Back in the New York Groove (Recap of Colgate vs. Iona Women's Basketball Game)

For the sixth time in four months, I flew from Charlotte International airport back to New York and the fifth time from Gate D4, the "official" gate of Jet Blue to JFK.  As has been the case, the five previous times I came in from Charlotte, my wife was there to greet me at the baggage claim.   It was the first time she was there without the kids since she had a Christmas party she had to attend at her job.  Her parents were watching our two sons at our house.

When we got home, my older son, aka my color analyst Matthew, was wide awake, but my younger son, Jonathan, was fast asleep.  Matthew was happy to see me, but he seemed more interested in his macaroni and cheese and one of the Ice Age movies as I had to practically beg for a hug.  Ah seven year olds.

Yesterday morning, I was the first one up.  As with this article, I was in the entertainment room reviewing what trains I had to take for my trip into the city yesterday.  Jonathan, who would make an excellent spy, was in usual stealth mode and snuck up and said "DADDY!"  I got the biggest hug and he sat with me on the chair as I finished reviewing the subway map of New York City.

Jonathan and I each had a bowl of cereal and watched "Tom and Jerry" together on Boomerang.  Boomerang put us in the Christmas spirit by playing the classic "The Night Before Christmas" episode.   Shortly thereafter, Matthew came down, came up to me and said "I want to spend a lot of time with you today" and curled up into me.  I was so choked up, I couldn't reply immediately.  I just hugged him for a minute and finally said "I will".  Matthew is used to me only being home a few days and didn't realize that I would be in New York for eleven days due to my holiday break at South Carolina.

After both kids went to school, my wife dropped me off at the Bellmore Train Station to take a train into the city.   I was heading to New York Law School for a work related matter and to visit two old friends there I used to work with at Hofstra, Oral Hope and Pete Trimarchi.  I was there for ninety minutes looking over a very impressive building with great views of Tribeca and the city.  Finally I had to say my goodbyes to Oral and Pete and head towards Canal street for the second part of my day.

I took the number six train from Canal street north to Grand Central Station.   I was meeting my friend Tieff at the famous Grand Central clock above the Metro North Information Booth to take a train up to New Rochelle.   If that sounds familiar to my marines, aka the few, the proud, the readers of my site, that's where Iona College is located.  Yes, I was heading there to see Coach Tony Bozzella's Gaels take on Colgate.

I have been to Grand Central before, most recently last year to hang out with a good friend, the beautiful Cecilia Guerra, for drinks at one of the great bars located in the lower concourse and then we met up with another good friend, Andrew Wilson for a dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby Grand Central.  This time, I was standing in the middle of the station, trying to avoid passersby and tourists taking pictures of their loved ones in front of the famous clock.  As it always is with Tieff, he was running late and got there a few minutes before the 1:10 New Haven train was leaving.  But, I came prepared having already bought two one way tickets for New Rochelle.

We made our train to New Rochelle.  Our friend Mal was picking us up at the Chase Manhattan building right near the New Rochelle terminal.  But as we got off the train, we had a surprise.  The great Jaden Daly, author of the Daly Dose of Hoops site, where I have been a contributor a couple of times this season, had been on the previous train to New Rochelle.  We had been in touch via Twitter and Jaden decided to wait for us at the station.  We talked hoops as we normally do as we walked to meet Mal, who drove us to Iona College.

We got to the Hynes Center just in time for the national anthem and walked into the gym during introductions.  Coach Bozzella smiled as we said hi and made our way up to seats behind the Iona bench.  The Gaels hadn't played in two weeks due to finals but they had a nice crowd, larger than anticipated, there to greet them back to the land of non conference Division I conference basketball.

Last season, Iona played at Colgate.  The Raiders ran out to a 46-18 halftime lead.  The Gaels could never recover and lost 75-50.  Several of the players from that Colgate team returned for yesterday's game, including sophomore Mariah Jones, who scored fifteen points in the win over Iona.

In the first ten minutes, you could tell Iona hadn't played in two weeks.  They struggled holding onto the ball, committing ten turnovers.  Fortunately, the Gaels were playing good defense and the Gaels led 8-7 nearly halfway through the first half.

Bozzella went to a smaller lineup and something clicked with this young Iona team (only one senior on the team, starting guard Haley D'Angelo).  The Gaels rolled off a 20-3 run over the next seven minutes.  Freshman forward Joy Adams scored eight of those twenty points and Iona had a 28-10 lead.

During this run, Adams drove for an impressive layup. It was right after this that Jaden and I noticed Coach Bozzella actually smile during a game for one of the rare times we could remember.  Freshman Aaliyah Robinson finished the first half by burying a three pointer and the Gaels went into the locker room up 36-17 at the half. Iona shot exactly fifty percent from the field in the first half.

After being a guest of the always terrific radio play by play man of the Iona Gaels, Nick Guerriero, on the halftime show, I was looking forward to see how this Gaels team would play in the second half.  Young teams often find it difficult to play consistently over forty minutes.    The Gaels wouldn't disappoint me in the second half.

Iona went out on a 15-6 spurt over the next six minutes to go up 51-23 with fourteen minutes left in the game. Freshman point guard Aleesha Powell scored seven of those points whole Damika Martinez added six points during that spurt.  Powell was particularly impressive in the second half, scoring ten points in the final twenty minutes of the game.  She was also very much under control and shot three of five from beyond the arc and six of ten from the field for the game.

Bozzella rested his starters for much of the second half.  Eleven players played seven or minutes on the day.  But the reserves didn't let up on the Raiders as the Gaels lead never dipped below twenty three points the rest of the way.  After losing to the Raiders by twenty five points a year ago, the Gaels returned the favor, leading from start to finish as they won by twenty six points, 73-47.

Martinez led all scorers with seventeen points, while Powell added fifteen points and Adams added another double double with ten points and twelve rebounds.  D'Angelo had a strong game at point guard with six assists and only one turnover.   In the final thirty minutes of the game, Iona had twenty assists and only seven turnovers.

The Gaels also did a terrific job on defense. They held the Raiders to twenty seven percent shooting from the field and had fifteen steals, scoring sixteen points off turnovers.  Finally, Colgate's Jones, who had scored fifteen points vs. Iona in the Raiders' win last season, was held scoreless on the day, with only five shot attempts for the game.

Afterwards, Mal, Tieff and I went up to see Coach Bozzella (Jaden left to cover the St John's game last night), Associate Head Coach Christi Abbate and Assistant Coach Lauren DeFalco.  It was good to be around so many old friends again.  We talked about our families, our Christmas plans, college basketball of course, golf and the next women's game against Stony Brook on December 30.

This was the first of many New York college basketball games that I will be attending over the next several days while I am back up here.  After every Iona women's game, the PA system plays "Back in the New York Groove" .

While it lasts, it truly is good to be back in a New York college basketball groove.

Gamecocks Twin Bill (Recap of Appalachian St v. USC men's game &Stanford v. USC women's game)

With all that's happened the past four months, I have been more clueless than I normally am (ask my wife). I knew that the South Carolina men's basketball team had a 5:00 PM game yesterday. I was curious about the start time and I figured since they had the Saturday evening game at the Barclays Center vs. Manhattan, they decided on an early time for the game.

Of course, I had no idea until Ian McCormick, the ubiquitous writer for Mid Majority and my seat mate for last night's twin bill, told me that the #19 ranked USC women's team was hosting #1 Stanford in the second game of the doubleheader at 7:30 PM. Doubleheader? It doesn't say that on the ticket (and it doesn't). Well, I wasn't going to pass up watching the second game as well.

In the first game, the men's team faced a Mountaineers team that so far this season had won just one game vs. a Division I team (UMKC). However, with the exception of the Jacksonville game, the Gamecocks have struggled to a 4-2 home record going into last night's game. And last night turned out to be no exception.

Before the game started, Frank Martin came onto the court with a microphone talking about the tragedy in Newtown and imploring our country's leaders to find a solution so that this never occurs again.  He then led the crowd in a moment of silence.  Later on, before the women's game, Dawn Staley also did the same thing.

Early on, it looked like South Carolina was going to blow Appalachian State out of the arena. R.J. Slawson, seldom a scoring threat, scored five of the first seven Gamecocks' points. Then Eric Smith scored four straight points. South Carolina was out to an early 11-2 lead.

But the Gamecocks' couldn't extend the lead. The Mountaineers continued to hang around keeping the score within single digits. After a Mindaugas Kacinas basket finally put the Gamecocks up by double digits, 29-18 with six and a half minutes left, Appalachian State called a thirty second timeout.

Whatever was said during those thirty seconds by head coach Jason Capel apparently resonated with the Mountaineers' players. Appalachian State went on a 17-5 run over the next six minutes. Tevin Baskin and Jay Canty, a transfer from Xavier who scored 29 points vs. Missouri, scored thirteen of the seventeen Mountaineers' points. A Canty jumper put Appalachian State in the lead for the first time in the game 35-34. But Bruce Ellington buried a three pointer and South Carolina entered the locker room at the half up 37-35.

South Carolina shot fifty percent from the floor in the first half, but so did Appalachian State from two point field goal range. The only thing that kept the Mountaineers from leading at halftime was that they were shooting 0 of 6 from three point range as opposed to the Gamecocks 4 of 9 from beyond the arc.

In the second half, Appalachian State regained the lead as Mike Neal scored five straight points, including the Mountaineers' first three pointer of the game.  The Mountaineers were up 40-37 and the partisan Gamecocks' crowd was getting restless.

But behind crowd favorite Bruce Ellington, South Carolina responded with a 15-5 spurt over the next five minutes to jump back out in front 52-45.  Ellington had five points in that spurt.  This would be Ellington's last game until after the Outback Bowl on January 1st.

Appalachian State once again responded with a 9-2 spurt as Neal, Jamaal Trice and Tab Hamilton each scored three points to tie the game at 54 with a little less than seven and a half minutes left.  Again, the crowd grew restless with South Carolina's play.  Once again, the fans would be seeing another close home game.

Then Lakeem Jackson and LaShay Page took it upon themselves to put South Carolina ahead to stay.  Jackson and Page combined to score the next eleven Gamecocks' points.  After Mindaugas Kacinas capped the 13-4 spurt with a jumper, South Carolina was ahead 67-58 with two and a half minutes left in the game.

However, Appalachian State was not going down without a fight.  The Mountaineers started whittling away the Gamecocks' lead.  After Jackson was called for an inbounds violation, Canty tipped in a Neal miss and Appalachian State was down two, 71-69 with twenty two seconds left in the game.

The Mountaineers fouled Smith.  With a chance to go up two possessions, Smith only hit one of two free throws.  Appalachian State had a chance to tie but Nathan Healy's three pointer missed and Page sealed the game with two free throws.  South Carolina held on for a 74-69 win.

Jackson led the Gamecocks with sixteen points, Kacinas added twelve points and three blocks and Brenton Williams had a "quiet' eleven points.  Smith had a very solid game with nine assists and only two turnovers. Canty, Neal and Baskin each had sixteen points for the Mountaineers.

The crowd started filling up at the end of the men's game and during intermission.  It was clear that the women's game was the big game of the night.  The #1 ranked Cardinal playing on the home court of the #19 ranked Gamecocks.

Dawn Staley, an Olympian and considered one of the fifteen greatest women's basketball players of all time, took over as head coach of the South Carolina women's team in 2008. Previously, she had been the head coach of Temple, where she led the Owls to six NCAA Tournament appearances in eight years.  The Gamecocks improved in each of their first four seasons under Staley, including last season's 25-10 record which included a NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance.

Staley's Gamecocks came into the game undefeated at 10-0. They are an excellent defensive team; first in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing only forty five points per game, first in field goal percentage defense at 31.8 percent and first in rebounding margin at +16.8 per game.

Meanwhile the Cardinal came in as the top scoring team in the PAC 12 at seventy eight points per game, shooting 51.8 percent from the field, also tops in the PAC 12. Stanford also can play defense, first in the PAC 12 at 31.6 percent field goal percentage defense and second in the PAC 12 in rebounding margin at +14.6 rebounds per game.

By the time the game started, the crowd at Colonial Life Arena had filled in.  Next to the men's game vs. Clemson, it was the largest crowd I had seen at Colonial life this season.  And the 8,118 fans in attendance were fully invested in the game from start till finish.

It was clear early on that this was going to be a physical, defensive game and the pace clearly favored the Gamecocks.  Stanford' height advantage affected the Gamecocks' offense as they struggled to get shots off against the Cardinal.  Stanford would have eleven blocks on the game. But on defense, the quicker Gamecocks swarmed all over the Cardinal players, especially around the paint, forcing numerous Stanford turnovers.

At the under twelve minute media timeout, the score was only 8-5 Stanford.   South Carolina didn't score their third basket until nine minutes left in the first half.  The Cardinal then went scoreless for five minutes which allowed the Gamecocks to briefly take a one point lead, 15-14 on a jumper by Tiffany Mitchell.

The Cardinal responded with an 8-2 spurt and held the Gamecocks to one basket over the next five minutes.  Chiney Ogwumike scored six straight points in that spurt.   Stanford would enter halftime leading 25-19. Considering South Carolina missed on a lot of good first half scoring opportunities and were only down six to the #1 ranked team in the country, the Gamecocks were in good shape.

During halftime, I learned something new.  Part of the halftime festivities during women's home games is Cocky bringing a large group of kids onto the court and leading them in the Chicken Dance. Members of the band joined and even some adults.  It was pretty humorous.

The second half saw South Carolina hold Stanford to one of six shooting in the first four plus minutes. This resulted in the Gamecocks cutting the lead to one point, 26-25 with fifteen and a half minutes left.
But Ogwumike, Amber Orrange and Toni Kokenis would score the Cardinal's next fourteen points and Stanford would continue to lead 40-39 with about five minutes left.

However, off a timeout,  Ieasia Walker would hit a three pointer to put South Carolina in the lead for the first time since four minutes left in the first half.  The Colonial Life Arena erupted and Stanford was now officially on the ropes as the Gamecocks led 42-40 with four and a half minutes left in the game.

After Orrange tied the game at forty two, Sancheon White gave South Carolina the lead back with a jumper.  But a three point play by Ogwumike put Stanford back up 45-44 with two minutes left.  The teams were going back and forth with the leads.  Ian and I were witnessing the best game we had seen all year so far.  It was certainly the most electric a Colonial Life Arena crowd had been for a basketball game all season.

Alegsia Welch had put South Carolina on her back in the second half, scoring twelve points in the second half, nearly half of the Gamecocks' second half points at the time.  This despite seemingly two Cardinal players on her in the paint.  Welch again tried to score with about 1:15 left in the game when she was fouled. With a chance to take the lead, Walsh was only able to hit one of two free throws. The game was tied at 45.

Mikala Ruef then hit a tough layup to put Stanford up two again, 47-45 with fifty four seconds left.  Walker was fouled on a layup attempt to the basket.  With a chance to tie, Walker missed the first free throw and then hit the second.  Stanford was now up one 47-46 with only twenty six seconds left.  If South Carolina couldn't steal the ball, then they would have to foul.

On the inbounds pass, Kokenis got the ball but appeared to run with the ball before she started dribbling.  But much to the chagrin and loud displeasure of the fans, no traveling call was made.  Kokenis was subsequently fouled and she hit both free throws.  Stanford was now up 49-46 with twenty three seconds left.

With a chance to tie, South Carolina turned the ball over and again was forced to foul.  Again Kokenis made two free throws and Stanford was up five, 51-46 with seven seconds left.  Much to the Gamecocks' credit, they didn't give up and Walker buried a three with 1.5 seconds left.   South Carolina was down two, 51-49 and praying for a Reggie Miller type steal and jumper.

It never came. Kokenis got the inbounds pass and was fouled.  She sank two more free throws, giving her a perfect 7 of 7 from the line.  Stanford earned a hard fought 53-49 win.

For Stanford, Ogwumike led all scorers with twenty one points, added fifteen rebounds and had four blocks. Kokenis added fifteen points, while Orrange had eleven points. Joslyn Tinkle added seven blocks for the Cardinal.

Welch led South Carolina with seventeen points, while Walker added fifteen points.  The Gamecocks had ten steals.  They forced eighteen turnovers on the Cardinal.  Stanford, which had led the PAC-12 in assists to turnover ratio at 1.33, had only four assists to go with those eighteen turnovers.  The Gamecocks only had seven turnovers.

Though the fans left disappointed, they gave the Gamecocks a good ovation after the game was finished. Dawn Staley's team nearly defeated the best team in the nation. More importantly, it showed that if given the proper amount of time to develop a winning program, the fans will come out and support the team.

I am sure Frank Martin was taking in the game and coming to the same conclusion.  The fans and administration just need to give him the same amount of time. Given his track record, the results mostly likely will be the same.

UNCW Falls to Davidson’s Three Point Shooting Prowess (Recap of UNCW v. Davidson)

When you statistically take a look at the Davidson Wildcats, one statistic in particular stands out to you.  Entering their game yesterday, Davidson was the nineteenth ranked team in the country in three point percentage at 39.6 percent.  They average eight three pointers per game.  It stands to reason then that Davidson defeated Vanderbilt and West Virginia in the Old Spice Classic and the Wildcats were a handful in their close losses to New Mexico and Charlotte.

For the second week in a row, I went to Belk Arena on the lovely campus of Davidson College to watch the Wildcats host the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington.  But as I did last week with Matt Cayuela, I wanted to have dinner and a tasty beverage first.  But when I went to the Brick House Tavern, the place was packed and there were no spots at the bar, as there were the week before.

So I took a short walk to Main Street looking for a place to eat.  I found the Toast Café, saw the dinner menu on the board outside the restaurant and walked into the place.   There was a bar on the right hand side and a main dining error with more tables in the back.   Immediately a waiter and the hostess said they would be right with me.

  

The hostess led me to a small table in the back, midway between the main dining area and the smaller back dining area.  I liked the paintings done by local artists and the tapestry hanging on the wall.   When I first came in, there were a few people sitting at tables.  Within fifteen minutes, just about every table was filled, several with Davidson fans.  A sure sign that this was not only a local hangout, but a well liked restaurant as well.

I decided on the Prix Fixe menu; Caesar salad, chicken Marsala and what turned out to be a terrific brownie ice cream dessert.   I washed that delicious meal down with a Fat Tire beer.  The Toast Café in Davidson is very highly recommended by yours truly.

After the meal, I made the familiar walk down Concord Road to Belk Arena.   Before I went to my seat, I went to see my friend, Brian Mull, the terrific sports writer for the Wilmington Star and the beat writer for UNC Wilmington.  Brian was starting to tweet his fun facts about UNCW, as he does before every game, when I said hello.  We talked for about five minutes or so about the game, CAA, Atlantic Ten and Big East basketball as well as our families.  

After talking with Brian, I made my way to my seat on the other side of the arena.  My seat in section 106, Row G, was basically center court.   I took a picture of the seventeen Southern Conference Championship banners in the rafters and tweeted that to the few, the proud, the followers of my twitter account. 

Before the game, I also noted on my twitter account that if UNCW could gain an advantage on the boards, especially on the offensive end, the Seahawks would have a shot to win the game.   They needed that advantage to offset the three point advantage Davidson had. Coming into the game, UNCW was 288th in the country in three point field goal percentage at 28.7 percent.  The Seahawks only average four three point field goals per game.

Early on, UNCW was holding its own.  In the first eight and a half minutes, the Seahawks held the Wildcats scoreless from beyond the arc and Davidson was only 2 of 10 from the field.  The score was 9-9 with 12:30 left.

  

Keith Rendleman, the wonderful forward for the Seahawks, did his best to keep his team in the game in the first twelve minutes.  Rendleman scored ten points during that time frame.    He did it in various ways; layups, a sweet little face up outside jumper and his best was a one handed putback slam that tied the score early on at seven.

But you can only keep a good shooting team like Davidson down for so long.  First it was De’Mon Brooks working inside to put Davidson up to stay 13-9 with a couple of free throws and a basket.  Then the Wildcat three point barrage started.  Davidson would hit four three pointers over the last nine minutes and forty three seconds of the first half.   

Clint Mann was in the thick of things scoring nine straight points for the Wildcats who opened up a fourteen point lead, 35-21.  The Davidson student section started a large chorus of “You can’t stop him” and gave Mann a loud ovation when Mann took the bench late in the first half.   The Wildcats led at the half 35-23.

People ask me why I prefer to sit in the stands than sit on press row, which I do on occasion.  The main reason is that most of the time in the past two years, I am with my older son Matthew, which due to my family situation has been rare this season.  The other reason I tell them is that you get a better perspective from sitting in the stands, especially what other fans are thinking about the game and the players. 

Last night, I was sitting near several UNCW fans, who made the drive from Wilmington to Davidson.  Late in the first half, Seahawk guard Freddie Jackson drove the lane, stopped and nailed a short jumper.  A  UNCW fan behind me yelled “See, a little penetration will go a long way!”  Hearing the fan talk with his friend afterwards, apparently Jackson doesn’t drive the lane enough.

And that actually was a telling remark about the first half of play and the difference between the two teams.  Davidson passes the ball really well; quickly, sharply, looking for the open man on the defense.  It’s a trademark of a Bob McKillop coached team.  This often leads to open three point looks and as noted, the Wildcats are very good at hitting the three pointer.  

Meanwhile, the Seahawks struggle on offense.  As noted, they don’t have good three point shooting.  Also, the Seahawks, especially point guard Tanner Milson, dribbled the ball too much.  This allows the defense to concentrate on the ball handler and often results in forced shots with not much time left on the shot clock.  Such was the case for UNCW last night.

Just like last Saturday, there was another entertaining grade school basketball game at halftime.  Once the second half started, the Seahawks made their best run of the game.  Rendleman made a couple of layups while Milson buried two three pointers and hit a two point jumper in the span of barely over four minutes.  UNCW had gone on a 14-5 run to cut the Davidson lead to 40-37 with fifteen and a half minutes left.   During a timeout, the student section heartily sang along with Mariah Carey’s version of “All I Want for Christmas”.

Then the Wildcats’ Jake Cohen went to work, giving the student section an early Christmas present.  In the span of a little over four minutes, Cohen scored thirteen points, including six from the free throw line.  After a JP Kuhlman layup, the Wildcats had outscored the Seahawks 21-11.  Davidson was up 61-48 with about eight minutes left.  During the under eight media timeout, the entire crowd sang along to “Sweet Caroline”, which was their theme song during their magical run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament (remember it fondly from being at the Raleigh regional).

Rendleman and Cedrick Williams each hit jumpers to cut the lead briefly back to single digits, 61-52 with seven minutes left.  But once again, Davidson went back to its bread and butter, the three pointer to close the deal.  Chris Czerapowicz nailed two shots from beyond the arc and Cohen as well hit a three pointer.   The Wildcats had opened up a fourteen point lead, 70-56 with three and a half minutes to go in the game.

All that was left was the creative Davidson student section to start loudly singing “Silent Night”, which brought a lot of smiles and laughs from the crowd in my section.   It was fitting because UNCW was about to” sleep in heavenly peace” as far as the final score.  Davidson would eventually win 77-61.

Cohen led four Davidson scorers in double figures with twenty one points, most of which came in the second half. Brooks was a double double terror inside for the Wildcats, scoring fourteen points and adding twelve rebounds, six on the offensive end.  Mann had all thirteen of his points in the first half while Czerapowicz added fourteen points, including four three pointers. 

Rendleman led the Seahawks with twenty points and nine rebounds, but only two came on the offensive end.  He was double teamed all night and was forced to hit outside jumpers, which kept him from the glass.  Milson was the only other Seahawk in double figures with ten points.

UNCW shot the ball well, shooting forty seven percent and actually had more field goal attempts than Davidson (57-53).  But as Brian Mull so aptly put it, the view of their three point statistics told the difference.  UNCW was only 3 of 7 from beyond the arc while Davidson was 9 of 22.  That’s an eighteen point difference.  The margin of victory was sixteen.  Also the Seahawks were only 4 of 10 from the line (Rendleman was 2 of 6), while the Wildcats, the ninth ranked team in the country in free throw shooting at 78.3 percent, was 16 of 20.

After the game, I finally met Mid Majority Writer, Ian “The Machine” McCormack, who is ubiquitous in his coverage of South Carolina and North Carolina college basketball.   I have been an admirer of his work and we will be sitting together for the Appalachian State – South Carolina game on Wednesday.

I made my way back to my car which was in a school parking lot across from the Brick House Tavern.  After talking with my wife on the phone briefly, I drove my car over to the Brick House parking lot. I went into the Brick House and had a beer at the bar while waiting for Brian Mull to come by after he finished his work.   

Since there were no seats at the bar available, I was standing by the corner of the bar.  A few minutes in, a gentleman came up from behind me and said "Excuse me".  It was Coach McKillop.  He was out celebrating the win with his wife and his coaches.  I introduced myself as a fellow former Long Islander (read my previous article for Coach McKillop’s Long Island background) and we talked for a few minutes.  He described his team’s play last night as “efficient” and he couldn’t have been nicer.  I wished him a Happy Holidays and we toasted.    

Brian came by after he finished his article and we sat at the bar and talked for a while.  Mr. Mull knows his North Carolina basketball and we talked for seemingly a good hour.  Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and I told him I would certainly see him on February 9th for the Hofstra-UNCW game and some good barbecue.  Brian is good people.

I was smart enough to have had only one beer in three plus hours at the bar.  Also I had two coca colas before I left the bar, which was important because the caffeine more than kept me alert on the road.  Turns out I needed that caffeine.  About twenty minutes outside of Columbia on I-77, there was a deer in the middle of the darkened road.  I saw it just in time and honked.  The deer moved just enough as I swerved to the right to avoid it.   

Knowing my wife would be up, I called immediately to tell her what happened.  She picked up immediately and thought I had been in accident.  I told her I was fine and just wanted to share with her what happened.  You always hear of stories about cars hitting or nearly hitting deer late at night.  This was my first experience with that and a reminder that I wasn’t in Long Island anymore.

But no potential deer in the road will deter me from going to Davidson again for a Saturday night basketball game if the schedule warrants it.  Davidson is a wonderful college town with a cozy basketball arena, nice local surroundings and a good basketball team.   

And if you’re fortunate, you might literally run into the head coach at the local bar/restaurant after the game.

What Really Matters

Four months ago, I packed everything I could in my 2001 two door Honda Accord and drove down by myself to Columbia, South Carolina to start at my new position as Assistant Dean of Academic Technology at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

I had been wanting to move down south since 2006 for quality of life reasons.  All I wanted was the right opportunity, the right position to come along.  And this position came along, six years later.  I left Hofstra on my own terms.  No one forced me out of Hofstra. In fact, everybody I know there wanted me to stay there.  But they understood that this was a great opportunity for me. It was something I couldn't pass up, even if I also gave up covering New York City basketball.  It's worked out.  The job has been great and there's plenty of college basketball to cover in South and North Carolina.

But I left my family, my wife of sixteen years and my two sons, seven and now five up in New York until the house closes.  I did that with an incredibly heavy heart.  Despite the five times that I have gone up to North Bellmore since then to see them, despite all the times of talking to Chelle and the kids on Skype and now that my wife also has an IPhone, Facetime, the nights at my rented house in Columbia are very lonely.

Being away from your two boys when one is experiencing second grade and the other is experiencing kindergarten, you feel a major void in your life.  What used to be common place, talking to them about their day and school is now a much harder chore.  Over the phone or Skype, I try to ask them about how they are doing in school.  Matthew will tell me some things about his school day.  Jonathan will only say something that he really liked.

Also, previously having been a Little League coach in North Bellmore for two years, I had got a good understanding of  my boys' school from the parents of the other boys on our teams.  Earlier this year, there was a murder-suicide of two parents of children from our Newbridge Road School.  The murder occurred at the parents' home.  The North Bellmore community rallied around those children raising funds/scholarships for them.  I was never more proud of where I lived and it will be with great sadness when my family eventually leaves North Bellmore for here.

So when the news came out about the shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school, my heart sank. When Columbine happened years ago, you knew high school wasn't safe anymore.  The murder suicide of those children's parents in North Bellmore made you realize that anything can happen in your community.  But it's just another level when you talk about a mass murder of kindergarten children.

Now I have many friends - friends who are moderates, friends who are liberal and friends who are conservative.  I am a registered independent.  I am conservative on economic issues, but very liberal on social issues.  You could say I am borderline libertarian and I voted for Gary Johnson for President.  There I said it.

Now just about all of my aforementioned friends are on Facebook with me.  There have been several events the past few years, the shootings in Virginia Tech and Aurora as examples, where my friends put on their Facebook statuses their differences of opinion on gun control.  My liberal friends advocate gun control.  My conservative friends say it's the culture.  I understand both their views and their rights to say it.  But I have avoided saying anything on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter for years.

Then came today.  The shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, mostly of kindergarten children, who were in the room where the shooter's mother was their teacher.

Again, my friends on both sides of the political spectrum said their views on Facebook (and also on Twitter).  Again, they are entitled to them.  I have kept quiet on Facebook.

But I can't keep quiet in general anymore. Not when it comes to this.  This hit too close to home, especially when I am far away right now from the children I so dearly love.

I never have used my college basketball blog for a forum for an article that doesn't concern basketball, except the death of my mom.  I have never written an article that solely expressed my views on an issue outside of basketball.

Till now.

Yes there is a culture issue here.   There needs to be some national discussion. forum whatever on the desensitization of guns, especially in video games.  I can honestly say I have never played Call of Duty, Doom or any of those zombie killing games.  Would rather play baseball on the Wii.

And I am not saying that I want to ban ownership of guns.  There are responsible gun owners and several are my friends.  I personally never want to own a gun or use a gun, but I respect my friends' rights to do that.

But I also realize that these mass murders in Columbine, Virginia Tech and Aurora are the result of guns.  You do not see mass murders on this level with knifes, bats, axes etc.  You can't kill thirty people quickly with a knife, a bat, an axe etc.

You can only do that with guns. Automatic weapons.

I would like to hear all the evidence of how he got the guns, if he had known, documented mental issues etc.   It will come out soon enough and I am pretty sure all of us won't like what's found out.

But something has to change.  Trying to change the gun culture is not going to do it.

But, I will say this and I have thought this for years.  If there was a national 72 hour waiting period for background checks for owning gun, whether at a gun show or online, maybe it could have prevented this.  Maybe it could have prevented some other event where someone was killed with a gun.  If that prevented just one person from being killed, wouldn't that be worth it?

My philosophy is this -  If you are of legal age and don't have any prior felony convictions that don't allow you to have a gun or any known mental conditions, then fine, you can have a gun.  But you need to wait 72 hours to make sure of those two things.

Simply put, if you can't wait 72 hours for a gun, then maybe you shouldn't have one.

That's my philosophy.

To those families affected by this tragedy my deepest, deepest sympathies. To lose a loved one, especially a child, I can't even fathom what those families are going through right now.  They need support. Everyone's support.

Also, unlike my basketball articles, I am not accepting any comments about this article, whether pro or against on this.  I don't want this to be a town hall. Nor will I speak about this again on my site.  I just needed to speak my peace today.

And I need to hug my kids, even if it's over the phone.  Right now, they are what really matters to me.

Four on the Floor for the Week of December 10

It’s time for our weekly segment – Four on the Floor. This is where we look at four teams and in the case of this week, why they are all successful.  One team, VCU, is now well known to most college basketball fans. The other three teams aren't so well known.

VCU

Shaka Smart’s Rams are in the thick of things again in college basketball this season.  Despite being only 6-3, the Rams have looked particularly impressive in wins over Memphis and Belmont and close losses to Duke, Missouri and Wichita State (those three teams are a combined 26-1).  Their average margin of victory in their six wins is an astounding twenty two points per game.

Last season’s success was based mostly on their ability to turn over the ball on their opponents as VCU was first in turnover percentage defense and steal percentage.  They were also twenty seventh in the country in turnover percentage offense, so when they stole the ball, they held onto it well.  This season the Rams are tenth in turnover percentage defense and fourth in the country in steal percentage defense.  Briante Weber averages over three steals per game for VCU.

This season, the Rams are statistically much better overall than the 2011-12 team that made the third round of the NCAA Tournament and nearly made the Sweet Sixteen. Last season the team was statistically in the lower third in three point percentage offense, two point percentage offense and free throw percentage.  This season, VCU is in the top one hundred in three point percentage offense and two point percentage offense, as well as thirty sixth in offensive rebound percentage.

The concern going into this season was who was going to fill Bradford Burgess’ scoring shoes.  Well, three players in particular, Treveon Graham, Juvonte Reddic and Rob Brandenberg have stepped up and increased their scoring averages from last season.   Graham averages fifteen points and five rebounds per game while shooting fifty percent from the field.  Reddic averages over fourteen points per game, eight rebounds, nearly two steals and shoots fifty nine percent from the field.

The Rams are averaging seven more points per game this season compared to last season.   VCU has five straight non conference home games before A-10 play.  Three games won’t be easy as Alabama, Western Kentucky and Lehigh combined are 22-6.  But considering they have played the Shockers, Blue Devils and two sets of Tigers (Missouri and Memphis), they should be prepared.

Canisius

The Golden Griffins won all of five games in the 2011-12 season.  It was the last season for former coach Tom Parrotta, who was fired in March.   Former Rhode Island coach Jimmy Baron was hired.   He brought his son Billy with him and instant success as well.  Already the Griffs are “bowl eligible”, having won more games than last season.   Their only loss came at 7-2 Stony Brook.  The Griffs already are 2-0 in the MAAC, which is more conference wins than they had all of last season.  Both of those conference games also came on the road.

Simply put, Canisius’ success lies in their offense.  They are thirty sixth in the country in scoring, averaging just under seventy eight points per game.  The Griffs are in the top one hundred in just about every offensive category. They stand out in particular in effective field goal percentage, fifty fourth at 52.2 percent.

Canisius is led by their two guards Harold Washington and Baron, who combine for twenty six points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game.  Washington is shooting a scorching fifty six percent from beyond the arc.   And the Griffs are a deep team, as nine players average fifteen minutes or more per game.

Three of the Griffs’ next four non conference games are all tough ones on the road – at #4 Syracuse, at Temple and at #20 UNLV (they also play at Detroit late this month).    However the Griffs should win their home games vs. Longwood and Alcorn State.   With a seemingly down year for the MAAC, it’s quite possible that Canisius will finish with a winning record.  Considering the Griffs haven’t had a winning record this decade that would be an amazing feat.

Middle Tennessee

Name the Sun Belt team with the most wins last season?  Yes, it was the Blue Raiders with twenty seven wins.   But they got upset in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament and ended up in the NIT where they made the quarterfinals before losing to Minnesota.  MT has picked up where they left off with a 7-2 record, which includes a home win over Mississippi.

The Blue Raiders win by making their opponents cough up the ball, cleaning up the offensive glass and hitting three pointers.  Middle Tennessee is thirty eighth in turnover percentage defense, forty seventh in steal percentage, forty sixth in offensive rebound percentage and fifty fifth in three point field goal percentage offense.

The Blue Raiders only have two players who average double digits in scoring.  Marcos Knight and Shawn Jones combine for twenty three points and twelve rebounds per game.  What helps Middle Tennessee is that they have ten players who average thirteen minutes or more per game.  Including Marcos Knight and Jones, they have eight players who average five or more points per game.

Middle Tennessee has some in state rivalry games before they continue conference play on December 29.  They are at Belmont tonight and have a neutral site game vs. Vanderbilt on December 21.  Pomeroy has the Blue Raiders winning twenty six games and going 18-2 in conference, similar to last season.  Hopefully this time it leads to a NCAA berth for the Blue Raiders.

Eastern Kentucky

OK, name the only team in the state of Kentucky undefeated?  Kentucky?  Of course not.  Murray State?  Nope, lost to Colorado in the Charleston Classic.   And it’s not Western Kentucky.  It’s the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky.

So how have the Colonels won nine straight games?  It’s because they force teams to turn the ball over and they score in the paint.  The Colonels are second in the country in turnover percentage defense at 29.3 percent and nineteenth in the country in steal percentage defense at 14.1 percent.  Eastern Kentucky is FIRST in the country in two point field goal percentage offense at 59.5 percent, eleventh in the country in effective field goal percentage at 56.4 percent and thirteenth in the country in field goal percentage at 49.5 percent.  Simply put, they make you cough up the ball and then make you pay for it.

Three players on Eastern Kentucky shoot over sixty percent from the field.  Glenn Cosey averages nearly eighteen points per game while shooting fifty one percent from the field, including 46.6 percent from beyond the arc.  His teammate, Mike DiNunno averages fourteen points, forty eight percent from the field and shoots forty five percent from beyond the arc.

Belmont and Murray State get all the notoriety in the Ohio Valley, but Eastern Kentucky’s stats show that they are the third team to reckon with in the conference.   They have an incredibly tough test at undefeated and tenth ranked Illinois on Sunday as well as a tough game at West Virginia at the end of the month.   But you have to root for a team with an ABA team name (Colonels).

Celebrating 12/12/12 The Charles Jenkins Way

I was trying to find a college basketball way of celebrating 12/12/12, the last time we will see the same numbers for a month, day and year EVER.

Well, I decided to celebrate by remembering one of my most favorite moments in college basketball ever, Charles Jenkins game tying and game winning shots on my 45th birthday against William and Mary.  It was made even more special by the presence of my seven year old son, Matthew.  It was during this game that he got hooked on college basketball and became "my color analyst".

My seventh year of writing this blog has been in some parts my most difficult one.  Having been away for the better part of four months in Columbia, South Carolina, I miss my family very much.  I have season tickets to South Carolina games now.  Watching games without my son sitting next to me is just not the same.

I will be back up in New York for eleven days starting next Thursday night.  But hopefully it's the next to last time I have to fly up there.   With a little luck, the house in New York will close soon and my family will finally be down here with me.  Then I will be permanently reunited with "my color analyst" and our new basketball adventures below the Mason-Dixon line can begin.

Also, I think celebrating Charles Jenkins' heroics in a conference game is appropriate given the news that the CAA Tournament is moving to Baltimore, one of my favorite cities, starting in 2013-14.  Plain and simple, as much as enjoyed my memories of the tournament in Richmond, Baltimore is a better venue all around.

Finally, this also goes out to the basketball folks at Hofstra.  I know it's been a rough few weeks.  Hang in there and hopefully this will bring some good fortune your way.

Without further ado, "The Wolf", Charles Jenkins. Happy 12/12/12 everyone!

Doubleheader Game 2 - A Fun Night at Davidson - Recap of Wofford vs. Davidson

I have had great admiration over the years for Davidson.  First, the Wildcats Coach is Bob McKillop, who happens to be a Hofstra graduate.  When I was growing up on Long Island, McKillop was the coach of Long Island Lutheran, a major power in New York high school basketball.
 
McKillop took over as head coach of Davidson in 1989.  He has taken the Wildcats to six NCAA Tournaments, including three tournament appearances in a row from 2006 through 2008, which was the year that Davidson made the Elite Eight and was a Stephen Curry three away from beating Kansas and going to the Final Four. The Wildcats were back in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 barely losing to Louisville in the second round.

I was fortunate enough to have gone to the NCAA Regional in Raleigh in 2008.   It was truly a magical experience to watch Stephen Curry and Davidson rally to beat Gonzaga in the first round.  Then in the second round game, once again Curry and the Wildcats rallied to take down the Georgetown Hoyas in front of a very pro Davidson crowd made up of mostly North Carolina fans (North Carolina lost to Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament the year before).

So during yesterday’s Charlotte vs. Central Michigan game, Matt Cayuela told me he was going to see Davidson host Wofford at 7:00 PM.    It turns out that Davidson is about thirty minutes from Charlotte.  Since I am still by myself in South Carolina until my house closes, I had no plans.  So Matt and I got into our separate cars and went to Davidson.

Davidson is your truly classic college town, a small town with a main street with the school as the main focus.  Matt suggested a place recommended by Trip Advisor called the Brick House Tavern.  The Brick House Tavern is a very large restaurant/ bar/brewery that's a short walk from Main Street.  It looks like it was once a large warehouse.

The hostess noted that there were two seats at the bar.   My seat was right behind a tap.  The female bartender said I was hiding.  I noted that being near the tap is one of my favorite places.

Both of us had a Blue Ridge Burger, which had bleu cheese.  I had mine with bacon and a side of mashed potatoes.  Matt had his with Mac and cheese, which would have impressed my seven year old son.  We each had a restaurant brewed beer, which was quite good. I recommend The Brick House Tavern highly.

We decided to walk from the Brick House parking lot to Belk Arena.  The walk briefly brought us onto Main Street into the main section of town.  Then we made a left and we were at Belk Arena in about ten minutes.

Matt had already had a ticket through a Living Social deal.  My deal was awaiting me at the ticket line.  An older gentleman asked if I needed one ticket.  He had bought a two for one ticket deal.  My cost for the seat, $9.00.  I thanked the very kind man who I ended up sitting next to during the game. Matt ended up sitting next to me since there were a decent number of available seats for the game.

Belk Arena seats a little over 5,000.  When you enter the arena there is a main concourse with concessions as well as a downstairs with concessions and bathrooms.  To make sure I would be able to drive home after a long day, I got myself a coke (there was only one size) and Matt got a drink as well. We went back up stairs to our padded seats.

In Belk Arena, what you first notice are the banners in the rafters.  One of the things you see among those banners is the 2008 Elite Eight banner.  But it’s not the only Elite Eight banner. There are two from 1968 and 1969 when Lefty Driesell coached the Wildcats (he also coached Davidson to a Sweet Sixteen in 1966).

The next thing you notice is that the students sit in one of two places, behind the opponent basket and behind the opponent bench.  Matt noticed that it was like a high school dance.  The male students sat behind the opponent’s bench while mostly female students sat behind the basket.

Before the game started, Matt pointed out to me that Wofford has a player from Australia named Indiana Faithfull. Faithfull plays twenty minutes per game.  Davidson also has several foreign players including starting forward Chris Czerapowicz from Sweden, Ali Mackay, a forward from Scotland, Nick Cochran, the starting point guard from Canada and seldom used Youssef Mejri, a forward from Tunisia.

It was the first Southern Conference game of the season for Wofford, who along with Davidson are the two schools that have represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament six of the past seven seasons (Wofford made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011).  Davidson had won their first conference game at Chattanooga on December 1st.  Wofford had come into the game having won two games in a row over Winthrop and Gardner Webb.   Davidson was coming off a tough home loss to North Carolina rival Charlotte.

The Wildcats came out firing away from beyond the arc as they hit their first six three point attempts.  Tyler Kalinoski made three of those shots from beyond the arc.  The score was already 18-4 Davidson not even seven minutes into the game.

Davidson’s first points that weren’t a shot from beyond the arc came on a De’Mon Brooks layup and one.  Thus Davidson’s first points came from three point plays, six three pointers and an old fashioned three point play.   Brooks then scored again on a layup and one, but missed the free throw.   After nine minutes, the Wildcats were up 23-6.

During one of the media timeouts, Davidson had one of those kids’ games where they dribble a ball, get dressed in basketball gear and then race to shoot a layup.  A blond haired girl impressively won the contest, and then just walked off the court without celebrating, as if it was nothing big.  It reminded me of Reggie Miller running off the court after beating the Knicks.  It was pretty cool.

Davidson’s lead swelled to twenty one, 31-10 with three and half minutes left in the first half after two Jake Cohen free throws.  The fans were very much enjoying the Wildcats’ impressive play.  It looked like it was going to be a blow out.

But as previously noted, Wofford is a team with a lot of success the past three seasons (last season, the Terriers won 19 games and made the CBI Tournament). They responded by outscoring Davidson 12-0 over the final three and half minutes.   Faithfull had three assists and a layup during the run.  Two of his assists setup three pointers by Taylor Wagener.   Davidson entered the half now only up nine points, 31-22.

After halftime, which featured a fourth grade AAU basketball game, Faithfull hit a jumper to cut the Davidson lead to seven, 31-24?   But the Wildcats responded with a 14-6 spurt over the next eight minutes. Brooks got another old fashioned three point play to put Davidson up 45-30 with twelve and a half minutes left.

But, as feisty Terriers are known to do, again Wofford refused to give up.  The Terriers outscored the Wildcats 20-8 over nearly an eight minute span.  Again, it was Wagener and Faithfull  in the middle of the run.  Wagener had eight points and an assist while Faithfull had two assists.  Karl Cochran’s three made it 53-50 with a little less than five minutes left.

But Wofford would not get any closer.  Jake Cohen hit a jumper then followed with a layup to put Davidson up seven, 57-50.  That would be the margin of victory as the Wildcats held off the Terriers 63-56.

For Davidson, Nik Cochran led the Wildcats and all scorers with fifteen points, including ten of eleven from the free throw line.  Kalinoski was the only other Wildcats player in double figures scoring with eleven points. Four players, Cohen, Brooks, Czerapowicz and Tom Droney each had eight points.  After hitting their first six three point attempts, the Wildcats went one of fourteen from beyond the arc the rest of the way.

Wagener had fourteen points to lead the Terriers. Faithfull added eleven points and five assists.  Wofford shot only thirty five percent from the field.

After the game, Matt and I walked our way back to The Brickhouse parking lot.  We said goodbye since both of us had long drives home.   I enjoyed hanging out with Matt and was glad he told me about the Davidson game.  I plan to be back at Davidson next Saturday when they host UNC Wilmington.

Depending on my plans, I plan to be back at the Brick House Tavern again next Saturday.  A good burger, a beer and basketball.   All good things start with the letter B.

Doubleheader Saturday - Game 1 - 49ers Remain Undefeated (Recap of CMU v. Charlotte)

Charlotte has long had a successful men’s basketball program.  The 49ers made the Final Four with Cornbread Maxwell in 1977.  They were also briefly a part of the famed Metro Conference from 1991-1995. From 1992 to 2008, Charlotte made the NCAA Tournament nine times and the NIT four times.

But Charlotte has fallen on hard times recently. Since the 2006-07 season, the 49ers have had only two winning seasons and one postseason appearance, the 2008 NIT.  So when Charlotte knocked off Davidson on the Wildcats home court for their eighth consecutive win, I featured them in my Four on the Floor weekly segment series and made plans to travel up north to see them yesterday as they hosted Central Michigan.

It was a beautiful drive up to Charlotte yesterday as the temperature was around seventy degrees. Halton Arena is right on the campus of Charlotte. After you park in the parking garage, it is a short walk to the arena, which opened in 1996.  It seats 9100 and it is quite a pretty building.  Inside, there is a huge, spacious concourse where you can easily walk around with table and couch seating.  When you walk in from the concourse to the actual arena, you are surrounded by green everywhere.  It reminds me a lot of the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State.

The last time I was at Halton Arena was the start of the 2006-07 season when they hosted Hofstra. Both teams had made the NIT the season before.  Hopes were high for Hofstra fans going into the season as they were the favorites to win the CAA.  But the 49ers used their size advantage to knock off the Pride 88-82.

As I noted in my weekly segment, Charlotte has won with defense.  Heading into the game vs. the Chippewas, the 49ers were twenty fourth in the country in two point field goal percentage defense.  And it was clearly early on why that was the case.  Charlotte swarms to the basketball, especially in the paint, with active hands and very good help defense.  

Central Michigan made their first shot attempt, but would then not score another basket until seven minutes later as they missed their next seven shots.  However, the Chippewas came out in a zone and forced the 49ers to shoot from the outside and Charlotte struggled as a result.  Thus the score was tied at 13-13 nine minutes into the game.

Charlotte would go on an 8-0 run led by senior Chris Braswell, who comes off the bench for the 49ers. The 6-9 senior forward would score four points in the spurt and showed some nifty passing skills with a couple of assists in the first half.   He is also very effective scoring in the paint, though he has a tendency to take open shots from the outside and is not a good outside shooter. Despite being Charlotte’s leading scorer, Braswell only averages about twenty four minutes per game.  But he gives them a much needed spark off the bench.

The 49ers were still up seven 27-20 with a little more than three minutes left.  But the Chippewas, realizing that they couldn’t score in the paint, went long range on the 49ers.   Chris Fowler assisted on two three pointers, the second by Blake Hibbitts and the game was tied at 27.   Charlotte scored the last four points to go up 31-27 at the half.

There were two major developments at halftime.  First, it was Mascot Day at Halton Arena, and that included a mascot basketball game as the halftime show.  Second, I found out that Matt Cayuela, writer for the Mid Majority and known to the Twitter world as Myrtle Beach Happy Hour was also at the game and we sat together for the second half.   Matt is also known as the man who called Tulane “The Iron Mike Sharpe of the Big East” after the Green Wave joined the conference for the 2013-14 season.

Speaking of a Green Wave, the tide started going the way of the 49ers in the second half.  Charlotte outscored Central Michigan 14-2 over a period of five minutes.  The 49ers finally started hitting their shots from beyond the arc, hitting four three pointers in the first nine minutes.  DeMario Mayfield’s second three pointer of the half put Charlotte up 51-38 with 11:15 left in the game.

During this time, there was a scrum for a loose ball and a melee ensued.  Whistles blew and after all was said and done, Charlotte starting sophomore guard Pierria Henry was tossed from the game.  Not to be outdone, Central Michigan Head Coach Keno Davis was given a technical foul and nearly got tossed from the game.

Central Michigan refused to go away and continued to make shots from long distance, similar to the large t-shirt Gatling gun used during a media timeout.  Over the next seven and a half minutes, the Chippewas hit four three pointers.   The last of which, a Hibbits three point shot, cut the 49ers lead to six, 64-58 with 3:40 left.

But Charlotte scored eight straight points, including two three pointers of their own to put the game out of reach.  A Braswell layup made the score 72-58.  Charlotte would eventually win 78-66.

Mayfield led Charlotte with fifteen points, while Denzel Ingram added thirteen points and Willie Clayton had ten points and nine rebounds.  Braswell had eight points and twelve rebounds.  The 49ers shot forty nine percent from the field and had twenty three assists and only nine turnovers.

Charlotte continued to show its two point field goal defensive prowess as Central Michigan shot better from beyond the arc, 10 of 27, than from two point range, 10 of 29.  Hibbits, Olivier Mbaigoto, Kyle Randall and John Simons combined to score fifty two points and hit all of the team’s ten three pointers.

The 5,263 in attendance got to see the team’s ninth straight win.  The 49ers have five more non conference games before they start A-10 play against LaSalle at Halton Arena on January 9.  If the 49ers can win at Miami and defeat Florida State in a neutral site game, they have a good chance entering conference play undefeated.  In the very competitive Atlantic Ten, every win is needed if you want to get back to the NCAA Tournament after a seven year drought.

Gamecocks Use a Football Mentality to Defeat Dolphins (Recap of USC v. Jacksonville)

Sunday, South Carolina lost at home to Clemson.  It was their second straight loss after winning five of their six first games.   The Gamecocks needed a different approach to defeating the Dolphins of Jacksonville on Friday night.   And that approach would have made Steve Spurrier proud.

As you may know if you are one of my marines, aka the few, the proud, the readers of my site, I work for the University of South Carolina in an IT capacity at the School of Law.  It’s been a great nearly four months so far working there.

One of the things I immediately learned when I got to Columbia is that parking is by seniority.  And since I have no seniority, I park in what’s known as the Z lot.   Let’s put it this way, I get good exercise walking to my office every morning.

But one of the perks of parking in the Z lot is that it is right near the Colonial Life Arena.  So on weeknights, I can leave my car in the lot, not pay the $5 for game parking and walk to the arena.  However, since I had a good ninety minutes to kill on Friday night, I went to what has become my new pre game hangout, the Thirsty Fellow, located across from the arena.

As I sat at my table with my pint of Newcastle and waiting for my meal, I was reading the Friday edition of the Daily Gamecock, the local student school newspaper.  On the back of the paper in the Sports section were two good stories about the basketball team both written by Paulina Berkovich, Assistant Sports Editor at the Daily Gamecock.

Her second story concerned how Coach Martin was looking for more offensive production to become as he put it “bowl-eligible” (winning their sixth game on the season).  In Berkovich’s article, Martin used a football analogy to describe his team’s communication problems.  “Right now, offensively, I’ll call for our tailback to run in the hole between the right guard and the right tackle.  Our offensive line is blocking as if we’re going to run in the hole between the left guard and the right.”  Martin then went onto explain in Berkovich’s article that bad communication has lead to bad execution.

Well, if Martin decided in practice to let Bruce Ellington instruct the team on a few football drills, it must have resonated with his team. The Gamecocks looked like Steve Spurrier’s run and shoot offense from the get go. They were aggressive and moved the ball around much better than they had done in previous games, especially against Clemson.

Leading the way was Michael Carrera, whose nice outlet pass to a Lakeem Jackson for a layup and one would make the score 5-2.  Carrera was all over the court in the first half, blocking shots, taking charges, rebounding, scoring baskets and assisting on others.  Carrera even got to be part of the maintenance crew during the game.  Late in the first half, he was involved in a scrum for a loose ball with Jacksonville’s Javon Dawson.  Jump ball was called.  Dawson came out of the pile with the ball.  Meanwhile,  Carrera grabbed a towel and cleaned the now slippery court.  He got a hand from the 6,980 in attendance for his cleanliness.

South Carolina jumped out quickly to an 11-2 lead on a three pointer by Brian Richardson and had Jacksonville reeling.  Ninety seconds into the game, the Dolphins had already four fouls as they couldn’t handle the Gamecocks’ intensity on both ends of the court.  In the first eleven minutes, South Carolina had a double digit lead several times.  But the Dolphins though hung around, cutting the deficit back into the single digits.  With just about nine minutes left in the first half, Jacksonville was only trailing 29-21.

Enter the subject of Berkovich’s main article in the Daily Gamecock Friday sports section, Brenton Williams.  In her article, Berkovich wrote about how Williams, after the loss to Clemson, asked Coach Martin for game tapes of Martin’s former Kansas State guards.  Williams wanted to see how the Wildcats’ guards played so he could play that way.  He impressed Martin who said “I thought that was a pretty powerful statement.”

Later in that article on Williams, Martin noted that “one of Williams’ biggest strengths is that he cares and he wants to improve.”   Williams is the Gamecocks leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game and leads the team in three point and free throw percentages.  He has done all this coming off the bench, providing the team a much needed spark early in the season.

Having seen Williams play several times this season, I can tell you that I am impressed with his mental and physical resiliency.  In their first home game of the season, Williams was benched by Martin early on against Wisconsin Milwaukee.  He didn’t come back into the game until late in the second half but he kept his head in the game.  When he did enter the game, he rallied his team to overtime and in extra regulation was a free throw shooting machine in the win over the Panthers.

Williams showed his physical resiliency by coming back and playing the next game after the scary incident at St John’s where a Red Storm player landed on him, resulting in a neck injury and an overnight stay in the hospital.

Williams again gave the Gamecocks a spark when they needed it.  He buried two straight three pointers which extended South Carolina’s lead back to double digits as they led now 35-21.  Jacksonville would briefly get the lead down to twelve points.  But that’s as close as the Dolphins would get the rest of the way.

The Gamecocks would outscore the Dolphins 22-7 over the last nine minutes to take a 57-30 lead at the half.   Carrera and Brian Richardson were already in double figures in scoring at the half.  Richardson would end up having a perfect night from beyond the arc, hitting all four of his three point attempts.

Earlier in the half during a media timeout, I was looking up into the rafters at all the banners.  I noticed a couple of Metro Conference championship banners.   Back in its heyday from the seventies to the early nineties, the Metro Conference was one of the premier basketball conferences with Louisville, Memphis, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech among its several schools. South Carolina was in the Metro from 1983-1991 before it left for the SEC.   The Metro merged with the Great Midwest to form Conference USA in 1995.   Just goes to show that conference realignment is not a recent fad and has been around for a long time.

In the second half, the game, to be honest, got ugly.   South Carolina, who looked so good on offense the first twenty minutes of the game, struggled to score.  In the first nine minutes, the Gamecocks only scored eleven points and didn’t score a basket for nearly six minutes.   Unfortunately for Jacksonville, the Dolphins only scored twelve points in the first nine minutes shooting four of fourteen during that time.  With eleven minutes left in the game, the Gamecocks were up 68-42.

Tempers started flaring during this time of ugly basketball.  A melee ensued at the South Carolina basket after a hard flagrant foul by Jacksonville’s Brian Powell with about fifteen and a half minutes left in the game.  Both teams were assessed double technical fouls.    It was also the start of unusual free throw drought for Ellington, who was a seventy seven percent free throw shooter last season, who missed four consecutive free throws.  

South Carolina would still be up by twenty six points, 89-63 after Williams hit his fourth three pointer of the game with two minutes left.  Martin would empty his bench from there putting in his reserves.  Jacksonville would make a late run due in part to some sloppy play by Martin’s bench and make the final score 91-72.

The Gamecocks had four players score in double figures led by Carrera’s nineteen points .  He just missed a double double with nine rebounds and had two blocks.  Richardson had a season high sixteen points.  Ellington had twelve points as did Williams, who had all his come from three pointers, as he shot four of five from beyond the arc.  Laimonas Chatkevicius added nine points while Eric Smith had seven assists and only one turnover.  The Gamecocks shot fifty five percent from the field and were ten of sixteen from beyond the arc.

With the win, the Gamecocks became “bowl eligible” at 6-3.  Their reward is to play in the Barclays Bowl in Brooklyn on December 22 to take on Manhattan (OK, they are just playing at the Barclays Center on December 22. It's not a bowl game, though it is part of a tripleheader).  Before that, they have a home game with Appalachian State on December 19 with an unusual start time of 5:00 PM.

Guess I am leaving work a few minutes early to catch the start of the 5:00 PM game at the Colonial Life Arena.  Good thing I can walk there.