With Kentucky in the wings, Cards look for execution and production

On December 23, Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino was not close to elation after the Cardinals won their 12th in a row in rallying to beat Western Kentucky, 70-60.  He made the comment that if the Cardinals played in that fashion, they would lose upcoming games to Georgetown by 20 and Kentucky by 40.

Of course, Pitino satirized the differences, but nevertheless, his concern was defined. Pitino has not been upset with the effort of his team, but he has relentlessly worried about the team’s defense.

“The reason that teams shoot a low percentage is fatigue,” he said, “I don’t think it is good execution, defensively.”

Five days later, part of Pitino’s prophecy was realized as Georgetown took the Cardinals down, 71-68 in the Yum! Center.  The Hoyas shot 47.9% and outrebounded the Cardinals, 38-32. This time, though, execution on offense was Pitino’s major concern as the fourth ranked Cardinals were not patient enough on offense throughout the game.

“Well that was a disappointing loss,” Pitino stated afterward, “Our guys continued to fight hard and we did some good things with our pressure.  I thought we really rushed and jacked up shots when it was still a game.  There were 15 seconds on the clock and we were looking for a three.  We haven’t done that.”

Still, Louisville’s defense had issues as Pitino wasn’t happy with the way the Cards guarded Georgetown’s bigs as the idea was to not guard Nate Lubick when he was out of the paint.  The area where the Hoyas can burn opponents is with the guards in the three-point game or on cuts and slashes.

“I don’t know why we were wrestling with guys who were 14 feet away from the basket,” analyzed the 11th year Louisville boss, “Gorgui (Deng) came out (of the post) in the second half and let a guy get a wide open layup with no rhyme or reason.”

Saturday comes the vaunted trip to rival Kentucky in arguably college basketball’s greatest rivalry.  Pitino knows that post play is going to be major when you analyze Wildcats’ big-man Anthony Davis and the inside-outside prowess of Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  Deng and Rakeem Buckles, and maybe even freshman Kevin Ware have to play steady and stay out of foul trouble.

The key may be in guard play as the quickness of Louisville guards Peyton Siva, Russ Smith, and Chris Smith off the dribble.  They could pose problems for the larger and more athletic Kentucky guards in Darius Miller and Doron Lamb on offense.  On the flip side, it could be disruptive to the Wildcats defensively in allowing them to get into their sets.

“Doron Lamb is a terrific shooter and Darius Miller is a terrific shooter,” said Pitino, “They’ve got a lot of bigs and they have got more experience than they ever have.  They are also very good in transition and defensively.”

No doubt Pitino will have a stellar game plan for the Wildcats.  The trip to Rupp Arena where he coached the in-state rivals is no bigger to him than any other road game. Pitino said that trying to outrun Kentucky is fruitless, especially in Rupp; but, he feels that turning this into a half-court game will take the Cardinals out of opportunities that they will have in transition.

“You have got to do everything,” said Pitino, You’ve got to go in transition.  You’ve got to make them play you on defense. You can’t take the first or second shot.  It’s going to be a tough game. Obviously, you know they haven’t lost at home, so it is going to be a tough game.”

- Ken Cross

 

Around the nation

Scan hoops guru Ken Pomeroy’s current ratings at kenpom.com, and you’ll see most of the usual suspects in his top 40 teams. However, it’s the No. 1 (Wisconsin) and 40 (Long Beach State) spots that are jumping off the page right now. Wisconsin’s resume isn’t super-impressive right now — the Badgers are 11-2 with losses to Marquette and North Carolina, and their only two wins of note are over UNLV and BYU — but Wisconsin is tremendously efficient on both ends of the floor, with Pomeroy ranking UW’s offense as the 12th-best in America, and its defense as the best. Wisconsin isn’t lighting up the scoreboard, but what the Badgers do is slow the game to their liking with only 60.1 possessions per game, and then value the basketball (only 14.3 percent of the Badgers’ possessions end in turnovers). Once Pomeroy adjusts the figure for the tempo UW’s opponents play, the Badgers rank last among the 345 Division I teams in possessions. For comparison, VMI leads the country with 78.4. … Long Beach State ranks highly despite a 7-6 mark because Pomeroy figures the 49ers out-of-conference schedule to be the fourth-toughest in America. LBSU has helped itself with defeats of Xavier and Pitt, though Xavier played without suspended starters Mark Lyons and Dezmine Wells. … On that note, the Musketeers got Lyons back against Hawaii last week, but were still upended by the Rainbows. XU finally snapped a three-game losing streak on Christmas with an 87-77 defeat of Southern Illinois. … Virginia coach Tony Bennett announced on Monday that forward James Johnson will transfer. Johnson, a redshirt freshman who is playing sparingly in his first season, is the fourth person in Bennett’s first recruiting class at UVA to leave. … Speaking of transfers Tennessee has struggled to a 5-6 mark in coach Cuonzo Martin’s first year, but the Vols will get a huge addition in an unusual way for the second semester by landing Rivals.com’s No. 11 recruit in this year’s senior class in Memphis’s Jarnell Stokes. Stokes transferred high schools for his senior season and then was ruled ineligible, but took enough courses to graduate in December. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward will be eligible to practice on Jan. 11, and could play for UT this winter.

- Chris Lee, VandySports.com

 

Rice’s return waking up UNLV tradition

Hiring Dave Rice was representative for UNLV.  He came off the bench for Jerry Tarkanian’s national championship team in 1990 and has 18 years of experience as an assistant coach to supplement his role as a player in UNLV history.

Now, as the Runnin’ Rebels finish off the pre-Mountain West season at Hawaii on Friday night, Rice has provided a stable foundation as UNLV has proved with wins over North Carolina, Illinois, and recently, California, that the Rebels will indeed once again be a player on the national level. 

This team has bought into Rice’s mission in his first year and it is sharing the basketball with the nation’s best. five different Rebels have led UNLV in scoring this season as Vegas is sharing the basketball, playing excellent team defense, and controlling the glass in it’s 12-2 start.

“We had Brice Massamba and Quintrell Thomas with eight points, so we were two short of six in double figures,” Rice said after the 85-68 pasting of Cal, “I am extremely proud of our effort. I told the team afterward that for 35-40 minutes we were sensational.”

The Nevada-Las Vegas defense has been a major key so far as the Rebels have held opponents to 40.6% in the 13-2 start. They held the Bears to 37% from the floor while out-rebounding them by nine.  A week early in a 64-48 win at Illinois, they locked down the Illini to only 25% in dealing them their first lost.  Outrebounding physical Illinois by four was huge too as Mike Moser nailed a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards.

“We let the defense dictate where the ball goes,” Rice explained, “If they want to play our perimeter guys, like Illinois did, then our bigs  will score 19 of 31 points like they did in the first half.  If they want to play our guards, then we’ll make an extra pass and make nine threess.  When we are click our guys are playing with that kind of collaborative effort.

The first hint of this type of mentality came when UNLV held North Carolina to 30.6% in the second half as the Rebs ripped the Tar Heels 90-80 in Vegas a little over a month ago.  They out-rebounded UNC by nine as they scored 20 points off 14 offensive rebounds in pounding the glass.

“Our defensive coaching staff works with the guys every day about guarding the ball,” noted Rice of the commitment, “Then, getting to three-point shooter.  We have been disappointed with how we have guarded the three, some lately and we have done more with that.”

As Rice summarized the Dec. 22 win over Cal, one stat jumped out and that was Oscar Bellfield’s nine assists against zero turnovers at halftime as UNLV blew this one out early.  As the MWC season opens, UNLV appears to have the talent and intangibles to make a deep run into March and vie with San Diego State for the league title. Rice knows this team can score in waves and he has a distinct defensive philosophy that has taken shape.

We are trapping a little bit less than last year as we want to put individual accountability on guys,” he noted,  ”The foundation was laid last year by Coach Kruger and we are just trying to improve on that.”

- Ken Cross

 

Bryce Cotton Interview

Following an 80-61 victory on Friday evening over Rhode Island, Andrew Greene chatted with Bryce Cotton of Providence College. The two discussed the game, the URI/PC rivalry, and playing for first year coach Ed Cooley.

 

Key additions make Miami an inviting venue

Of course, transition is a key word that takes several different meaning in college basketball, but at Miami, there are several for the coming year.  Jim Larranaga has hit the ground running since taking over for Frank Haith after his departure to Missouri.

Adding players and then knowing exactly who is available have been at the Hurricanes’ forefront. Miami has gotten bigger and more athletic just in it’s last two games with the additions of 6-10 junior center Reggie Johnson and 6-8 senior DeQuan Jones.

Johnson returned on Dec. 17 from a torn meniscus in his right knee that was suffered in a pick-up game back in June.  He finished with 15 points and nine boards while dishing five assists and swatting five shots in Miami’s 93-90 double over time win over Florida Atlantic. Then, five nights later in the Hurricanes’ 76-61 physical handling of Charlotte, Johnson once again asserted that 284-pound frame as he totaled 11 points and seven boards in 26 minutes.

Johnson’s size inside complemented 6-11 Kenny Kadi perfectly as Kadji was able to move around even more in getting to the perimeter to knocked down a couple of threes as he took home a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Jones is a different story as he was reinstated earlier in the week as the NCAA found no wrongdoing in connection with Miami booster Nevin Shapiro. Jones, who is arguably Miami’s best overall athletes, saw 18 minutes in his first game of the season with seven points and six boards.

The Stone Mountain, Ga., native is an athletic presenece around the basket that joins Johnson in taking UM from possibly the lower middle of the ACC into the top three of four.

His highlight-reel slam off a rebound gave Miami a 54-41 lead with 12:29 to play and punctuated what might be to come as the team, known in South Beach and nationally as ‘Da U,’ just became much better with these two additions

-Ken Cross

 

Canes win with heavy hearts

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New Miami Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga learned a lot about his team in Thursday night’s 76-61 win over the Charlotte 49ers inside Halton Arena. And he probably likes what he found out. 

The Hurricanes were dealt a huge blow Thursday morning, learning that the brother of preseason All-ACC guard Malcolm Grant had passed away unexpectedly. Grant left the team immediately to be with his family, leaving the Canes without one of their senior leaders and leading scorer (15.1 ppg). But Larranaga couldn’t have been happier with the way his squad responded. 

“Our team is a very close knit group,” Larranaga said after his team moved to 7-4. “One of the most impressive things about being a new coach is working with a group of guys that are so close off the court.”

The Hurricanes were aided by the return of 6-10 big man Reggie Johnson, who was playing in just his second game back from a knee injury he suffered over the summer. Johnson shut down Chris Braswell, one of the A-10′s top post players. Johnson, weighing in at 280 pounds, held the smaller Braswell (6-8, 235) to just 3-of-15 shooting from the floor (12 pts, 7 rebs). 

“We’ve been very shorthanded up front and then today we had a bunch of front court players available,” Larranaga said. “One of the things we have now is balance.”

The Hurricanes also got a boost from 6-7 swing man DeQuan Jones (7 pts, 6 rebs), who made his season debut after being caught up in the NCAA investigation of UM and former booster Nevin Shapiro. 

“The guys genuinely care about Malcolm,” Larranaga said. “He’s one of the nicest human beings you’ll want to be around.”

–Josh Carpenter

 

Vermont romps over FDU

FDU's championship banners of recent seasons are now like a distant memory

Teaneck, NJ- After five straight losses it was back in the win column for Vermont. The Catamounts defeated FDU 71-53 at the Rothman Center on Wednesday. Three things we learned:

1. No way is Vermont a 5-7 team. Well, that is their record but John Becker’s group has had some hard luck. From an early season last second setback at South Florida that made national news (“we were robbed,” Becker says), to Saturday’s two point loss to Iona. And a few in between, namely tough losses to LIU, Harvard and Quinnipiac.  “We have been very competitive,” Becker said. “St. Louis got us good (62-43) but you see the year they are having. Our guys have played hard through everything and all the close games. That’s why it was so important to get a win tonight.”

2. Vermont has balance. They entered the game with only sophomore forward Luke Apfeld (10.2) averaging double figures. Here four players hit doubles led by Apfeld’s 14 points. “We are scoring by committee,” Becker says. “I like that because it spreads things around and makes it tough for teams to key on one guy. If we wind up going through the year like that, fine with me.”

3. FDU needs chemistry 101. You can point out the rebounding deficiency (34-29 Vermont). Shooting woes (40% from the floor) and the turnover malady (23 for a 34% TO rate). Simple fact, this is a group of transfers from four year colleges and junior colleges. There is talent but time is needed for it to come together. The Knights entered the game in the midst of a six game losing streak. Their last and only win, was November 18th over St. Peter’s here at the Rothman Center. Little surprise those six consecutive losses coincided with the same amount of games away from home. The leading scorer for FDU, junior forward Kinu Rochford showed a lot of hustle and hard work inside scoring 13 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Unfortunately, he was ejected due to a flagrant foul with just under ten minutes to play.  Melquan Bolding, the highly touted transfer from Duquesne added 12 points but was 5 of 15 from the field.

     It was that type of evening for the now 1-9 Knights.

-Ray Floriani

 

Around the nation: Tuesday edition

It’s been a good year for the Missouri Valley Conference so far. Creighton is off to a 9-1 start behind 6-foot-7 forward Doug McDermott, who’s having an incredible year. The sophomore is averaging 24.1 points while hitting 61 percent from the field, 55 percent from 3, and 83 percent from the foul line in playing for his father, Greg. The pair have been quite the Cinderella story; Creighton took a chance on McDermott, the coach, who posted losing records in his four years at Iowa State (though it should be mentioned he’d previously taken Northern Iowa to three-straight NCAA Tournaments) and the player followed his father to Omaha (Neb.) once he took the job, backing out of his letter-of-intent at UNI. Lots of people missed on Greg: he was rated a three-star player by Rivals, and had no high-major offers. … Creighton’s conference foe, Indiana State, also turned heads with a 61-55 upset at Vanderbilt on Saturday. ISU is just an average team athletically and lacks overall size, but is fundamentally sound on both ends of the floor. The Sycamores’ grind-it-out style can get the better of an impatient opponent, and while the team has no real stars, it has a number of guys who don’t force the issue and can put the ball in the hole when the play comes to them. On Saturday, it was reserve R.J. Mahurin who was the hero, coming off the bench to get 14 to lead ISU in scoring. That earned him MVC player of the week honors. … The MVC now has six of its 10 teams ranked in Ken Pomeroy’s top 95, including Wichita State (24), which beat UNLV by 19 just two weeks ago. … As for Vandy, its frustrating season continues; the Commodores were ranked seventh in both preseason polls, and now stand 7-4 with three home losses. Once again, the injury bug has bitten Vandy: center Festus Ezeli, who sat out the first month with a knee injury before returning two weeks ago, has now hurt his other knee, and back pain caused him to exit portions of the Creighton game. His backup, Josh Henderson, is probably done for the year with an injury, too, and VU’s only other two post players with any real experience, Lance Goulbourne and Steve Tchiengang, are also playing through various ailments. Even small forward Jeffery Taylor, who led the Commodores with 28 points in a win over Longwood on Monday, threw up constantly from food poisoning on Sunday and Monday and missed Monday’s shoot-around. But even the injuries don’t explain why an experienced team like the Commodores continues to play without focus, intensity, leadership, and confidence for key stretches in close games. … Speaking of mid-majors pulling upsets, how about Davidson’s stunner over Kansas in Kansas City on Monday night? Kansas got Tyshawn Taylor back earlier than expected from knee surgery, and he scored 15 points and passed out seven assists, but Davidson has four players who average double-figure scoring, and all hit double-digits against KU. Nic Cochran led the way with 21, including a huge 3-pointer with 1:31 left that put DC ahead by six. … Almost as stunning was LSU’s upset of previously-unbeaten and 10th-ranked Marquette on Monday by a 67-59 score. The Tigers are a limited offensive team, but coach Trent Johnson’s team has really clamped down on defense, failing to allow more than 60 points in their last five games. Marquette had scored 88 points or more six times already, and led 13-0 after the first 3 1/2 minutes, but Ralston Turner’s 22 points led the LSU charge. Marquette is playing without sophomore center Chris Otule, who’s done for the year with a broken foot. Otule isn’t much of an offensive threat, but he’s an excellent shot-blocker, and the Warriors don’t have a player over 6-foot-8 without him.

- Chris Lee, VandySports.com

 

Thomas latest Buckeye option with Sullinger in peril

The first half of Saturday’s 74-66 win over South Carolina was an attrition for No. 2 Ohio State.  Jared Sullinger scored on an easy stick back and was fouled to begin the game plus a subsequent free throw.  It was an easy task and looked like it might foreshadow the romp that most people suspected Saturday in Columbia.

That was until Sullinger went out with 16:46 remaining in the first half when Sullinger had to come out of the game with another foot injury.  He tried to come back but couldn’t  thanks to a bone bruise in his left foot.

At that point, Ohio State was disoriented and it took the Buckeyes a while to regroup.  It was like they almost had to come to grips with the idea that Sullinger would be unavailable for the rest of the day.  That style of thought must have permeated after halftime as South Carolina surprisingly shot 52.6% from the floor in the first half and took a 33-29 lead into the locker room.  Much of that stat had to do with missing Sullinger’s defensive presence and shot blocking ability inside.

“We had to get a little juice into it,” said sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas, who had a career-high 30 points in the win, “We made some mistakes on offense and had turnovers in the first half and that is not us.”

Thomas went 13-of-16 from the floor as he had five offensive rebounds and kept an obvious key presence in the game when it was still in doubt.

“Today, his energy and his toughness got him easy buckets that he is not going to have to work hard for,” said Buckeyes point guard Aaron Craft, “It’s a huge lift and a dagger to the other team.  When he gets confidence that he is going to knock down shots, its tough for the other team.”

Thomas was the story, but Buford picked OSU up and kept them close when they were trying to adjust themselves in the first half after Sullinger’s injury.  He scored seven points in the first 9:24 of the first half as Ohio State did grab an 18-11 lead before USC took advantage of the adjusting to life without Sullinger to close strong.

“They were box and one-ing me and when I run the baseline, the man was running with me, I told the big man to duck in and basically it was 4-on-4 for me to find the open spot,” said Buford, who played the entire 40 minutes and scored 17 points.

Thomas was at his finest midway through the second half when he scored 11 of 13 points over a 3:50 stretch to give the Buckeyes a 55-46 lead with 9:21 left.  In addition, he forced turnovers and had five of his six rebounds on the offensive glass as he is the latest on a multi-talented team to pick up the slack as Sullinger continues to struggle with injuries.

“In the second half, they kept giving me the middle which was open,” he said, “That’s what everybody says — “That’s what you’re here for to shoot the ball and knock that down.’  So I just started knocking jumpers down and getting the offensive rebound and putting it back up.”

-Ken Cross

 

Mack provides relief for Rutgers

 

Myles Mack of Rutgers

New York City - Myles Mack got the word at practice following the win over Monmouth last Monday. He would not be in the stating lineup against Stony Brook at Madison Square Garden . “Sure, it’s an ego hit,” Mack said following the 67-58 win over the Seahawks in  the MSG Holiday Festival on Saturday. “The last few games I was not playing as well so I decided that coming off the bench I would observe and do what was needed to help my team.” Mack studied the first few minutes of the game and realized what the Scarlet Knights needed. “We had to get out in transition,” he said. “I had to get the break going and get the ball in the hands of the right players.”

     As it turned out, the freshman guard out of  prep power St. Anthony’s in Jersey City (NJ) was one of the key players. He led all scorers with 22 points shooting 7 of 8 from the floor and adding three steals. Rutgers enjoyed an edge 13-0 in points in transition. Give Mack a good deal of the credit.

          “It was his (Mack) time,” Rutgers coach Mike Rice said. “I like to have the freshman (starters) at some point come off the bench. It gives a good chance to see how they respond. Myles responded great. Especially offensively which we really needed.”

          Would Mack relish an off the bench role in the immediate future? “If that is what’s needed, I would do it,” he responded. “It’s not so much about starting because you will play the same amount of minutes.”

          For the afternoon, Mack did log 28 minutes. Starting guards Jerome Seagears and Eli Carter logged 30 and 28 respectively for the Scarlet Knights. In Rice’s estimation, starting is not a big issue. “Truthfully,” the Rutgers coach said, “I feel this team has seven starters not five.” 

- Ray Floriani