(Author's Note: I'm actually three weeks farther ahead in the game than what I'm posting here. But I haven't played recently, mostly due to Madden 2004's Owner Mode and planning and writing the Dyad Championship Match for Action's Players and Pawns [which I may devote a post of its own to when I finish the damn thing], so I'll be posting to try to catch up to myself.)
Polls: Florida lost! 89-79 to Tennessee on Friday. But they're still No. 1. The Vols moved up to No. 2, while unbeaten Alabama sits at No. 3. Five SEC schools are in the top 10.
Recruiting: Disaster. Winkfield swerved everybody (and I do mean everybody) as he signed with Southern Illinois. Even worse, our backup plan at SF, Antonio Morrison, committed to Central Michigan. And Alex Ahern signed with Southwest Missouri State. So, with only two weeks left in the recruiting period, last-minute offers went out to Street and:
C Jamison Harrington (6'11", 236, Central Catholic H.S., Lafayette, Ind.)
We're not sure why he's lasted this long. He's averaging almost 30 a game, though his rebounding numbers could be better. (Maybe that's it.) Several big programs have him as a fall-back option, but we're going after him hard.
Awards: Horizon League Player of the Week: C #11 Gabriel Ichaki, 6'6" senior, Butler (23.5 ppg, 15.5 rpg, 6.5 bpg)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: PG #12 Chris Merton, 6'3" freshman, Wisconsin-Green Bay (14 ppg, 10 apg) Surprise! (Not really, actually.)
National Player of the Week: SG Demetrius Briggs, 6'5" senior, Dartmouth (27 ppg, 9 apg, 9 rpg, 8 spg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF Donald Dilligard, 6'3" freshman, Loyola Marymount (28 ppg, 5 rpg)
Game 15 Report
Illinois-Chicago (8-6, 1-1) at Wisconsin-Green Bay (5-9, 1-1)
Tuesday, January 7, 2003
These games are so unpredictable.
Early on, White was a demon on the boards and managed to do it legally to boot. We gave up and early three but used our advantage in the paint to put ourselves in it. Then the game hit a stretch where nobody could make a damn shot. The Phoenix (it's my understanding that they stopped Fighting several years ago) were shooting an inordinate amount of three-pointers and making more of them than we'd been led to believe they were capable of. But we hung tough and only trailed by three after seven minutes. Then, James Smith (or was it Josh? Must... check... PBP... more... closely) began to make some shots, and he helped extend the lead to 22-15 with 9:20 to go in the first half.
Things proceeded to get worse.
For a while, we couldn't make up any ground despite our best efforts. It didn't help that Jones, our leading active scorer, didn't get on the board until there were only five minutes left in the half. But James Smith sparked a run by the Phoenix that he put an exclamation point on with another three-pointer, giving them a 40-25 lead with 2:27 left on the first-half clock. Some uninspired (on our part) back-and-forth followed, and Phoenix reserve Mitch Cundiff hit a three at the end of the half for a 46-29 score.
James Smith is their leading scorer with 13.7 a game, and he already had 12 points at halftime. They had 12 assists to our three.
The guys came out of the locker room deadly serious. And they played like it, too - after a couple of early free throws, we went on an amazing 20-2 run over the next eight minutes that everybody got in on. It was good enough to give us a 51-50 lead with 12:47 to play, even. It ended up being a short-lived lead, but we were back in the game.
The Phoenix pulled away slightly, but improved defense on our part and James Smith being on the bench allowed us to come back. Muhammad hit another of his "trademark" threes with 7:30 to go to make it a two-point game again, and Fields tied it at 61 with seven minutes left on a nice baby hook. From there it was nip and tuck until the two-minute mark, when the Phoenix led 68-66 (we had two good looks underneath the basket to tie at around 2:20, but missed).
Two minutes left, our ball out of bounds, down two, both teams in the one-and-one and neither squad's been shooting the free throws particularly well tonight. White had four fouls of COURSE, and Merton and Josh Smith had four fouls for WGB. Correa's at three fouls. Williams tied the game with 1:33 left on a bank shot. We got a steal, but Cooper missed a 14-footer that would have given us the lead. The Phoenix got a fast break off of the miss, and Dan Gresham gave them a 70-68 lead with a dunk. 33 seconds left. Cooper drover the lane - and was fouled by Melvin Dearman. Remember, one-and-one.
Cooper... made them both. 70-all with 19 seconds left. The Phoenix got the ball in Merton's hands to create, but Cooper fouled him.
He missed the first free throw.
Jones came down with the rebound but didn't hear Mills yelling at him to call time, and he and Cooper ran the floor. Cooper got the ball and put up a shot with the clock running down...
And missed.
Overtime.
The first four possessions of overtime ended with turnovers before a Josh Smith turnaround jumper gave the Phoenix the lead. Nothing for us, then Dearman hit a fadeaway to make it 74-70. But Cooper came back with a big 3, then got fouled in the act on a fast break the next trip down. He made one of two to tie the game at 74. Gresham hit a jumper, but Cooper came back with one of his own. Tied at 76! The Phoenix took their time and worked the post, and James Smith got fouled. The foul was on White, and he fouled out with 27 seconds left in OT.
James made one of two, but rebounded his own miss - but Jones stole the ball! THIS time, he saw Mills signal and called time out. Cooper got the inbounds pass and was whistled for a very questionable travel, but the Phoenix lost the ball out of bounds on the ensuing possession. Seven seconds left. Cooper brought the ball up, turned, stopped, saw Correa and got him the ball. Correa's shot...
...missed.
77-76 final.
Ah, home court advantage. Nothin' like it.
This was a tough one to swallow, since we felt we could and should have won, especially after the comeback we had to make. Cooper had his best game so far, scoring a game-high 16 points and adding five assists. He was absolutely huge for us down the stretch and in OT. Correa had 15, while White had 11 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out. James Smith and Dan Gresham each had 14 for the Phoenix, but we shut down James very well in the second half and OT, as he only got two points after halftime.
Game 16 Report
Loyola-Chicago (6-8, 2-0) at Illinois-Chicago (8-7, 1-2)
Saturday, January 11, 2003
The first meeting of the season between the city neighbors and rivals. The Ramblers' size is deceiving; they start a 6'5" center, but their true "big man" is power forward Justin Mansell:
PF #42 Justin Mansell (6'9", 239, sophomore, Alexandria Monroe HS, Alexandria, IN)
10.4 ppg, 9 rpg (leads team), 3.1 bpg (leads team and conference), 2.49 GPA
They also bring 6'11" junior Russell Jordan off the bench, and he led them with 26 points in their 88-85 win over Wright State on Thursday.
Our plan? Go right at them; we have enough forwards (that's basically all our team is at this point) to handle any foul trouble they give us.
While it didn't work out quite that way at the start, it was an exciting beginning, each team missing only one shot in the first 4:40 en route to an early 11-11 tie. But no one would score for another two and a half minutes until a Correa free throw broke it. We went to our bench first but suffered little, as the score was 16-16 nine minutes into the game. Then the Ramblers reeled off an 8-2 run over the next two-plus minutes, only for us to respond with an 8-2 run of our own, tying the score at 26 on a White putback of a Jones miss at the free throw line. The half would end much the same way it began, with three straight makes, including a 16-footer from White at the buzzer to knot the game at 36 at the half.
White can be quite productive when he's not in foul trouble. He had 12 points at halftime, and Correa added nine. Mansell and Nathan Clay had eight apiece for the Ramblers. We must shoot better at the line; only 4-for-9 in the first half.
The Ramblers got the second half's first points from the free throw line, but we scored the next six. However, a bit of poor decision-making (and more bad free-throw shooting) left us with only a 43-42 lead four minutes into the second half when we should have been up by five or six. This trend continued, and the Ramblers were able to regain the lead on a Chris Paulding three with 13:31 left. A Cooper putback and a Wagner jumper enabled us to pull back into a 49-49 tie.
Greer sent Mansell to the bench with his fourth foul with 10:39 left to play. It's usually the situation we have with White, so it was nice to see it on the other side for a change. Another nice little flurry of consistent offense ended with us down two with 6:50 left. Substitutions were made, and we switched from our help defense (which the Ramblers were starting to beat more consistently) to a 2-1-2 zone. Jordan missed the back end of a one-and-one, and Greer's fadeaway got us the lead back, 65-64 with 4:03 left. Muhammad, gutting it out with four fouls, made the front end of a one-and-one, but missed the second shot, and two second chances also failed. Fields converted a three-point play when Mansell hacked him in mid-double pump, fouling out in the process. The shot banked in, and Fields made the following free throw. We were up five with 2:28 to go, and it's a good thing we already had the lead, because once again, only Cooper could make free throws down the stretch. A three by Dante Caskill at the buzzer preserved some of their dignity, but for us, a 76-69 victory still goes into the books as a victory.
We shot 66 percent from the floor and only 57 percent from the foul line. White scored 17 points for us. Cooper had another solid game with 13 points and eight assists and seems to be getting it. He's making better decisions, and is scoring more, mostly out of necessity. Correa added 14. Caskill and Ashley Phillips had 15 apiece for the Ramblers. Greer actually had more blocks than Mansell (3 to 2).
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