News: Clyde’s back! He’s fully recovered and rehabbed after hernia surgery. We’ll see if he’s up for starting during practice this week.
Polls: Florida’s back on top after Tennessee lost to Georgia, 75-64 on Wednesday. Josh Clay had 23 and 21 in the win.
Awards:
Horizon League Player of the Week: SF #0 Paris LaRue, 6’6” junior, Detroit (31 ppg, 11.5 rpg) Had 36 in a 10-point loss to Youngstown State Saturday.
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SF #24 Andy Hayes, 6’4” freshman, Wright State (21 ppg)
National Player of the Week: SG #3 Marcus Spann, 6’3” senior, Monmouth (36 ppg, 5 apg, 7 rpg)
National Freshman of the Week: SF #5 Brett Gates, 6’9” freshman, St. John’s (20 ppg, 15.5 rpg, 4.5 bpg)
Game 26 Report
Wisconsin-Green Bay (13-12, 9-4) at Illinois-Chicago (13-12, 5-7)
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Six weeks ago they beat us by one point in overtime in a game I felt we should have won.
Horizon League Freshman of the Year is a two-horse race at this point between Wright State’s Andy Hayes (who we’ll see again on Sunday) and this man:
PG #12 Chris Merton (6’3”, 176, freshman, Central HS, Flint, Mich.)
10.2 ppg, 6.9 apg (4th in conference)
We held him down in our first meeting; limiting him to two points and three assists in 19 minutes. He spent a lot of the game in foul trouble, also.
Game time, and we decided not to start Clyde. This may have been a mistake, as Correa couldn’t contain the Phoenix’s Dan Gresham early, as he scored seven of WGB’s first 10 points. Down 10-5 and four and a half minutes into the game, Miller emerged from the bench to a nice ovation and replaced Cooper, who’d picked up two quick and questionable fouls. Miller came in and hit his first shot, earning another nice hand from the fans.
We were getting a scrappy effort early on, but the Phoenix were too smooth for us to catch up with, shooting well over 60 percent in the early going. That soon changed, as a Jefferson three-pointer closed their lead to 18-16, then neither team made a shot for well over three minutes. We took the lead on two free throws by Jefferson, and the Phoenix promptly called time.
With 3:30 left in the half, we were up 28-25 after James Smith had halved the lead with a three. One of Miller’s unsung qualities is his ballhandling, and he’s another guy we can use at the point in dire situations. He made some great passes near the end of the half, and Muhammad’s turnaround jumper off the glass gave us a 37-31 lead at halftime.
Miller had six points and five assists off the bench. Danny Jones was our high man with seven. For the Phoenix, Gresham cooled off after a hot start and went into the locker room with nine. We only had three turnovers, also, which is phenomenal.
After a couple minutes went by in the second half, we switched to a 2-1-2 because it’s less embarrassing than seeing guys make three-pointers directly in our faces. We stayed in front thanks to our interior players’ work on the boards, and led 49-43 with 12:30 left to play. But a putback by Melvin Dearman (I’m fairly certain all of his points from the floor have come on putbacks) and a three by Gresham cut the lead to one. They went ahead briefly before a Fields basket put us back on top, then another Gresham trey tied the score at 53 with eight minutes left.
We pulled away on the strength of Cooper and Jefferson’s offense, leading 66-59 at one point, but let them back in on the weakness of Jefferson’s defense. With 2:11 left, we got a stoppage and Miller replaced Jefferson. A risk for his first game back in over two months? Coach Mills didn’t think so. Would it pay off?
The Phoenix got a basket from Nate Trent to make the score 66-65, us. We bled the clock but couldn’t get a good shot, and they had three fouls to give and only used one. So it’s their ball, down one, with 27 seconds left. We also had fouls to give, and their free throw shooting’s been horrific tonight (3 for 8), so we thought about fouling.
But didn’t.
Instead, we went to a straight-up man-to-man and turned up the pressure, figuring we could force them into a bad shot.
The resulting turnover was just as good.
Two fouls got us to the line and Cooper sank both shots with 16 seconds left.
The key now? DON’T LET GRESHAM SHOOT. Make him give up the ball, since he’s the one who turned it over on their last possession. Inexplicably, the ball ended up going inside to Josh Smith, who Williams happily fouled. He made both free throws, 68-67, game over, we win. What an odd ending. But hey, we got our payback. (Not to mention our point.)
White ended up our leading scorer with 13 of the least publicized points you’ll ever see. Jefferson added 11, while Jones and Correa had 10 each. Miller had six points, six rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes off the bench. He’ll return to the starting lineup Sunday. Gresham led all scorers with 22, while Dearman had 15 and 11 rebounds.
Game 27 Report
Wright St. (12-14, 8-5) at Illinois-Chicago (14-12, 6-7)
Sunday, February 23, 2003
As promised, Miller was in the starting lineup today. It was an especially sloppy start for the Raiders, who committed four turnovers in the first two minutes. The first points came 1:56 in when Cooper made two free throws. We think they may have been confused by us starting in a 3-2 zone. Miller made the first shot from the floor three minutes in. It would be two and a half more minutes before reserve Mike Jenkins made the first shot from the floor for the Raiders.
The Raiders pulled into a tie, then took a 13-11 lead on a three by Lloyd Petteway. After that… a whole lot of nothing. Well, not completely. But there was a stretch where neither team could keep the ball long enough to take a shot, let alone make one. We eventually went on an 11-2 run late in the half, and ended the half up 30-21.
Cooper had 11 points and was the only player who seemed to have his shot in the first half. Our 3-2 zone play forced Wright St. to shoot 1-for-10 from behind the arc. Colin Jefferson led the Raiders with seven points.
Everyone must have gotten their legs during the break, as both teams came out trading baskets to start the second half. But eight minutes into the half, both White and Williams were on the bench with four fouls, and the Raiders’ big men were keeping them in the game. Coach Mills switched to a help defense to tighten things up inside. It worked, but the Raiders went to the jump shot and were successful, closing the margin to 43-41 with 10:17 to play. Time out.
Muhammad ended the run with a hook shot, and we pushed the lead back to seven. It got to 11 with 3:37 left, and the Raiders were unable to make enough shots to get closer. It ended at the free throw line, and we picked that time to start making the shots. In what was out lowest-scoring win of the year, we prevailed, 63-51.
Cooper led all scorers with 17 points. Miller added 11 (7 of 9 from the line), while Williams had 11 rebounds. Petteway had a team-high 13 for the Raiders. Leading scorer Andy Hayes: Two. Another key was Paul Marvel’s seven turnovers to six assists. It was a big win, as with one week to go in the conference schedule, we have a chance to finish second, and a winning conference record plus a good run in the conference tournament could get us an ACT bid… or an NCT spot if the Butler Bulldogs are kidnapped or something.
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