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

[PointGuard]

PG’s:

Tommy Lewis, 6-4 Jr, Saginaw, MI, 4.0/4.5 stars (last year: JC)
Scott Robinson, 6-2 Sr, Hodgenville, KY, 2.5/3.5 stars (last year: 16.3 ppg, 2nd team All-Conf)
Chris Durham, 6-1 Fr, South Hill, WA, 4.0/4.5 stars (last year: HS)
Derrick Virgil, 6-3 Fr, San Marino, CA, 1.5/4.0 stars (last year: redshirt)

SG’s:

Shane Dix, 6-3 Sr, Selah, WA, 2.0/2.0 stars (last year: 3.6 ppg) (walk-on)
Cory Malone, 6-6 Jr, Cowiche, WA, 2.0/2.0 stars (last year: 2.2 ppg) (walk-on)
Ronnie Randle, 6-5 So, Milwaukie, OR, 1.0/1.5 stars (last year: 1.0 ppg) (redshirt this year)

SF’s:

Michael Oates, 6-6 Fr, Kettle Falls, WA, 2.0/4.0 stars (last year: HS)
Torrey Fleming, 6-7 Sr, Seattle, WA, 1.5/3.0 stars (last year: 1.0 ppg)

PF’S:

Jim O’Kelley, 6-6 Jr, Andalusia, AL, 4.0/5.0 stars (last year: JC)
Troy Thomas, 6-7 Jr, Sammamish, WA, 1.5/2.5 stars (last year: 4.4 ppg)
Nigel Seabrooks, 6-6 Jr, Perkins, OK, 1.5/3.5 stars (last year: 1.6 ppg)
Stephen Lloyd, 6-7 Fr, Tacoma, WA, 2.0/4.0 stars (last year: HS)

C’s:

Gareth Lewis, 6-8 So, Monroe, WA, 1.0/1.0 stars (last year: 13.1 ppg, 2nd Team All-Conf)
Rasual Smith, 6-10 So, Kent, WA, 1.0/3.0 stars (last year: 3.0 ppg)

We’re definitely strongest at PG and up front. We’re weakest at SF and SG.
With the excess of talent at PG, one or more of these guys will play out of position at SG and possibly at SF. I just have to figure out how to put the puzzle together.

Jim O’Kelley is definitely our starting PF and Gareth Lewis will be our starting C. I’m uncertain why Gareth is rated as low as he is, but I’m disregarding this and expect him to be a strength again for us in the middle.

[PointGuard]

Game #1: Nov. 15, 2022; Arkansas Razorbacks (0-0) at Washington State Cougars (0-0)

We have a great turnout for our season-opener. We have a good promotion (Razorback Bar-B-Q) plus our fans seem excited to see what changes we’ve made since last season and to get an idea of how we’re going to do this year.
We’re starting a small lineup with 3 PG’s with Chris Durham (freshman) at the 1, Tommy Lewis (JC transfer) at the 2, and Scott Robinson (senior and our leading scorer last year) at the 3. All three have shown ability to put the ball in the hoop during practice. And since no one else has been able to produce thus far at the 3 position, I’m going to give this a try. I expect to have to experiment quite a bit at the beginning of this season with starters at the 1, 2 and 3 positions.
Arkansas has a really young team with 9 of their 15 roster players being freshmen. 2 of these are redshirt freshmen from last year and 2 are redshirting this year.

C Gareth Lewis picks up 2 fouls in the first 2-1/2 minutes. We played well, hitting 46% of our shots while holding Arkansas’ shooting to 29% but made 11 fouls sending the Razorbacks to the line 14 times where they scored 11 points as well as putting 3 of our players on the bench for most of the half. But we opened a small lead late in the half and went to the locker room with a 37-30 lead. Tommy Lewis carried us offensively with 17 points.

We went ahead early in the 2nd half 41-30, but then simply forgot how to find the basket and even though Arkansas continued to shoot poorly, then crept back to trail 41-40 at the midpoint of the half. We slowly rebuilt our lead. While not an impressive win, a win is a win.

Final Score: Washington State-65, Arkansas-58. Washington State season record: 1-0.

Scoring leaders: T. Lewis-26, O’Kelley-10, Oates-8.

Rebound leaders: O’Kelley-9, Oates-7, T. Lewis-6, Durham-5.

Assist leaders: T. Lewis-6,Durham-4.

Player of the Game: PG Tommy Lewis-26 pts, 6 reb, 6 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Jim O’Kelley-10 pts, 9 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Other notes: We made too many turnovers (16) while the Razorbacks made just 12. Our poor shooting the 2nd half dropped our shooting for the game down to 37%, but Arkansas hit just 30% of their shots. We also held a 41-36 rebounding advantage. SF Michael Oates had a strong game coming off the bench, scoring 8 points and pulling down 7 rebounds in 20 minutes of play. Gareth Lewis spent the game sidled with fouls and had his worst game as a Cougar (0 points, 3 rebounds). We need to pick up our game to have any chance in all the upcoming away games. We lacked the killer instinct.

[PointGuard]

Game #2: Nov. 18, 2022; Washington State Cougars (1-0) at Villanova Wildcats (0-1)

SF Tyrus Bruton is Villanova’s biggest offensive threat.

The game was close throughout the first half with 11 lead changes and 5 ties. But Villanova hit 58% of their shots while we hit just 38% of ours. If it weren’t for our 11-5 turnover advantage, we would have been trailing by more than the 35-31 halftime score. Michael Oates and Jim O’Kelley both had 6 points for us. Unfortunately O’Kelley picked up his 3rd personal right before the end of the half.

We dropped behind by 8 points but midway through the 2nd half made a run that put us ahead 56-49 with 9 minutes to play. We expanded our lead to as much as 11 and held Villanova off when they tried to catch up in the final minutes. We held Tyrus Bruton to 12 points (3 of 11 from the from the field).

Final Score: Washington State-75, Villanova-67. Washington State season record: 2-0.

Scoring leaders: G. Lewis-14, T. Lewis-13, Dix-9, Seabrooks-8, Durham-8.

Rebound leaders: G. Lewis-7, T. Lewis-5.

Assist leaders: Oates-5, T. Lewis-4.

Player of the Game: C Gareth Lewis-14 pts, 7 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Tommy Lewis-13 pts, 5 reb, 4 assists.

Other notes: Both teams hit 49% of their shots. But we out-rebounded the Wildcats 29-21 and also held a 19-14 turnover advantage. We made a good comeback to get a big road win.

[CoachC]

two nice wins to start off your 28 win season!