Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[PointGuard]

PG, just to help me with my game strategy, what did you try against Celuck- type of D, did you double him...

LOL...be sure NOT to use what I did!!!

Defensively we use m2m about 80% and 2-3 zone about 20%. When Celuck began burning us midway through the 1st half, I began doubling him and did so the rest of the game. He wasn't phased by this in the least (but none of my players are really strong defensively). He hit 8 of 12 FGs (including 5 of 6 threes) and 3 of 4 from the line in 29 min of play. We rate the guy 1 inside, 8 outside, 7 free throws, and 2 scoring, and 3 star player (nothing all that great at all). He's now scored 20+ points in 3 of 10 games, but also had 4 games under 10 pts...so a streaky guy. Guess what streak we caught?

[Wayne23]

You caught the wrong streak all right but I'm not so sure doubling works that well. I've doubled guys with the main defender rated 6 and the second guy 5 and still had him burn us for 20 or more.

[PointGuard]

I think double teaming works sometimes...sometimes it really shuts down a player by giving him few shooting opportunities or reducing his shooting percentage significantly.

But there are times when it doesn't work...the guy is hot or just too good...he finds ways to get free or shoots and hits a bunch of 3's. Plus sometimes a player adds several points by scoring on breakaways.

Overall, I think it works more often than not.

[PointGuard]

Game #7; Dec. 7, 2011; Northern Kentucky Norse (2-4) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (2-4)

Johnny Chase and Greg Bivins were both relegated to the bench within the first 5 minutes as the refs racked up two fouls apiece on them. Ahead by just a point at that point, our team seemed to get fired up by the foul calls against us and pulled away to an 11 point lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half. We extended our lead to as much as 14 points before the Norse reeled us in a bit toward the end of the half. We left the court with a 45-37 lead. We hit 55% of our shots and out-rebounded Northern Kentucky 19-10. Kevin Hill and Carlos Holmes again came of the bench to score 11 and 10 points respectively.

Northern Kentucky came back to cut our lead to 3 points early in the 2nd half as I wrestled to try to put the right combination of players on the court. Our team came together to re-establish a double digit lead midway through the half. The Norse didn’t give up and crept to within 5 points with 2 minutes on the clock. We outplayed them in the final 2 minutes to pull away to a comfortable win.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-78, Northern Kentucky-69. CSU Bakersfield season record: 3-4.

Scoring leaders: Settles-17, Hill-14, Powers-11, Holmes-10, BIvins-9.

Rebound leaders: Settles-5, Chase-5, Hill-5.

Assist leaders: Holmes-3.

Player of the Game: C Mike Settles-17 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG/SF Kevin Hill-14 pts, 5 reb, 1 steal.

Other notes: We knocked down 48% of our shots (including 7 of 12 from 3-point range) to Northern Kentucky’s 41% shooting. We out-rebounded the Norse 36-30. Our bench rocked the place tonight with Mike Settles scoring 17, Kevin Hill 14, Carlos Holmes 10.

[Wayne23]

I still use it, and of course I don't expect it to work every time, nothing does, because anything a coach can put in can be counteracted by something the other coach does. But when I put really good defenders on a guy I expect some effect, even if only a small one.

[CoachC]

doubling is least effective against long range bombers.

[Wayne23]

Yes, I've noticed that too, Coach.

[PointGuard]

Game #8; Dec. 10, 2011; Eastern Illinois Panthers (7-1) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-4)

Nate Dwiggins and Kevin Williams, Eastern Illinois’ starting guards, have combined for more than 32 ppg and are hitting a high percentage of their FG’s and 3’s. Ammer Meliet and Jarvis Jensen, sharing time at SF for the Panthers, have combined for 13.5 ppg and also are shooting well. Hopefully they don’t all have hot hands against us, so we can focus on any one that does.

Eastern Illinois came out hot and spurted to a 24-11 lead, but we then scored the next 14 points to regain the lead 25-24 with 7:45 remaining. The Panthers then moved out to an 8 point lead, but we reeled them in again and finished the half with a 39-36 deficit. Andrew Powers led our scoring with 11 points.

Our offense disappeared in the 2nd half while the Panthers continued to hit their shots. We fell behind by 10 points. We couldn’t hit the shots we needed at the end of the game and dropped a game we had a chance to win.

Final Score: Eastern Illinois-64, CSU Bakersfield-58. CSU Bakersfield season record: 3-5.

Scoring leaders: Power-17, Bivins-10, Chase-10, Johnson-8, Hill-8.

Rebound leaders: Johnson-12, Hill-7, Chase-5, Jones-5.

Assist leaders: Bivins-6, Holmes-4.

Player of the Game: Eastern illinois’ SG Nate Dwiggins-23 pts, 4 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C David Johnson-8 pts, 12 reb, 1 assist, 1 block.

Other notes: Our poor shooting in the 2nd half dropped our FG shooting for the game to 36%. Another SG (Nate Dwiggins) scorched us…this time for 23 points, hitting 9 of 17 FG (and 5 of 10 from 3 point land). While we double-teamed him through most of the game, his quickness got him free for too many shots.

[PointGuard]

Game #9; Dec. 14, 2011; Charleston Southern Buccaneers (3-5) and CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-5)

We again fell behind early, 7-0. We gradually whittled away their lead and finally took our first lead at 17-14 with 12:14 left in the first half. We hit 50% of our shots and took a 41-36 lead to the locker room. Andrew Powers dropped in 8 points to lead our scoring.

We pulled away in the 2nd half and continued throughout the half to increase our lead. Our entire bench got substantial playing time and everyone on our roster scored.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-85, Charleston Southern-64. CSU Bakersfield season record: 4-5.

Scoring leaders: Bivins-22, Powers-12, Rivera-10, Settles-8.

Rebound leaders: Johnson-5, Chase-5, Bivins-5.

Assist leaders: Chase-3.

Player of the Game: PG Greg Bivins-22 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Bobby Rivera-10 pts, 3 reb.

Other notes: We hit 47% of our FG attempts (while holding Charleston Southern to 36% shooting), had a 37-34 rebounding advantage and had just 14 turnovers to the Buccaneers 18. Bobby Rivera was knocked to the floor late in the game sustaining a concussion. He wants to play, but we’ll hold him out of the next 2 games.

We finished our six-game home stand (winning 4 of 6) and now play our next 4 pre-conference games on the road.

[Wayne23]

Rooting for you to get to .500.