Polls: Florida's still No. 1. UConn fell out from No. 6 after losing at home to Alabama, which used that win to jump from No. 23 to No. 5. Boston College rocketed up from No. 25 to No. 6. Georgia, who we play this Friday, is up to No. 9. No votes for us. :(
The first CRI (RPI) rankings came out this week also. We're at .5199. Our schedule is the 16th weakest in the nation among 320 schools. Weakest? Niagara. Strongest? Vanderbilt. (Seven of the top 10 CRI ratings belong to SEC schools, and six of the top 10 toughest schedules.)
Recruiting: Two visits from shooting guards this week:
Eric Braddick (6'3", 176, Zeeland, MI)
Liam Paisley (6'5", 160, Zurich, Switzerland; Proviso East HS)
The assistants want us to go after Morrison, but Mills has expressed concerns over how serious he is about wanting to play for us. We called Conrad again, but he isn't any more interested in us than he's been over the past few weeks, and Gearhart's thinking is that we shouldn't spend too much more time with him if he's not at least thinking about joining us. That's time and resources that could be put to better use recruiting guys who want to come here.
The consensus number one player in the land, point guard Brett Keams from Darrow H.S. in New Lebanon, N.Y., signed with the University of Texas. In fact, six of the top 10 players committed this week.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: SF #23 Mark Keep, 6'5" junior, Detroit (27.5 ppg, 6 rpg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SF #24 Andy Hayes, 6'5" freshman, Wright State (14 ppg, 4 rpg, his second time winning)
National Player of the Week: SG Tim Melson, 6'3" senior, Rhode Island (34 ppg, 6 apg, 4 rpg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF Nicholas Thompson, 6'6" freshman, Michigan State (25.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 5 blocks)
Game 7 Report:
Austin Peay (2-2) at Illinois-Chicago
Monday, December 9, 2002
For the first time this season, we have to bounce back from a loss. Should be interesting.
Things started out well again, as we scored the game's first seven points in two minutes. They brought a couple of kids off the bench and got a quick spark, and White picked up two fouls in the first six minutes of the half. Bah. A 7-0 run gave Austin Peay its first lead of the game at 14-12 with 11:03 left in the half. We seemed flat despite the fast start, and we didn't make any shots for a while.
Jones and Williams led our comeback, with Jones making two shots off of a three-foul shot situation to close the gap to 28-27 with 4:05 left. He then gave us the lead back on a putback. From there it was back-and-forth - due to foul trouble, we had a very small lineup on the floor (Cooper, Jefferson, Miller, Jones, Williams) - and they were tired because we're shorthanded as it is and our only two big men were stuck on the bench. Austin Peay got two late buckets and took a 37-33 lead into the locker room.
They shot 49% to our 39% in the first half. Jones had 11, while David Fast led them with nine.
All right, the third foul on White was legitimate - he pushed Fast down and that's against the rules. But that fourth one was a piece of crap. He knew it, Fast knew it, the American people knew it. Just over two minutes into the second half, and our best inside player was back on the bench with four fouls. WTF. At this point, Jones pointed to his back and said, "Hop on, boys. Let's go." The senior hit two threes on his way to eight straight points (he had 21 after this run) and got us the lead back, 43-40.
Damon Schafer would tie the score at 43 before Jefferson's alertness got him two points off a Cooper miss at the foul line. We switched to a one-guard front offense at halftime, and it seemed to help us out at the defensive end, as we were getting back faster and getting in their faces. Jones got a quick rest before returning when it was time to turn over the frontcourt again. Correa's not that great leading the break, but he's really a converted forward playing backup point, so we couldn't complain too much. Also, we had a five-point lead with nine minutes left.
6:01 left. We'd traded baskets for the last two minutes until Austin Peay got some fast break opportunities. It's 64-62 Flames. All our starters were now back on the floor, including White, who'd barely played with four fouls, two of which were questionable at best. Williams then fouled Fast on a three (stupid, stupid, STUPID) and he hit two. Tie game. But he redeemed himself somewhat by grabbing a horribly missed three from Miller and putting it back.
Fast made his next three. White finally got on the board 36 minutes into the game, but Austin Peay got four more and stretched the lead to 71-68 with 3:35 left. Cooper showed great smarts, taking a charge with about two minutes left that led to a Miller jumper to cut the lead to 74-73 with 1:52 to go. AP had two fouls to give and were in the bonus already, but they'd only made 14 of 24 from the line so far. Fast was on the bench.
We fouled.
Freshman Fraser Mitchell hit both shots to give them a 76-73 lead. Cooper found Miller in the lane, but he was fouled and made one of two from the stripe. 76-74. 1:22 left. Fast threw the ball away, and we got another free shot. Miller cut out of the lane, took the pass from Cooper, stopped, turned immediately, and NAILED a three-pointer! 77-76 Flames with 48 seconds to play!
Everybody on Austin Peay was looking to Fast for another big shot, and we had him doubled with Miller and Jones. He put up a wild three that wasn't even close, but Donovan Johnson came down with the rebound. 30 seconds to go. But instead of driving to the basket, they started passing it around the perimeter. 20 seconds. Fast thought about another shot, but passed off to Mitchell instead. He fired a risky pass to Johnson in the lane, but he missed a five-footer, and Williams grabbed the rebound! Time out! FOUR seconds left.
Why call time? Well, remember when Fast missed that three-pointer with 31 seconds, and they got the rebound, but didn't go for another shot right away? We probably would have had to foul there had they shot, and not only would that have been our 10th (putting them in the double bonus) but had it been on White, he would have fouled out. We were going to get one more possession anyway, but now there's only four seconds left as opposed to 27 or so if they'd taken another shot right away. We didn't foul because we knew they'd foul as soon as we got the ball, ensuring them another possession. That we got it off of a missed shot was the small amount of luck that any strategy like this needs to work :) It's their own fault. They should have taken another shot right away, because by us waiting them out and then calling time out instead of taking the immediate foul, we can now inbound the ball and maybe make a couple of quick passes and run another second off the clock before they can foul us. And we're ahead, so they have to foul right away if they want a remote chance of winning. We'd only be shooting one-and-one, so making that first free throw would be vital if it came to that.
So we've got this locked up, right?
Right?
Well, they fouled Jones.
He missed the first free throw.
But Miller grabbed the rebound and threw up a shot.
And HE was fouled.
And the shot went in.
The clock showed four zeroes, so the game's over.
Clyde stepped up and made his foul shot.
UIC 80, Austin Peay 76.
Who needs Monday Night Football? You want excitement on Monday nights, you come to the Pavilion. An important win, giving us a much-needed confidence boost as we get ready to play the best team we will face all year.
Danny Jones was the game's high scorer with 25. Miller added 15, including the game-winner and the game's last seven points. He also had six assists and six rebounds. David Fast led Austin Peay with 20. Johnson added 15, and David Mance had 13.
Game 8 Report
Illinois-Chicago at No. 9 Georgia (7-0)
Friday, December 13, 2002
Ominous much?
Coach Kenyan Willis's Georgia Bulldogs averaged 89.7 points in their first seven games, tenth in the country. They only scored less than 80 points once (75-62 win over San Jose State) and have broken 90 three times, including a 102-47 thrashing of Rice. Seventy-five is also the most points they gave up (an 86-75 win at UNC-Asheville to open the season) as they have consistently held opponents in the 60s.
Senior PG Donny Keady averages 9.3 points, 9.7 assists and 3.3 steals per game. SF Josh Clay was SEC Player of the Week two weeks ago and is averaging a double-double (16.3 ppg, 10.6 rpg). They did play Northeastern last night, though - maybe they'll be tired?
Unbelievably, this isn't even the biggest game for Horizon League teams tonight - Loyola-Chicago's visiting top-ranked Florida. Both teams were at the airport together before flying out, and there was a lot of talk about the big night - Loyola and UIC are practically neighbors in Chicago, and there are 11 players from Indiana between the two schools, so many of the players have known each other for years.
Coach Mills chatted with Ramblers head man Justin Stanley at the airport.
Stanley: You know that if one of us wins, the neighborhood's gonna go nuts.
Mills: It'll be like those Bulls celebrations. What if we both win?
Stanley: Wow. It could be like the fire.
Good Lord. Just over a minute into the game and Cooper got two fouls. We did score first, on a putback by Williams, but this is the absolute last thing we wanted to happen. Cooper went to the bench, but White then went off, using his height (at 6'10", he was the tallest starter on the floor) to reel off seven straight points. After four minutes, we're up 9-5. We quickly found out that the Bulldogs are very good at drawing contact, and White soon joined Cooper on the bench with two. We switched to a 2-1-2 and found it more to our liking, and Miller started getting shots and helped us take a 16-12 lead with 11:16 to play in the half. "It's still early," Mills tells his team. Willis likely told his Bulldogs the same thing.
Our foul problems and fatigue forced us, at one point, to play Jefferson, Jones, and Williams all out of position at the first three spots. Surprisingly, not much of note happens for a while except a lot of turnovers and missed free throws. With five minutes left in the half, the Flames hold a 21-20 lead. We were 4-for-9 at the line at this point. Bad. Very bad. Plus, Miller got his third foul already.
Out of a time out, Josh Clay immediately gave the Bulldogs their first lead with a three-pointer. While they did look tired (having played last night), we weren't playing that well up to that point, either. Rasheed Forney's 10th point gave them a 28-21 lead with three minutes left, and we were just trying to keep it close going into halftime at this point. It was a task we'd appeared to fail as Georgia ran its lead to 11 before Jefferson got fouled on a three and hit all three shots. 36-28 Bulldogs at halftime. All things considered, not horrible. Now if our starters can actually get some floor time in the second half...
Forney had 12 at the half to lead all scorers. Jefferson, White and Miller had seven apiece for us.
We came out of the locker room sizzling, scoring the first six points of the half before a Clay 3 put a stop to that. After four minutes, it was 40-36 Georgia, Cooper was having a horrible game, and both Miller and White were on the bench again with four fouls each. The only thing that was saving us was that Georgia's Donny Keady appeared to be off as well - four assists, four turnovers, four points. The possession arrow got quite a workout in the next few minutes, and Correa hit a jumper with 12:39 to play to get us within two. But Forney came back with a trey and a putback to give the Bulldogs a five-point advantage. Alonzo Friend hit another three (time to start defending the perimeter!) and Clay swished a jumper to make it 54-44 halfway through. On their next trip down, they got three offensive rebounds, all by Clay, before he was fouled. They got another one on a missed free throw, but Jean Wise couldn't convert. Still, nine minutes left, and we were down 57-44. It was about that time.
Miller and White rose from the bench and made their way to the scorer's table; Mills thinking that he might as well gamble now and put them back in while there's still a chance. There's another three from Clay. With 7:42 left and down 60-44, Miller and White returned to the floor with four fouls each. Cooper scored his first points of the game on the ensuing possession. We traded baskets for a while until Miller fouled out with 5:20 left defending Whitney Nurse on a three-pointer, which he made anyway. He missed the free throw, but Keady was fouled going after the rebound, and he hit one of two. 68-48 Georgia. Two straight threes gave us a glimmer of false hope, and that's all it turned out to be. A trey by Forney with 58 seconds left put an exclamation mark on the whole deal. 87-60 final.
Well, at least we held them under their average. It can safely be said, I think, that fouls to our best players hurt us. When three of your starters don't even play 20 minutes, things aren't gonna go well. Fun fact: Georgia was whistled for exactly NO fouls in the second half. Us? Twelve. Still, we played with them for 27-28 minutes and actually led for half of that. That counts for something.
Forney led all scorers with 24, a season high for him. Clay added 17 and 11 rebounds, while Nurse and Keady (nine assists) had 13 apiece. Jefferson led us with 13, and Miller had 11.
Conference Roundup: Our Loyola neighbors started half an hour later than us and had even worse of a time than we did, falling to the Gators 71-44. Coach Stanley said in his postgame interview that there was some buzzing about our game in the stands, probably from the first half. The Ramblers never led.
BUT, the next day, Youngstown State decided it wasn't going out like that, and the Penguins went into Cameron Indoor and BEAT No. 12 Duke, 90-81. Bobby Coursey scored 28 points (went 6-for-6 from behind the arc) and had 10 assists. If he's not Conference Player of the Week there ought to be an investigation.
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