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

[PointGuard]

Game #21: Feb. 1, 2020; Hartford Hawks (6-14, 4-5) at New Hampshire Wildcats (10-10, 4-5)

C Tony Rollerson with 12.6 ppg leads Hartford’s scoring.

Even though we trailed most of the first half, we put together some offense at the end of the half that gave us a 37-33 halftime advantage. Chris Babul dropped in 11 points to lead our scoring.

We held a small lead through most of the 2nd half, but just couldn’t pull away. Then with 45 second remaining, Hartford hit a 3 that brought them with one point of the lead. They fouled Vernard Strickland who hit both shots to put us ahead 63-60 with 35 seconds to play. Hartford missed on 3 point attempts in their final two possessions. We finally broke our losing streak.

Final Score: New Hampshire-63, Hartford-60. New Hampshire season record: 11-10; American East record: 5-5 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Havens-19, Babul-13

Rebound leaders: Babul-10, Watson-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-19 pts, 2 reb, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Chris Babul-13 pts, 10 reb.

Other notes: This was simply a very evenly played game. We hit 42% of our shots, they hit 41%. Hartford out-rebounded us 33-28 but we held a 17-13 turnover advantage. Chris Babul had a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds).

[PointGuard]

Game #22: Feb. 4, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (11-10, 5-5) at Boston Terriers (9-12, 5-5)

Boston has been playing well recently, winning four of their last six games. Jason Britton is averaging 11.0 ppg and Michael Shueller has added 10.8 ppg.

We handed Boston the game in the first half, turning the ball over 11 times giving the Terriers 14 fast break points. Boston took care of the ball and made just 2 turnovers. We trailed throughout the half and finished the half down 41-29. Bobby Havens scored 14 points to lead our scoring.

While we got the lead down to single digits a few times in the 2nd half, we never seriously threatened. Boston just simply out-played us.

Final Score: Boston-79, New Hampshire-65. New Hampshire season record: 11-11; American East record: 5-6 (6th place tie).

Scoring leaders: Havens-29, Neubauer-10

Rebound leaders: Babul-7, Watson-7, Windlan-5

Assist leaders: Neubauer-6, Strickland-4, Babul-4

Player of the Game: Boston’s PG Michael Schueller-18 pts, 2 reb, 3 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Bobby Havens-29 pts, 3 reb, 2 assists.

Other notes: Boston hit 51% of their shots against our 45%. The Terriers got to the line 16 more times and scored 10 more points there than did we. We turned the ball over 20 times to Boston’s 13 turnovers. The only stat we dominated was rebounds, 35-27.

Another underperforming effort by our team.

[PointGuard]

Game #23: Feb. 8, 2020; Albany Great Danes (11-12, 7-4) at New Hampshire Wildcats (11-11, 5-6)

Albany drubbed us when we played on their court earlier this year. We want (and need) to win this game. Albany has won 7 of their last 8 games. They have 3 players scoring in double figures, led by Paul Kirkland’s 17.8 ppg.

We held a small lead for most of the 1st half, but never could break away since Albany hit 50% of their shots. We finished the half with a 40-38 lead. Our leading scorer was Bobby Havens with 19 points.

We used a combination of great shooting and taking advantage of Albany turnovers to open a 20 point lead with 5-1/2 minutes to play. The game was virtually over at that point.

Final Score: New Hampshire-92, Albany-71. New Hampshire season record: 12-11; American East record: 6-6 (4th place tie).

Scoring leaders: Havens-39, Windland-14, Kresse-12, Strickland-11, Neubauer-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-9.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-8, Babul-3, Strickland-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-39 pts, 4 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-12 pts, 9 reb, 1 steal.

Other notes: We hit 53% of our shots (and 47% of our 3’s). We out-rebounded Albany 31-29 and held a 17-7 turnover advantage. We scored 32 points in the paint and 28 fast break points.

[CoachC]

Good win, PG. Get em rollin!

[JMD]

Yep, Albany's no more.

[PointGuard]

We, as well as Albany, are having a so-so season. Somewhat disappointing to see my team play as it has and also surprising since I expected the team to have a good chance of winning the conference this year. But I absolutely LOVE how things have gone with New Hampshire. Struggle, improvement, and then some slippage...not a direct path to big win seasons, sure conference titles, or going deep into the NCAA Tourny. I've tried to avoid taking short-cuts to success (I'm sure that, like me, many of you have figured out some of the ways to quick success in CB2).

Of course, as you've seen from both of my CB2 dynasties, as soon as winning becomes too much of a sure thing with my teams, I move on to a new bottom dweller.

[PointGuard]

As we near the end of the conference play and the beginning of the conference tourny, here's a quick position-by-position analysis of the New Hampshire Wildcats:

PG--Neubauer has been a big surprise...playing MUCH better than his ratings would indicate. Strickland has been good, but not as good as expected.

SG--Havens has had some BIG games, but he's also had a lot of games where he's shot a LOT to get to be our high-point scorer. His shooting percentage has not been good enough.

SF--Windlan has developed well as the season has progressed, although he can still be very streaky. Reid hasn't been consistent at all coming off the bench.

PF--Here's where we have been weakest. No one has been able to produce well at this position. Watson has done much less that expected and in many games has simply disappeared. Lately Babul has started in place of Watson and done a bit better, but still hasn't been the answer. O'Connor has been extremely weak. Finley has had some good games and is beginning to get a little more court time since he's playing better than his ratings would suggest.

C--Kresse hasn't been as strong a scorer or rebounder as I expected, but has had some good games. Babul, Watson, and Finley have been filled in for Kresse when he's gone to the bench, but none have been consistent.

Coach McMullin--of late he's had too many technicals as fouls continue to pile up more against us than our opponents and he's ranted too much against the refs. Ultimately though, does the team's under-performance ride on QM's shoulders? Has QM failed to utilize his players well and also filed to develop a good team chemistry?

Assistant coaches--it's possible that QM's miserly ways have resulted in assistants who don't have the talents necessary for good recruiting, player development, and scouting. All three assistants don't have much skill in areas outside their single specialty.

[CoachC]

Maybe QM just needs a good high fiber diet!

[PointGuard]

Game #24: Feb. 11, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (12-11, 6-6) at UMBC Retrievers (6-16, 3-8)

This is a road game we need to win. UMBC has not played well this year. PG Sean Smith is their leading scorer averaging 14.7 ppg.

It took UMBC 5 minutes to score their first points and by that time we had built a 14-0 lead. We hit 53% of our shots and held a 48-38 halftime lead. Bobby Havens was our top scorer with 13 points.

In the first 1-1/2 minutes of the 2nd half, UMBC cut our lead to 6 points, but we quickly rebuilt our double digit lead. We led by 15 points with 10 minutes to go and seemed to be cruising. But our cruise hit a rock and we failed to score for the next 6 minutes. This allowed UMBC to cut our lead to 71-70. Byron Windlan hit some big shots to give us an 8 point lead and we escaped with a very needed road win. While not an impressive win, a win none-the-less.

Final Score: New Hampshire-86, UMBC-78. New Hampshire season record: 13-11; American East record: 7-6 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Windlan-22, Havens-18, Kresse-16, Strickland-11.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-10, Babul-5, Havens-5.

Assist leaders: Strickland-7.

Player of the Game: SF Byron Windlan-22 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-16 pts, 10 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: Not only did the game tighten in the 2nd half, but our dominance of the stats evaporated as well. We ended up hitting 47% of our shots and UMBC hit 45% of theirs. UMBC pulled down 32 rebounds to our 31. We held a 14-11 turnover advantage. Andrew Kresse had a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds). Byron Windlan hit 9 of 14 FG’s and 4 of 5 from 3 point distance.

Bobby Havens won his 5th America East Player of the Week award.

[PointGuard]

Bobby Havens was name a semifinalist for the Norton Award.