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

[PointGuard]

Game #24: Feb. 10, 2021; Boston Terriers (13-9, 8-3) at #24 New Hampshire Wildcats (19-4, 11-1)

We barely got by Boston when we played them earlier this year on their court, winning 84-81. They’ve own their last 4 games and are solidly in 2nd place in the conference standings. SG Mike Shueller is still their leading scorer with 12.4 ppg. But PF Orlando Watson is averaging 10.0 ppg and SF Devin Erwin is scoring 9.9 ppg.

This game will be our second opportunity to win our 20th game of the season.
We got inside repeatedly and pulled ahead by a 15-3 lead in the first 5 minutes of the game. The Terriers cut into our lead late in the half and we left the court with a 41-36 lead. Kueth Kirtz had 11 points, Byron Windlan 10 points, and Heinrich Neubauer 9 points.

Early in the 2nd half we rebuilt a double digit lead and then grittily held onto it.

Final Score: New Hampshire-78, Boston-66. New Hampshire season record: 20-4; American East record: 12-1 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Kirtz-21, Windlan-14, Neubauer-12, Stone-11, Kresse-8.

Rebound leaders: Houston-12, Stone-9, Kresse-7, Windlan-6.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-3, Kirtz-3.

Player of the Game: PG Kueth Kirtz-21 pts, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Travis Stone-11 pts, 9 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We hit 43% and Boston hit 41% of FG’s that were attempted. But we dominated the boards 41-30 and held a 15-10 turnover advantage.

After the game, we celebrated winning 20 games, but I reminded the players that this was just one step along our journey this year and we need to focus on winning every game we play the rest of this season.

We dropped to #25 in the Media Poll (due to our loss to UMBC), and we dropped out of the Coaches Poll.

[PointGuard]

Game #25: Feb. 14, 2021; #25 New Hampshire Wildcats (20-4, 12-1) at Vermont Catamounts (11-12, 4-8)

We beat Vermont 82-72 when we played them on our court. The Catamounts are led offensively by Jamie Welch who is averaging 17.2 ppg.

For some reason, Vermont didn’t start Jamie Welch. We had a small lead most of the first half, but were never able to break away. We took a 39-36 lead to the locker room. Albert Howard led our scoring with 8 points.

We continued to hold a very small lead throughout the 2nd half but could never pull away. Typically the lead was 1-3 points, but with 51 seconds remaining we led 76-71. Vermont called a time out, brought the ball down and hit a 3 to cut our lead to 2 with 40 seconds on the clock. With just 27 seconds to play, the Catamounts fouled Andrew Kresse and he made both shots to make the score 78-74. The Catamounts knocked down another 3 to make it 78-77 and fouled Kueth Kirtz with 7 seconds to go. Kirtz sunk both free throws. Our full court press worked and didn’t allow Vermont to get out of the back court or be able to put up a desperation shot.

Final Score: New Hampshire-80, Vermont-77. New Hampshire season record: 21-4; American East record: 13-1 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Kresse-14, Kirtz-13, Houston-12, Neubauer-11, Howard-10

Rebound leaders: Kresse-10, Houston-9.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-5.

Player of the Game: C Andrew Kresse-14 pts, 10 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Clay Houston-12 pts, 9 reb, 2 blocks.

Other notes: We scored on 44% of our FG’s, but Vermont hit 53% of theirs. But we held a 32-29 rebounding advantage and a 15-12 turnover advantage. But we won by getting 17 more free throws and scoring 18 more points from the line that did Vermont. Andrew Kresse pulled off another double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds). Jamie Welch came off the bench to play 19 minutes and score 11 points for Vermont. Chris Green, who started in place of him, played 28 minutes and scored 10 points.

With this win we cinched finishing atop the America East Association.

We moved back up to #24 in the Media Poll, but are unranked in the Coaches Poll. Our RPI is 16th best in the nation. We’re #26 on the “Who’s In” list for the Bubble Watch.

[PointGuard]

Game #26: Feb. 21, 2021; Binghamton Bearcats (13-13, 7-8) at #24 New Hampshire Wildcats (21-4, 13-1)

Playing on Binghamton’s court, we beat then 74-65, but they’ve won 4 of their last 5 games. SG Chris Grant (11.2 ppg) and C Jamal Weston (10.6 ppg) are the Bearcats top scorers.

We shot well early in the 1st half and took an 11-5 lead, but then let the Bearcats score the next 8 points and it looked like two dogs fighting over a piece of meat from there on in the half since we were tossing up shots willy-nilly. We played the half sluggishly, pulling down just 10 rebounds compared to Binghamton’s 17. We hit just 39% of our shots while Binghamton knocked down 46% of theirs. We trailed 32-27 at the end of the half. Kueth Kirtz led our scoring with 6 points. I got on our guys during the intermission to attack the boards in the 2nd half.

We continued to struggle in the 2nd half, but finally took a 40-38 lead at the 13:41 mark. Two minutes later we’d jumped out to a 9 point lead as our defense fed our offense and our crowd amped us up. We led 52-40 with 10-1/2 minutes to play. We scored 36 points in the paint, Binghamton got just 14 inside. As a result of our defense causing Bearcat turnovers, we held a 24-6 advantage on fast break points. We held the Bearcats at arms’ length from then on and finished strongly.

Final Score: New Hampshire-71, Binghamton-54. New Hampshire season record: 22-4; American East record: 14-1 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Stone-15, Houston-12, Smith-10, Kirtz-9.

Rebound leaders: Houston-5, Windlan-5, Stone-5.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-7, Howard-3.

Player of the Game: C Clay Houston-12 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Kueth Kirtz-9 pts, 7 assists, 2 steals.

Other notes: Our shot selection was excellent in the 2nd half, and aided by several driving layups after turnovers, we finished the game with 51% shooting. We also clamped down defensively so that the Bearcats only hit 38% of their shots for the entire game. Our defense also caused the Bearcats to turn the ball over 21 times while we made just 12 turnovers. We took control of the boards in the 2nd half so that we finished the game even with Binghamton in rebounds. The only team statistic in favor of Binghamton was at the free throw line, where they got 10 more attempts and scored 11 more points than us.

[PointGuard]

Game #27: Feb. 24, 2021; #24 New Hampshire Wildcats (22-4, 14-1) at Stony Brook Sea Wolves (13-13, 7-8)

We had no troubles with Stony Brook in our first game with them, beating them on our court 74-52. They’ve won their last two games and 3 of the last 4, though. Their go-to guy is SG Brad Wright who is scoring 17.1 ppg.

We fell behind 9-2 and then scrappily fought our way back finally tying the game with 8 minutes to play. From there on each time we’d tie the game again, Stony Brook would hit a shot to put them two ahead as they did just before the end of the half to give them a 33-31 lead at the break. Given that we only hit 36% of our shots compared with Stony Brook’s 46% shooting, it was surprising we weren’t further down. Our top scorer was Albert Howard with 10 points.

We were most of the early portion of the 2nd half, then the lead swung back and forth. We led 60-57 with 3-1/2 minutes remaining. Stony Brook hit two free throws with 2:45 left to cut our lead to one point. We fell behind when they tossed in a floater with 1-1/2 minutes to go, but Albert Howard swished a 3 to put us up by 2. Stony Brook cracked our press and scored on an alley-oop with a minute left to tie the game at 63-63. We called a time out and Albert Howard took advantage of a screen we had set up to drill a 15 footer making it 65-63 with 0:52 on the clock. Stony Brooks’ 3 point attempt was off the rim, we rebounded, and Kueth Kirtz was fouled with 30 seconds to go. Kirtz could only hit the front end of the 1-and-1 to give Stony Brook a chance. They took advantage of that opportunity by drilling a 3 with 19 seconds remaining to tie. Although I called to stall to take the last shot, Albert Howard got free and put in a 12-footer to make it 68-66 with 10 seconds to go. We harassed the Sea Wolves coming up court and in the fore court preventing them from getting off a shot. We capped a great regular season with a dramatic road victory that showed why we are the America East’s title holders.

Final Score: New Hampshire-68, Stony Brook-66. New Hampshire season record: 23-4; American East record: 15-1 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Howard-23, Windlan-13, Stone-9.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-9, Stone-5.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-6.

Player of the Game: SG Albert Howard-23 pts, 2 reb, 2 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF Byron Windlan-13 pts, 4 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals.

Other notes: We played tough the whole game and came through with just enough to win an exciting game that saw 15 lead changes and 10 ties. Team stats showed just how close this game was: we hit 39% of our shots and Stony Brook hit 41%; we were out-rebounded 35-29; we had a 15-12 turnover advantage; boht team hit the same number of FG’s and FT’s, but we hit two more 3’s. We held the Sea Wolves’ Brad Wright to 11 points.

The guys celebrated hard that night. I just told them to not do anything stupid.

We moved up to #21 in the Media Poll and #22 in the Coaches Poll. Our RPI rose to 14th best in the country. We’re 22nd on the “Who’s In” list for the Bubble Watch.

[PointGuard]

New Hampshire...........15-1.....23-4......RPI: 21
Albany..........................10-6.....15-12.....RPI: 161
Boston..........................10-6.....15-12.....RPI: 140
UMBC.............................8-8.....12-15.....RPI: 218
Binghamton....................7-9.....13-14.....RPI: 168
Stony Brook....................7-9.....13-14.....RPI: 270
Hartford.........................6-10......8-19.....RPI: 341
Maine............................5-11.....10-17.....RPI: 324
Vermont........................4-12.....11-16.....RPI: 308

[CoachC]

A low major projected to get seeded about where they should be? Who did you pay??? We'll see how that pans out! LOL

My Lobos are ranked #6 with an RPI of 2 and still are projected to get no better than a 4 seed!

[CoachC]

Gary: *Brrrrring* Hi Q! It's coach Winston of New Mexico. You've got a great team this year! The reason I'm calling is that it's so hard to schedule exhibitions any more against teams that really let you evaluate your team. Would you care to forgo one of your exhibitions next year in favor of a closed scrimmage? I know your budget is tight, but we'd be willing to come to your place if you are interested. Call me back. Once again Congratulations on a great season!

[JMD]

Powerbomb!

[PointGuard]

Gary: *Brrrrring* Hi Q! It's coach Winston of New Mexico. You've got a great team this year! The reason I'm calling is that it's so hard to schedule exhibitions any more against teams that really let you evaluate your team. Would you care to forgo one of your exhibitions next year in favor of a closed scrimmage? I know your budget is tight, but we'd be willing to come to your place if you are interested. Call me back. Once again Congratulations on a great season!

BRRRRRINNGGG..."Hey, thanks for your call, Coach. Sorry you had to leave a message, but I was out on a Taco Bell run. Hell yeah, I'd be honored to schedule a closed scrimmage with you and your team. You're becoming a legend and your team has become a dominant force in Division 1. I'm not sure we can compete well with you, but I'm optimistic about the coming year since I'm only losing 2 seniors (and one of those hasn't played much for us) and expect the two new recruits to give us a boost along with the normal development expected from the remaining players on this year's squad. I think a closed scrimmage would give both of us a chance to try some things we might be uncomfortable unrolling in a public exhibition, so again...HELL YEAH! And if you can come to New Hampshire, we'll be sure to put on a great post-scrimmage feast/party."

[PointGuard]

Vermont (11-16, 4-12) vs Maine (10-17, 5-11)—[Maine started out on top, but midway in the first half Vermont drew away with a great offensive display to take a 55-46 lead to the locker room. They expanded their lead in the 2nd half and won decisively. Vermont destroyed Maine on the boards 42-29. Jamie Welch had a huge game for Vermont, scoring 30 points. Michael Barker added a double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds) for Vermont. Maine was led by Imari Andrews’ 16 points. Final Score: Vermont-92, Maine-79.]