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

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Hartford (6-10, 8-19) vs Albany (10-6, 15-12)—[This lead in this game swung back and forth in pretty large arcs. The game was tied at the end of the first half 33-33. Hartford out-rebounded (31-24) and outshot (49% to 47%) Albany to upset the Great Danes. Mike Korn scored 24 points to lead Hartford. Larry Gaine’s 13 points were tops for Albany. Final Score: Hartford-77, Albany-74.]

Stony Brook (7-9, 13-14) vs Boston (10-6, 15-12)—[Stony Brook dominated the boards and stomped on Boston in the first half, leading 48-36 at the break. But Boston caught fire in the 2nd half, hitting 52% of their shots for the game. They also had a 20-10 turnover advantage. They outscored the Sea Wolves 52-25 in the 2nd half. Michael Shueller torched the nets for 23 points for Boston. Russell Fey scored 14 points to lead Stony Brook. Final Score: Boston-88, Stony Brook-73.]

Binghamton (7-9, 13-14) vs UMBC (8-8, 12-15)—[UMBC broke out on top and opened a 10 point lead in the 2nd half, but trailed 37-36 at the intermission. Binghamton out-rebounded and out-shot UMBC in the 2nd half to put UMBC away. Jamal Weston dropped in 20 points for Binghamton while Mike Woollum was UMBC’s leading scorer with 17 points. Final Score: Binghamton-77, UMBC-69.]


Game #28: Mar. 2 , 2021; Vermont Catamounts (4-12, 12-16) vs #21 New Hampshire Wildcats (23-4, 15-1)

We beat, but didn’t dominate Vermont in the two games we played during the regular season. Vermont lost their final 5 games in conference play, but had a big win in the tournament play-in game. Jamie Welch showed what a dominating player he can be by scoring 30 points in that game. So we need to keep him in check.

Vermont hit their first 3 shots of the game to take an 8-5 lead. Our defense then kicked in and we led 26-12 with 8-1/2 minutes left in the half. After hitting their first 3 shots, Vermont hit just 2 of their remaining 21 shots in the 1st half. We dropped in 46% of our shots and out-rebounded the Catamounts 22-12. The halftime score was New Hampshire-39, Vermont-19. Travis Stone scored 12 points to lead us offensively. We held Jamie Welch to just 2 points on 1 for 8 shooting.

We continued to deconstruct Vermont in the 2nd half and with 10 minutes to go, we led 60-25. Our entire bench played extensive minutes as we cruised to an easy win.

Final Score: New Hampshire-72, Vermont-49. New Hampshire season record: 24-4.

Scoring leaders: Stone-16, Howard-11, Kirtz-10, Kresse-8, Windlan-8.

Rebound leaders: Stone-9, Kresse-7, Howard-5, Windlan-5.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-5.

Player of the Game: PF Travis Stone-16 pts, 9 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Kueth Kirtz-10 pts, 5 reb, 2 steals.

Other notes: Even though we sputtered at the end of the game, we still hit 45% of our shots. Meanwhile Vermont hit just 32% of theirs. We dominated the boards 42-28 and held a 15-12 turnover advantage. We had a 30-14 advantage on points scored in the paint. Vermont’s Jamie Welch hit only 1 of 12 shots and finished by scoring just 2 points.

[PointGuard]

Boston (10-6, 16-12) vs Hartford (6-10, 9-19)—[Boston led almost the entire game, although team statistics were surprisingly close. At the half the Terriers had a 33-26 advantage and held the lead throughout the 2nd half. Devin Erwin popped in 18 points for Boston. Mike Korn was top scorer for Hartford with 21 points. Final Score: Boston-70, Hartford-62.]


Game #29: Mar. 3, 2021; Binghamton Bearcats (7-9, 14-14) vs #21 New Hampshire Wildcats (15-1, 24-4)

We beat Binghamton 74-64 and 71-54 during the regular season.

Neither team scored for the first 3-3/4 minutes of the first half. We finally broke the drought when Heinrich Neubauer drove into the lane, pulled up and sank an 8 footer. Binghamton didn’t score until the 14:02 mark when Chris Grant hit a 3 to make the score 4-3. We held Binghamton to 32% shooting for the half. We held a 14-5 turnover advantage but were beaten on the boards 20-12. We led 29-21 at the half. Heinrich Neubauer led our scoring with 8 points.

We tightened our defense even more in the 2nd half, allowing the Bearcats to score just 2 points in the first 12 minutes. We led 52-23 at that point. From there on it was just matter of playing out the game.

Final Score: New Hampshire-58, Binghamton-32. New Hampshire season record: 25-4.

Scoring leaders: Smith-12, Howard-10, Neubauer-8, Windlan-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-8, Windlan-5.

Assist leaders: Windlan-4, Kirtz-3, Howard-3.

Player of the Game: SF Byron Windlan-8 pts, 5 reb, 4 assists, 4 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-6 pts, 8 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: DEEE-fense, DEEE-fense! Our defense was exceptional, forcing Binghamton to turn the ball over 22 times and only allowing them to hit 23% of their shots. Our offense was not firing all cylinders, as we hit just 40% of our shots, but we only turned the ball over 7 times.

[PointGuard]

Game #30: Mar. 4, 2021; Boston Terriers (10-6, 17-12) vs # 21 New Hampshire Wildcats (25-4, 15-1)

We beat Boston 84-81 and 78-66 during the regular season. SG Michael Shueller (12.6 ppg) and SF Devin Erwin (11.4 ppg) are both capable of having big games.

It was an ugly first half. We hit 33% of our shots, Boston hit 40% of theirs. We had a small lead through much of the half, but trailed at the break 35-34. Clay Houston was our lone bright spot, hitting 4 of 4 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line for 13 points.

Both teams continued to shoot at a low percentage in the 2nd half, but we crept ahead and held a small lead. At the 1:30 mark we were up by 3 points, 65-62. After neither team scored, Boston called a time out with 59 seconds to go. Boston failed to score on two possessions, while we missed on our possession, but with 10 seconds on the clock, Albert Howard dropped in a jumper and we escaped with a nail-biter win and the conference championship.

Final Score: New Hampshire-67, Boston-62. New Hampshire season record: 26-4.

Scoring leaders: Houston-19, Kirtz-11, Stone-8, Neubauer-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-12, Houston-8, Windlan-6, Stone-5.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-3, Windlan-3.

Player of the Game: C Clay Houston-19 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-5 pts, 12 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Other notes: Awful shooting by both teams…35% by us and 38% by Boston. Boston out-rebounded us 41-39 and we made just 11 turnovers to Boston’s 13. So it's no wonder this was a close game.

We rose in the polls…to 15th in both the Media Poll and Coaches Poll. Our RPI is now 13th highest in the country. In the Bubble Watch, we’re #21 in the “Who’s In”.

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Here's our player stats for the 2020-2021 season:

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Here's our team stats for the 2020-2021 season:

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Here's the Top 14 in the Media Poll at the end of the 2020-2021 season:

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#1 seeds: Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Louisville

New Hampshire is the 6th seed in the Raleigh Regional and will play 11th seed Michigan in the opening round. (Some people think we should have been a higher seed based on both on the polls and our RPI, but I’m VERY happy with this seeding and think it’s a good one for a small program such as ours.)

CSU Bakersfield is the 15th seed in the Nashville Regional and will play 2nd seed Utah in the opening round. The Roadrunners were not particularly impressive during pre-conference play, came in 2nd in the Great West, then cruised through the Great West Tournament to qualify for the Big Dance. Their SG Ledaryl Waters is averaging 17.7 ppg.

[PointGuard]

We just don’t have the experience with the hype and intensity that go along with being in the Big Dance plus the size and enthusiasm of the crowd we will be playing in front of in the NCAA Tournament. That often results in nervousness, tightness, and intimidation that can be devastating.

Since we finished our conference tournament 1-1/2 weeks before Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament, I spend the first 7 days playing scrimmages with amped up crowd and band noises. Outside of practice, I have some volunteers come to the players acting as the media to put them under that pressure as well. Then as soon as we find out our first round opponent will be Michigan, I add the “Let’s Go Blue!” chant and Michigan fight song to the high-volume sounds for our last scrimmages…and we use some “dark blue with gold trim” uniforms for our players going up against our starters in the scrimmages. We arrive in Raleigh early enough for our players to check out the court (and the size of the arena) where the game will be played.

[PointGuard]

Game #31: Mar. 16, 2021; 11th seed Michigan Wolverines (17-15) vs 6th seed #15 New Hampshire Wildcats (26-4)

Michigan plays a 1-3-1 defense, which we haven’t faced thus far this year, so that may cause us problems. The Wolverines’ main threat offensively is SG Bryant Wolthers who is averaging 16.3 ppg, but his shooting percentages are low. Johnnie Cox comes off the bench to play SG and is averaging 9.4 ppg in 14.5 mpg played, while hitting a high percentage of his shots. Michigan has several ranked teams, beating North Carolina and Illinois, splitting with Indiana, and losing to Louisville, Michigan State, and twice to Wisconsin.

Even with the pre-tournament preparation we did, our players seem tight before the game…but hopefully they can shake that quickly once the game gets underway.

We turn the ball over twice in the first two minutes and trail 7-3. We hung with the Wolverines though the early going, the crowd got behind us, and we came back to take a 20-12 lead at the 9:15 mark of the first half. We built our lead to 32-18 with 3:22 to play. When the half ended, we led 36-24, having allowed Michigan to score on only 31% of their shots and forcing them to turn the ball over 10 times. We hit 53% of our shots in the half and made just 6 turnovers. Heinrich Neubauer led our scoring with 11 points.

In the 2nd half we continued to play stellar defense and hit our shots and took a 20 point lead with 7:35 remaining in the game. We expanded our lead to 23 points and I then played our entire bench the last 2 minutes of the game so everyone can say they played in the Big Dance.

Final Score: New Hampshire-75, Michigan-52. New Hampshire season record: 27-4.

Scoring leaders: Neubauer-19, Howard-17, Houston-12, Smith-8.

Rebound leaders: Houston-7, Neubauer-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-8.

Player of the Game: PG Heinrich Neubauer-19 pts, 5 reb, 8 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Clay Houston-12 pts, 7 reb, 2 assists.

Other notes: We dropped in 52% of our shots and held Michigan’s shooting to 35%. We dominated the boards 34-22. Turnovers were equal with both teams making 13. Michigan’s Bryant Wolthers scored 14 points but hit just 5 of 16 shots (and 2 of 12 from 3 point distance). Heinrich Neubauer came off the bench to play one of his best games. But it was a great team effort, and I was proud of how our guys were focused and aggressive the entire game.

After the game, Scott Roberts, CSU Bakersfield’s head coach who was my 1st assistant coach while I was there, called to congratulate me and the team. I wished him well in their game the next day against Utah. But Utah had a great season against some top-flight competition, so the Roadrunners will have to play their absolute best to have a chance.

[PointGuard]

15th seed CSU Bakersfield (19-11) vs 2nd seed # 9 Utah (26-4) —[Utah crushed the Roadrunners in the first half taking a 42-18 lead to the locker room. CSU Bakersfield cut into their lead a little in the 2nd half, but never seriously threatened. Utah out-shot CSU Bakersfield 43% to 32% and held a 37-26 rebounding advantage. Roger Gurley led Utah’s scoring with 19 points and Bryan Reeves hauled down 10 rebounds for the Utes. Ledaryl Waters and Brett Stewart both scored 10 points for CSU Bakersfield. Final Score: Utah-60, CSU Bakersfield-46.]