in a Fort Worth Region game Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. at Value City Arena.
“I get to play in front of my family on a big stage,” she said, a smile tucked into her voice. “I couldn’t be more than happy to do it here in Ohio.”
And how many will be there?
Thomas didn’t count.
“It will definitely be a family reunion,” she said.
Not the kind with name tags and folding chairs. The kind where the stands fill with familiar faces, where every cheer carries history, where the game folds into something bigger than basketball, a gathering, a homecoming, a moment shared.
There will be familiar faces on the floor, too.
Ohio State’s Kennedy Cambridge, Chance Gray, and Seini Henry aren’t strangers. Thomas and Cambridge were teammates at Kentucky, a connection that adds another layer to an already meaningful return.
“I know a couple of their players on the roster,” Thomas shared. “I got a chance to see Jaloni Cambridge a little bit, but I didn’t really know her that well; I just knew her through Kennedy. Just being able to kind of reunite with them is very exciting. But as far as Kennedy goes, I just know she’s a very talented player, defensively incredible, and the best defender I’ve seen so far. It’s just going to be a great experience. I’m definitely ready to go out there and play against them.”
Thomas, Nile Miller, Zoe Stewart, and head coach Ty Grace met the media on Thursday, each carrying a version of the same truth.
Thomas may have her people in the stands Saturday morning, but she won’t be the only one carrying something bigger than herself. What’s happening with her, with that family reunion forming in real time, is just one thread in a much larger story Howard has written this week.
One that stretches beyond a single game, beyond a single player, beyond even a single program.
With both teams winning MEAC tournament championships and celebrating their Selection Show moments together inside Burr Gym, the week has unfolded as something more than success. It has felt like alignment.
A continuation.
There were watch parties as Howard’s men defeated UMBC for the first NCAA tournament win in program history. They gathered Thursday night again, locked into the screen as the men battled top-seeded Michigan, trailing by four at halftime. The support has been seen. It has been felt.
Alums and fans wearing Howard gear. Teammates sitting together. Men cheering for women. Women cheering for men. Students, alumni, and staff were all locked into the same screens, reacting to the same moments, rising at the same time when history unfolded.
That sense of unity defined this week.
It wasn’t siloed success. It was shared joy.
“I think it’s been really exciting,” Stewart said. “One of the fun moments is seeing the community come together, especially after we won at the MEAC Tournament, and they did too, and being able to celebrate on the court together. Seeing the community on social media and different things like that, all rallying together, making posts. We’ve been supporting each other, watching the games and stuff. It’s just been exciting and really fun to see that happening.”
At Howard, basketball is never just basketball.
It’s connection. It’s culture. It’s proof of what happens when opportunity meets preparation at a place that has always believed in both.
A place that has produced Kamala Harris, Chadwick Boseman, Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, and Taraji P. Henson. And a place where Ty Grace enthusiastically promotes excellence, carrying that standard forward through her program every day.
“We have some of the best and the brightest,” Grace said about her young ladies. “I mean, these young ladies are phenomenal, not only the court -- because that’s what people see every day -- but as individuals, they’re just as impressive. I mean, we have a team GPA over 3.3. We have young ladies who want to be sports agents or psychologists.
We often forget the human side, which is just as important. I want people to see that these young individuals are about to make their mark in the world, and I’m proud to coach them.
Grace is also grateful to be part of this shared moment.
The trophies from last week will find their place. The banners will hang. The box scores will be archived.
But the feeling?
That will stay.
Because this week was about reminding everyone what it feels like when a community rises together and history, once again, makes room for something new.
“It was very special,” Grace said. “You just have such a sense of pride to watch two teams that you get to spend time with, because people from the outside don’t -- maybe not the Bison Brother Podcast -- are not there every day in every practice, in the locker room. To be able to see that work that was put in all year is phenomenal. The way we have represented the university, so proud of the men’s team and Coach Blakeney and my team, and how they support each other. It’s just been a really big deal, and I’m just really happy to be a part of it.”