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

[PointGuard]

Game #16: Jan. 11, 2020; UMBC Retrievers (4-10, 1-2) at New Hampshire Wildcats (9-6, 3-1)

PG Sean Smith leads UMBC with a 15.9 ppg average. Chris Babul will start for us at PF since Jake Watson has been ineffective.

UMBC hit 60% of their shots. Fortunately we made 55% of our FG attempts. We held a 13-10 rebound advantage and a 10-6 turnover advantage which allowed us to take a 47-40 halftime lead. Bobby Havens poured in 19 points.

The second half was a continuation of the offensive showcase. We pulled away for an easy victory.

Final Score: New Hampshire-95, UMBC-73. New Hampshire season record: 10-6; American East record: 4-1 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Windlan-29, Havens-28, Neubauer-18.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-7, Finley-6, Havens-6.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-7, Windlan-3, Kresse-3.

Player of the Game: SF Byron Windlan-29 pts, 3 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Heinrich Neubauer-18 pts, 4 reb, 7 assists.

Other notes: We tossed in 52% of our FG attempts (and 13 of 28 from 3 point distance). UMBC hit 47% of their shots. We won the battle of the boards 34-28. We forced the Retrievers to turn the ball over 18 times while only making 11 turnovers ourselves. We had 32 points in the paint, 19 second chance points, and 25 fast break points. Byron Windlan, Bobby Havens, and Heinrich Neubauer combined for 75 points. Antwan Larkin scored 26 points for UMBC. PF Kory Finley had a good game coming off the bench, scoring 6 points (on 3 for 3 shooting) and hauling down 6 rebounds in 12 minutes of play.

[PointGuard]

Game #17: Jan. 14, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (10-6, 4-1) at Maine Black Bears (7-8, 2-2)

Maine has wins over Minnesota, South Carolina, and Western Michigan. SG Reggie Howard is averaging 18.0 ppg and SF Imari Andrews is scoring 14.1 ppg. Both players are hitting well over 40% of their FG’s and 3’s. The Black Bears’ PG Kurtis Kidd is dishing out 5.5 apg.

The lead bounced back and forth throughout the 1st half as neither team could pull away. When the buzzer sounded, Maine held a 33-31 lead. Bobby Havens led our scoring with 9 points. Since Maine hit 6 of 10 three’s, we will stick with a m-2-m defense in the 2nd half in attempt to make it difficult for them to repeat that performance.

Our defense worked as Maine made just 1 of 9 three’s and we held a lead through much of the 2nd half. The refs kept the Black Bears in the game though. Then with 1minute to go they hit a 3 to put them ahead by 3. We scored inside to cut their lead to one. We fouled and they made both free throws. Our efforts to convert a 3 to tie were unsuccessful on two possessions and Maine hit a final 3 just before the buzzer to cement their win.

Final Score: Maine-72, New Hampshire-66. New Hampshire season record: 10-7; American East record: 4-2 (2nd place).

Scoring leaders: Havens-23, Windlan-21.

Rebound leaders: Babul-10, Kresse-8, Windlan-8.

Assist leaders: Havens-5, Smith-4.

Player of the Game: Maine’s SF Ameri Andrews-17 pts, 6 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF Byron Windlan-21 pts, 8 reb, 3 steals.

Other notes: Maine scored 9 more points that did we at the free throw line. We out-rebounded the Black Bears 46-35, but had a 13-11 disadvantage on turnovers.

[PointGuard]

Game #18: Jan. 18, 2020; Stony Brook Sea Wolves (10-7, 4-1) at New Hampshire Wildcats (10-7, 4-2)

We need to win this game to move back into 1st place in the America East and avoid a loss which would drop us into a 3rd place tie. Stony Brook has a 4 game win streak coming into this game. Their SG Lamont Chase is averaging 13.9 ppg.

Vernard Strickland is nearly completely recovered from his injury and may play for a little tonight to begin to get him back into game form. His replacement Heinrich Neubauer has played well enough to make it difficult to decide who should start after tonight’s game.

Stony Brook controlled the boards, outshot us, and got to the free throw line more. We left the court at intermission trailing 42-33. Bobby Havens topped our scoring with 11 points.

Stony Brook stayed in complete control the entire 2nd half. We never seriously challenged.

Final Score: Stony Brook-68, New Hampshire-62. New Hampshire season record: 10-8; American East record: 4-3 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Neubauer-14, Havens-13, Kresse-10.

Rebound leaders: Windlan-8.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: Stony Brook’s PG Brad Wright-17 pts, 4 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Heinrich Neubauer-14 pts, 1 reb, 3 assists.

Other notes: We played with zero confidence. Stony Brook dominated the boards 36-28. We were called for 22 fouls while Stony Brook had just 13 fouls called against them. That gave the Sea Wolves 15 more free throw shots than us. They’re 6 more points at the free throw line were the difference in the score.

[PointGuard]

After going 4-8 in pre-conference play and then losing their first 3 conference games, the Great Danes have reeled of 5 straight wins to move up into 2nd place in the America East.

[PointGuard]

Game #19: Jan. 25, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (10-8, 4-3) at Binghamton Bearcats (6-12, 2-5)

Binghamton’s big men are the foundation for this team. C Jamal Weston is averaging 10.8 ppg and PF Darrell Taylor is scoring 9.4 ppg.

We’re been in a slump so we need to win this road game.

With Vernard Strickland back at full strength, I’m forced to decide who starts at PG tonight. I decide to stick with freshman Heinrich Neubauer since he’s played so well in Strickland’s absence. But Vernard will get plenty of playing time.

Our play just sucked in the first half. We dropped behind by as much as 19 points as we hit just 27% of our FG attempts, 0% of our 3’s, 40% of our FT attempts, were out-rebounded 19-17 and turned the ball over 10 times to the Bearcats’ 7 turnovers and 4 of our players had 2 fouls each. We left the court down 36-20. Three of our players had shared “high point” status (can’t call that “honors”) with 4 points apiece.

We played as poorly in the 2nd half as we had in the first half. No one shined for us.

Final Score: Binghamton-70, New Hampshire-46. New Hampshire season record: 10-9; American East record: 4-4 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Windlan-8, Havens-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-5, Watson-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: Binghamton’s C Jamal Weston-18 pts, 5 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: No one!

Other notes: We hit only 33% of our shots. We were out-rebounded 34-28. We turned the ball over 20 times compared to Binghamton’s 15 turnovers. Binghamton got 14 more free throw attempts and scored 17 more points at the line than did we.

[PointGuard]

The Roadrunners have turned things around since beginning conference play. They are on top of the Great West Conference with a 6-1 conference record.

I'm happy to see CSU Bakersfield make a postive turn-around this year. It's good to see Scott Roberts, who was my 1st assistant, be successful.

[PointGuard]

Game #20: Jan. 28, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (10-9, 4-4) at Vermont Catamounts (7-12, 4-4)

Vermont has a 3 game win streak while we have a 3 game losing streak. Their SG Jamie Welch is scoring 21.7 ppg.

Vernard Strickland picked up 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes and Bobby Havens was whistled for his 2nd foul 3 minutes after that. We missed our first 10 shots, falling behind 9-0. We were charged with our 7th team foul at the 10:39 mark. We converted just 29% of our shots, were out-rebounded 19-15, and made 7 turnovers to Vermont’s 5. The half time score was Vermont-32, New Hampshire-21. Heinrich Neubauer was our leading scorer with 6 points.

We made a couple mini-runs but couldn’t shoot well enough to take the lead. Bobby Havens fouled out with 10-1/2 minutes left to play. Another lackluster performance by us. We lost our 4th straight game.

Final Score: Vermont-67, New Hampshire-52. New Hampshire season record: 10-10; American East record: 4-5 (5th place tie).

Scoring leaders: Strickland-11, Finley-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-8, Watson-6, Strickland-5.

Assist leaders: Strickland-4, Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: Vermont’s SG Jamie Welch-16 pts, 1 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Vernard Strickland-11 pts, 5 reb, 4 assists, 1 block.

Other notes: We were outshot 47% to 40%. Vermont got 18 more free throws and scored 13 more points at the line that we did.

[PointGuard]

JMD: Would really prefer you not spam my dynasty thread with links that neither I nor anyone else will click.

[PointGuard]

During the summer 2019 league, 4 players who I recruited and coached at CSU Bakersfield played on summer league teams:

C Jeff Gilbert, Memphis Grizzlies: 5 g, 0 gs, 18.6 mpg, 3.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.6 apg

PF Terrence Delk, Dallas Mavericks: 5 g, 0 gs, 19.0 mpg, 4.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.7 apg

PG Jerry Yearwood, Phoenix Suns: 5 g, 0 gs, 17.6 mpg, 7.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg

PG Randy Durham, Philadephia 76ers: 5 g, 0 gs, 22.0 mpg, 9.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 3.2 apg

One of these players was signed to a DBL team:

PG Randy Durham, Iowa Energy: 16 g, 0 gs, 7.4 mpg, 2.4 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.1 spg, 1.2 a/to (games thru 2/3/20)

One other player from CSU Bakersfield remains on an NBA Roster:

SG Jerell Brown, Chicago Bulls: 21 g, 0 gs, 4.8 mpg, 0.9 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.1 spg, 1.4 a/to (games thru 2/3/20)

[PointGuard]

After our last game, we got the good news that Bobby Havens was named a Quarterfinalist for the Norton Award.