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

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On a more positive note, a couple of our players have garnered some Pac-12 weekly awards thus far:

Gareth Lewis: Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (week ending 11/26/21)

Gareth Lewis: Pac-12 Player of the Week (week ending 11/26/21)

Gareth Lewis: Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (week ending 12/10/21)

Gareth Lewis: Pac-12 Player of the Week (week ending 12/10/21)

D. J. Asbury: Pac-12 Player of the Week (week ending 12/24/21)

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As we head into conference play here's how the Pac-12 teams did:



Overall, it wasn't a very impressive start this year for most of the Pac-12 teams.

[PointGuard]

After our first 11 games, here's how WSU players have done:

[PointGuard]

Here's how the team as a whole has done thus far:



We're giving up lots of points, but we're scoring more, so that's good.

Rebounding looks bad, but I think it's more a case of the shooting percentages for us and our opponents have been fairly high, so not so many rebounds for either team.

[PointGuard]

At the conclusion of pre-conference play, here's the top-ranked teams:

[PointGuard]

The Pac-12 sports writers were polled and they expect Arizona, Oregon, and Stanford to be the top 3 teams in the conference this season. Even though we had a pretty good pre-conference record, we’re picked to finish 9th. I think this is a vestige of how the WSU program has been viewed in recent years.

The day before our conference opener, I get word that Scott Robinson and Torrey Fleming had a loud and public argument. I get together with them to find out what’s up. They try to downplay it. I think that while there may be issues between the two, this argument mainly resulted from tension building within them as we prepare to meet Arizona. I remind them we need to focus on each and every opponent from now on and not let personal issues interfere with our team goals or create fissures within the team. I decide no further action is necessary.

[PointGuard]

Game #12: Dec. 31, 2021; Washington State Cougars (7-4, 0-0) at Arizona Wildcats (7-4,0-0)

Arizona has lackluster results thus far. They’ve only played one Top 25 team (#22 Marquette) and lost that game. They’ve won their last 3 and their last 5 of 6, but against mediocre teams and all 6 of those games were at home. The team has 3 players on academic probation. The Wildcats have 3 players scoring in double figures: C Justin Brown (11.9 ppg), PF Winston Flanigan (11.8 ppg), and SF David Smiley (11.0 ppg). The team has a lot of talent, particularly Winston Flanigan who is a beast on the boards. So, playing them on their own court will be a huge challenge.

The Wildcats have great team quickness, turning 3 turnovers into driving layups in the first 5 minutes of play to take a 10-4 lead. We struggled offensively, hitting just 33% of our shots, but held our own against the Wildcats on the boards and on turnovers. At the end of the half, we trailed 28-21. Gareth Lewis’ 8 points led our scoring.

Arizona put together a strong run early in the 2nd half and took a 17 point lead with 13:45 to play. We came back to cut their lead to 9 with 7 minutes to go, but Arizona streaked ahead once again and led 56-44 with 3:56 on the clock and held us off the rest of the game.

Final Score: Arizona-63, Washington State-51. Washington State season record: 7-5; Pac-12 record: 0-1 (7th place tie).

Scoring leaders: Lewis-13, Asbury-8.

Rebound leaders: Thomas-6.

Assist leaders: Bond-5, Jones-3.

Player of the Game: Arizona’s PF Winston Flanigan-17 pts, 10 rebound, 4 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Gareth Lewis-13 pts, 2 reb, 1 steal.

Other notes: While we shot a little better in the 2nd half, it wasn’t good enough and we ended the game by hitting just 37% of our shots while Arizona was dropping in 45% of theirs. Arizona also hada 31-29 rebounding advantage and 18-13 turnover advantage. Arizona’s Winston Flanigan had a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) and played a strong defensive game as well.

[PointGuard]

Game #13: Jan. 4, 2022; UCLA Bruins (7-5, 1-0) at Washington State Cougars (7-5, 0-1)

After losing their first 5 games, UCLA has reeled off a 7-game win streak (including beating #17 Charlotte). In their Pac-12 opener, the Bruins smashed Washington 60-37. They’re led by SG Joe Rix who is averaging 17.2 ppg.

We hit 7 of our first 9 shots and jumped out to an 15-9 lead after 6 minutes of play. We went on to hit 53% of our shots while holding UCLA’s shooting to 36% and to dominate the boards 19-11. The result was that we took a 40-29 lead into the locker room. Scott Robinson scorched the net for 20 points plus he grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 4 assists.

We pulled away to a 58-38 lead at the 12:27 mark. We expanded our lead to 23 but then UCLA made a run that cut our lead to 6 points with 2 minutes to play. But led by Scott Robinson and Gareth Lewis we quickly re-established a double digit lead.

Final Score: Washington State-72, UCLA-60. Washington State season record: 85; Pac-12 record: 1-1 (2nd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Robinson-30, Lewis-16, Asbury-13

Rebound leaders: Robinson-8, Lewis-7, Bond-7, Asbury-6

Assist leaders: Robinson-7, Bond-5

Player of the Game: PG Scott Robinson-30 pts, 8 reb, 7 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Gareth Lewis-16 pts, 7 reb, 2 assists.

Other notes: Our shooting dropped off in the 2nd half and we finished the game by hitting 44% of our shots from the field. UCLA hit 42% of their FG’s. The biggest difference in the game was that we dominated the boards 38-25. Scott Robinson carried us to a resounding victory.

The fans go wild after the game, pouring onto the court after what has been a rare win for Washington State against UCLA.

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Game #14: Jan. 7, 2022; USC Trojans (7-6, 1-1) at Washington State Cougars (8-5, 1-1)

While we had a few small leads in the first half, USC held a small lead most of the way. It was their rebounding advantage (19-8) versus our shooting advantage (54% to 41%). The half ended with us trailing 38-37. D.J. Asbury scored 10 and Matt Jones added 9 for us. I was all over our guys in the locker room because of their lack of aggressiveness on the boards.

We took the lead with 12 minutes to go and then excruciatingly slowly increased it to 7 points. But USC then clawed their way back into the game and cut our lead to 59-58 with 4 minutes to play. Shane Dix put us ahead 61-58 with a 12 foot jumper with 2:39 left. Gareth Lewis added one at the line to increase our lead to 4 with 2:17 on the clock. USC scored and cut our lead to 62-60 with 1:50 to go. After a miss by us, we fouled on a shot and USC hit one of two shots to make the score 62-61 with 1:22 remaining. USC fouled Darius Bond while trying to steal. Bond sunk both shots making it 64-61 at the 1:09 mark. Both teams missed shots and USC got the ball with 34 seconds to go. They called a time out. USC knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game. We turned the ball over and USC had a final 3 point attempt which rimmed out.

OT: We scored the first 8 points in the OT. But USC hit a 3 with 1:38 left to cut our lead to 72-67. With 51 seconds on the clock they scored on a jumper to reduce our lead to 3 points and got the ball back after we missed with 37 seconds to go. The game was tied at 72-72 when USC hit yet another 3 pointer with 25 seconds on the clock. I called for us to play for the last shot. Scott Robinson’s 14 footer missed.

2nd OT: Again we drew first blood to make it 74-72, but then Scott Robinson fouled out. Neither team could get more than 2 ahead. D.J. Asbury took the ball inside and scored with 30 seconds on the clock to put us ahead 80-78. USC missed a shot and we rebounded with 11 seconds to go. USC fouled and Darius Bond cooly put both foul shots into the net to give us a 4 point lead with 7 seconds remaining. Our press didn’t allow them a free shot and we escaped with a nail-biter win.

Final Score: Washington State-82, USC-78 (2 OT). Washington State season record: 9-5; Pac-12 record: 2-1 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Asbury-20, Robinson-14, Jones-13, Lewis-11, Bond-8, Thomas-8.

Rebound leaders: Lewis-6, Robinson-5.

Assist leaders: Bond-5, Robinson-4.

Player of the Game: PF D.J. Asbury-20 pts, 2 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF D. J. Asbury-8 pts, 4 reb, 5 assist, 2 steals, 1 block.

Other notes: We hit 49% of our shots (compared to USC’s 42%) and had a 23-14 turnover advantage. We needed every bit of that because we were killed on the boards 42-26 and we were 1 for 11 from beyond the arc while USC hit 11 of 21 of their 3’s. USC’s PG Jonathan Giles scored 21 points.

Our RPI is now 89th best in the country.

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Shortly after arriving at Washington State University, my Mom asked me if I’d be willing to invite one of my brothers, Sean, to join me in Washington. As you may remember Sean, who is 7 years older than me, had a drug problem which was exacerbated by the group of guys he was hanging out with in Philadelphia. He and my younger sister Bree came to Bakersfield to live with me, and Sean eventually rehabilitated himself with the support of Bree and me. He got a job on a farm near Bakersfield. I was surprised that a street kid from Philly enjoyed working on the farm and particularly the dairy cow aspects of the farm.

Bree got married three years ago and moved to Minneapolis. Mom says that while she’s happy that Sean has continued to work on the farm, she’s also worried about him not having family nearby. I agreed to talk with Sean, but said it would depend upon what he said as to whether I suggested a possible move to Washington state.

My initial conversation with Sean led to several more and a visit by him a couple months ago. The farmer he’s been working for plans to retire and get out of the farming business so Sean is uncertain about his future in Bakersfield.

Sean liked the Palouse area here and moved in with me (on a temporary basis) two weeks ago. He found a farm outside Pullman that he’s now purchasing. Since he was living rent-free in a small house on the farm where he worked and eating with the owner’s family, Sean was able to save most of his wages the past three years, so he could swing the loan. The farm he’s buying is small but comes with several dairy cows. He’s naming his farm the “Lil’ Mac”.

Mom’s relieved and bubbling with happiness. For my part I’ll just be happy to have my place back to myself soon. Sean is too damned messy. I guess Bree must have been picking up after him when we all 3 were living together in Bakersfield. I also prefer not to have him cleaning his farm clothes in my washing machine.