Tom “Whatever It Takes” Bradbury

[PointGuard]

Game #5, Nov. 21, 2017, @ #18 Michigan (2-0, RPI: 23): This is a tough game on the road in which to have our star SG (Austin Hunter) and a key sub (PF Ufuk Oztorun) not suiting up due to injuries. I’m starting freshman Georgiy Zolkin at the 2 based on his strong play in our last game so John Jones can move back to the 3, which is his more natural position. Jared Keady picks up his 2nd foul with the game just 3 minutes old. SF John Jones joins him 4 minutes later. After trailing all the way, we tie the game at 17-17 with 10 minutes to go in the half. We finally take a 27-26 lead with 5:50 left. We hit 59% of our 1st half shots to take a 40-38 lead to the locker room. SG Georgiy Zolkin drops in 11 points. In the 2nd half, even though we lead 51-44, we already are assessed our 7th team foul in the first 4-1/2 minutes of the half and 4 of our starters are on the bench with 3 fouls each. Playing with an all-sub team, we storm to a 71-57 advantage with 7-1/2 minutes to go in the game. Michigan tries to come back but we hold them off for a nice 84-75 road win. The win was keyed by our outshooting the Wolverines 57% to 46%. C Kelvin Ross had his best game of his short collegiate career with 16 pts, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and a block. SG Georgiy Zolkin again played strongly and also scored 16. PG Jared Keady played just 13 minutes due to foul problems, but scored 9 points. PF Angelo Craft and SF John Jones both scored 8. (5-0)

Game #6, Nov. 24, 2017, Ohio State (1-2): Our second Big 10 team this week, but this time on our own home court. We’re back to full strength with no one hampered by injuries. The game is close throughout the first half, but we give ourselves a little breathing room at the end of the half and finish with a 43-35 advantage. C Kelvin Ross scores 9 and pulls down 8 rebounds. We play sloppily in the 2nd half and Ohio State overtakes us 51-50 with 11-1/2 minutes to go. From there on we steadily pull away and win by a score of 81-70. C Kelvin Ross led our attack with 17 points while hauling in 9 rebounds. SG Austin Hunter scored 14, SG Georgiy Zolkin has 11, C Jules Grant scored 9, and SF John Jones added 8. For Ohio State, Pf Veini Kyllonen scored 18 and C Larry Mascoe grabbed 15 rebounds. (6-0, Ranked #2, RPI:1)

After winning two games this week, one against a ranked team on their home court, our RPI improves to best in the nation, but we drop from 1st to 2nd in the polls. Strange. Especially while the now #1, Indiana, although also having a 6-0 record and being champs of the Hawaiian Shootout), has played lesser quality teams thus far. But no matter, better for our team to have something to strive for. Plus we play them next week, so this provides some ammunition for that game. Before that though, earlier this week we have to get through #17 Stanford.

Team Incident: Adrian Bains and Troy Cox got into a loud and lengthy argument. I brought both into my office to keep the incident from escalating, but don’t think I had much effect.

Award: C Kelvin Ross was named the AAC Freshman Player of the Week.

[PointGuard]

Game #7, Nov. 28, 2017, #17 Stanford (3-0): Stanford’s PG Dan Davis has been their biggest offensive threat thus far. Based on the strength of his play thus far, Kelvin Ross will start for the first time at C for us. Hunter and Keady hit 3’s in the first minute of the game to ignite our crowd. We scored the first 11 points of the game and led 15-2 at the first TV timeout. Our defense sparkles as we hold the Cardinal to a shooting percentage of 26% in the first half and force them to turn the ball over 8 times. By the end of the half our lead had ballooned to 39-21. SG Austin Hunter led our scoring with 9 points while grabbing 5 rebounds. We hold a big lead throughout the 2nd half, although Stanford cuts into it late in the game to make the final score 67-54 in our favor. C Jules Grant came off the bench to score 14 points and haul down 8 rebounds. SG Austin Hunter had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. (7-0)

Game #8, Dec. 1, 2017, #1 Indiana (7-0): We have a ton of media here, not only TV, but reps from all around the country for this matchup of the #1 and #2 ranked teams. And the FedEx Forum is packed to the rafters, not only with our fans but a big contingent from Indiana. Indiana has some great players, but our main focus will be on PF Trenton Patterson. He’s 2nd on the team in scoring (17.0 ppg), but doing it so efficiently that if we can limit his shots and force others to shoot, they are likely to make fewer of the shots that would he. Jules Grant is starting at center for us again. We fall behind 20-7 as the Hoosiers, and in particular PF Trent Patterson and C Craig Davis, shred our defense. We make several mini-runs but they are always effectively countered by the Hoosiers and we limp off the floor at the break trailing 46-31. The only thing we are doing well is that we got 8 blocks in the first half. SF John Jones leads our scoring with 9 points. Patterson and Davis combine for 25 of Indiana’s 51 points. In the 2nd half we repeatedly reduce the lead to 7 but only at the 7:32 mark do we get closer when we close to 64-59. Jared Keady sinks 2 free throws at 5:50 to make it 68-65. Then with 4:53 on the clock, Austin Hunter drills a 3 to tie the game at 68-68. After Indiana scores inside, Angelo Craft knocks down a 3 on our next possession and we take our first lead since it was 2-0. With 1:45 to go, Jared Kennedy cuts around a screen and puts up a 15 footer that finds the bottom of the net and gives us a 76-72 lead. Indiana steals the ball and scores on a breakaway to narrow our lead to 76-74 with 1:23 left. Austin Hunter drives the baseline, pulls up and tosses in a 10 foot jumper to put us up by 4 again. Then Craig Davis of Indiana drops in a pair of free throws making it 80-78 with 48 ticks on the clock. We toss the ball away. Indiana makes us pay by hitting a 2 to tie the game. I call a time out with 29 seconds to go and instruct our guys to hold onto the ball for a timeout in the final 10 seconds so we can go for the last shot. So what happens? Austin Hunter thinks he’s free and lofts up a 14 footer with 20 seconds to go. It misses, but an Indiana player lurches to try to block the shot and fouls Hunter. The first shot is good as is the second. But now the Hoosiers have time to tie or win the game. I put my best defensive players on the court. John Jones fouls with 12 seconds to go. The first of a 1-and-1 rims out, but Indiana pulls down the rebound and puts up a quick shot which is blocked by Kelvin Ross. We grab the loose ball and Jared Keady puts up a shot at the buzzer that drops to make it 85-80 in our favor. The Hoosiers outplayed us in most aspects of the game, but we outshot Indiana 58% to 50%. That plus the home court advantage allowed us to get a come-from-behind win against a team that was better tonight. SG Austin Hunter scores 23 and has 7 assists. PF Angelo Craft picks up 15, SF John Jones has 14, PG Jared Keady gets 13, and C Jules Grant adds 10. (8-0, Ranked #1 in the polls, RPI: 1)

Incident: The after game celebration turns sour when Troy Cox and Adrian Bains get into yet another argument. I pull them aside to give them a stern lecture. Bains is repentant but Cox gives me lip which earns him a one week suspension.

[PointGuard]

Game #9, Dec. 5, 2017 @ North Carolina St. (3-2): The first half went back and forth with 15 lead changes and 8 ties. North Carolina State came away with a 30-28 halftime lead. We altered our game plan during halftime and immediately began to pull away as our defense smothered the Wolfpack and we dominated the boards (33-22). We finished with a 64-49 road victory. SG Austin Hunter scored 16 and pulled down 8 boards. PG Jared Keady added 10, while SF John Jones and PF Angelo Craft both scored 8. (9-0)

Game #10, Dec. 8, 2017 @ Purdue (5-2): Purdue put us in an 8-0 hole. By the midpoint of the first half, we trailed 31-11. And at the break we were behind by a 49-29 score. The Boilermakers got to the line 14 more times where they scored 14 more points that did we. Our leading scorer was Jared Keady with 6 points. We decreased Purdue’s lead to 10 with 9 minutes to go and then to 7 with 7-1/2 minutes left. At the 5:48 mark, Aaron Rohwer put back a shot and was fouled. He converted the 3 point play to make it 62-58 in favor of Purdue. Purdue quickly re-built a 12 point lead with just over 3 minutes to go. We cut their lead to 6 with a minute left. But we couldn’t do it and lost 73-64. Purdue’s 15 more free throws where they scored 14 more points were the difference. We were called for 21 fouls while Purdue was whistled just 10 times. C Kelvin Ross had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. SG Austin Hunter scored 12, PG Jared Keady added 11, and SF John Jones had 9. (9-1, Ranked #2, RPI: 1) (The team ranked above us is UCLA, who we beat in the Coaches Classic.)

Injury: PF Ufuk Oztorum is nursing a bruised shoulder, but shouldn’t miss our next game.

[PointGuard]

Game #11, Dec. 13, 2017 @ Tennessee (3-4): While we’re still in the state of Tennessee, this is our 3rd straight road game. The Volunteers are led by PF Chris Edwards who is scoring 15.0 ppg. The lead shifted back and forth throughout the entire first half (19 lead changes and 11 ties). Fittingly the half ended with the scored tied 41-41. SF John Jones led our scoring with 10 points. We fell behind by as much as 10 points in the 2nd half. We kept trying to dig our way out of the hole, but continually fell back into it. Finally with 4:16 we cut Tennessee’s lead to 67-65. We then fell behind by 7, but with 57 ticks on the clock we closed to within a single point. Tennessee missed a shot and we brought it down court. As the clock wound down, John Jones had a good look at the basket and put up a 10 footer that came off the rim to Jules Grant who put it back up and in with 14 seconds remaining to give us a 73-72 lead. Tennessee played for last shot and their point guard drove down the middle of the lane, but Jared Keady stuck to him forcing an off-balance shot that failed to drop. We escaped with a 73-72 comeback win but with a bit more gray hair for me. With 16 turnovers, we made twice as many as the Volunteers, but we dominated the boards 39-27 and outshot Tennessee (47% to 39%). SF John Jones topped our scoring with 18 points plus had 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. SG Austin Hunter scored 15 and pulled down 6 boards. C Jules Grant hit for 11 points plus had 13 rebounds. PG Jared Keady added 8 points. (10-1, Ranked #2 in the polls, RPI: 1)

Scholarship: Since we have one vacant scholarship this season, we decided to award it to walk-on senior SF Aaron Rohwer. He’s been playing better subbing for John Jones so deserves it.

Game #12, Dec. 19, 2017 @ Syracuse (3-4): We held a small lead throughout most of the first half and came out of it with a 32-28 lead. SG Austin Hunter scored 8 points for us. We quickly built up a 10 point lead in the 2nd half as our defense solidified. We never let Syracuse get close the rest of the way and we came away with a 72-56 victory to end our pre-conference play. SG Austin Hunter scored 13, pulled down 8 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, and had 3 steals and a block. C Jules Grant scored 11. PF Adrian Bains and SG Georgiy Zolkin came off the bench to score 9 and 8, respectively. SF John Jones added 8. SG Thurman McKnight scored 20 for Syracuse. (11-1, Ranked #2 in the polls, RPI: 1)

[PointGuard]

We finish our pre-conference games with a 11-1 record, a #2 rank in the polls, and the best RPI in the country. The only other ranked team in our conference is UCONN which has a 7-3 record, is ranked #16 in the polls and has the 3rd best RPI in the nation.

Player stats:

PPG: Hunter-15.9, Keady-11.4, Jones-10.1, Ross-8.4, Craft-7.6, Grant-7.3, Zolkin-6.2, Bains-4.7
RPG: Ross-6.3, Hunter-5.5, Grant-4.8, Jones-3.2, Craft-2.2, Keady-1.7
APG: Hunter-3.8, Keady-3.1, Cox-1.9, Craft-1.6, Jones-1.3, Samnick-1.3
SPG: Keady-1.5, Hunter-1.4
BPG: Grant-1.5, Ross-0.8, Hunter-0.7

Team stats:

We’re averaging 77.4 PPG and giving up 68.4 PPG
We’re out-rebounding our opponents 32.3 to 29.5
We’ve made 13.0 TOPG while our opponents have averaged 14.7 TOPG
We hit 47% of our FG attempts and our opponents hit 42% of theirs
We dropped in 36% of our 3’s and our opponents hit just 28% of theirs
We outshot our opponents at the free throw line 77% to 68%

[PointGuard]

Game #13, Dec. 26, 2017, #16 Connecticut (7-3): UCONN has wins over Minnesota, Wake Forest, Georgia, and #13 Stanford. One of their losses was to #5 Kentucky. They have 3 players averaging in double figures: SG Bobby Harris (17.0), SF Byron Thompson (13.6) and PG Jabari Younger (11.6). We took an early 19-10 lead but Connecticut stormed back with a barrage of 3’s to take a 29-22 lead with just under 7 minutes left in the first half. By the end of the half we were behind 43-30. We hit just 28% of our 1st half shots. PF Angelo Craft led our scoring with 10 points. Things got worse in the 2nd half and we trailed by 20 with 12-1/2 minutes left in the game. We cut their lead to 8 with 5 minutes to go and then 7 with 2 minutes remaining. Angelo Craft knocked down 2 free throws at 1:04 to make it 79-74. Then Craft pulled down an offensive rebound and put up an 8 footer than dropped and we trailed 79-76 with 29 seconds to go. We fouled, and after making 24 of 25 free throws, they only made on of their two shots to put us behind by 4. Then Austin Hunter hit a 3 to make it 80-79. We fouled with 11 seconds and the Huskies missed both shots. We called a time out with 6 seconds left. We set up a screen for Hunter, but when he got the ball he travelled giving UCONN the ball with just a second to go. The 80-79 loss was a tough one to take, particularly at home. SG Austin Hunter topped our scoring with 21 points. PF Angelo Craft scored 19, and PG Jared Keady had 11. SF John Jones pulled down 10 rebounds. UCONN’s SG Bobby Harris was the game’s high point man with 22 points. (11-2, 0-1, 6th place tie)

Game #14, Dec. 29, 2017 @ Houston (4-8, 0-1): We quickly built up a double digit lead and finished the half up 42-29. Reserve PG Abraham Althoff scored 9 points to lead our scoring. We increased our lead to as much as 20 points in the 2nd half and won with ease 75-60. We dominated the boards 36-23. PG Jared Keady scored 14 points, SG Austin Hunter tossed in 13 and had 5 assists, PG Abraham Althoff hit for 11 in 13 minutes of play, and centers Kevin Ross and Jules Grant both had 9 points with SF John Jones adding 8 points along with 6 rebounds. (12-2, 1-1, 4th place tie; Ranked #3; RPI: 2)

Award: SG Austin Hunter is selected as the AAC’s Player of the Week.

[PointGuard]

Game #15, Jan. 2, 2018, South Florida (5-7, 1-1): We scored the first 14 points of the game. We then extended our lead to 23-2 and 35-5. Our crowd was raucous adding to the Bulls troubles. The half ends with us ahead 49-23. SF John Jones was on fire with 15 points. In the second half we play everybody except for out athletic trainer and still win by a 74-56 score. SF John Jones nets 21 points, SG Austin Hunter scores 16 and grabs 6 rebounds, PF Angelo Craft is deadly from the field (7 of 8) and scores 15. PG Jared Keady tosses in 11 points and dishes out 6 assists. (13-2, 2-1, 2nd place tie)

Game #16, Jan. 5, 2018 @ Cincinnati (3-9, 0-3): After 4 minutes of play we trail 12-5. We very slowly come back and with 4-1/2 minutes left in the first half take a 24-22 lead. Cincinnati walks to the locker room with a 33-31 lead though. SF John Jones’ 8 points tops our scoring. In the 2nd half, we score the first 11 points. But Cincinnati doesn’t fold and they tie the game at 59-59 with 2:10 remaining in the game. Jared Keady is fouled with 1:21 to go and sinks both free throws to put us up by 2. Neither team can score forcing the Bearcats to foul Keady with 25 seconds on the clock. Keady drops in both shots and we lead by 4. Cincinnati hits a 3 with 10 seconds to go and Keady is again fouled with 7 seconds remaining. Again he calmly hits both ends of the 1-and-1. We put on a full court press that doesn’t allow them to get the ball out of the deep backcourt and escape with a 65-62 victory. The key to our win is a 19-8 turnover advantage. PG Jared Keady scores 16, SG Austin Hunter adds 11, C Kelvin Ross puts in 10 along with 8 rebounds, and SF John Jones scores 8. (14-2, 3-1, 1st place tie; Ranked #3, RPI: 2)

[PointGuard]

Game #17, Jan. 9, 2018, Tulane (9-4, 3-1): Tulane tore apart our defense throughout the entire first half, hitting 64% of their shots. They also out-rebounded us 18-7. We left the court at the half trailing 44-31. PG Jared Keady led our scoring with 9 points. We cut their lead to 45-41 in the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half. We cut their led to a single point with 14-1/2 minutes to play. The Green Wave quickly re-opened an 8 point lead, but we again drew within a point with 9 minutes remaining. Then at the 6-1/2 mark, John Jones got free for a 3 that dropped giving us our first lead of the game at 63-61. 30 seconds later Adrian Bains pulled down an offensive rebound and muscled back up a short that put us up by 4 points. We increased our lead to 7 with 4 minutes to go. With 1:14 left Austin Hunter sank a pair of free throws to make it 76-66. Following such a lackluster 1st half, our 2nd half turn-around was complete, 47-24 in points and 26-11 in rebounds and holding Tulane’s shooting to 25%. We ended up with a 78-66 victory. PF Angelo Craft scored 20 and pulled down 7 rebounds. PG Jared Keady knocked down 18 points. C Kelvin Ross had 10 points and 7 rebounds, SF John Jones scored 9 and grabbed 7 rebounds along with 4 assists, and SG Austin Hunter added 9 rebounds while dishing out 7 assists. (15-2, 4-1, 1st place tie)

Game #18, Jan. 12, 2018 @ SMU (6-8, 1-4): We fell behind 28-14 but then scored the next 10 points, mostly on free throws. Even with poor shooting (33% by us compared to 64% by SMU), we only trailed 30-26 at the half. Austin Hunter was our top scorer with 8 points. Our shooting was even worse in the first 9 minutes of the 2nd half, but we take our first lead at 37-36, as the Mustangs suffered with repeated turnovers. SMU recaptured the lead and with 1:22 the Mustangs were on top 60-58. We called a time out to set up a play to try to tie the game, but the pick and roll failed as Jared Keady missed the shot. Austin Hunter grabbed the rebound outside and fired it up, but it rimmed out. Jules Grant rebounded though and his put-back went down to forge a 60-60 tie. SMU threw the ball away with 50 seconds on the clock. From there on it was a series of turnovers by SMU and missed shots by us, thereby taking us to overtime still knotted at 60-60. We scored 5 points in the first 45 seconds of OT, but SMU crawled back within a point with 2:13 remaining. We called a time out and were able to clear Austin Hunter for an uncontested 3 that dropped cleanly through the net to put us ahead 68-64. After Angelo Craft hit one of two free throws, SMU dropped in a 3 to make it 69-67 with a half minute to play. Austin Hunter was fouled with 26 seconds to play. With the SMU fans roaring, Hunter was able to sink both free throws. From there we were able to hold off the Mustangs for an exciting 74-69 overtime win on the road. Outshot 58% to 42%, we won on the basis of a 30-23 rebounding advantage and forcing the Mustangs to make 26 turnovers (compared to 13 by us). SG Austin Hunter scored 28 points and had 3 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. C Jules Grant scored 10 plus pulled down 9 rebounds. Bryan Smith came off the bench to lead our comeback in the 2nd half, scoring 11 points during his 11 minutes on the floor. (16-2, 5-1, 1st place tie; Ranked #4 in the polls; RPI: 2)

[PointGuard]

Game #19, Jan. 16, 2018, Temple (10-5, 5-1): This is a matchup of the co-leaders in the American Athletic Conference. Temple has wins over #5 Maryland, #12 Connecticut, and Kansas plus has played very well in their AAC games. Poor shooting again kept us behind most of the 1st half, but we dominated the boards (19-8) and rallied toward the end of the half to take a 34-31 lead to the locker room. PG Jared Keady led our scoring with 8 points. We asserted control in the 2nd half as our shooting improved and we continued to control the boards. With 12:15 to play we led 55-40. Then we opened a 20 point lead with 8:15 remaining. We finished with a 79-63 victory giving us sole possession for 1st place. SF John Jones and SG Bryan Smith both scored 13 points, C Kelvin Ross and PG Austin Hunter each tossed in 12 points, PG Jared Keady scored 10 and PF Angelo Craft added 8. (17-2, 6-1, 1st place)

Game #20, Jan. 19, 2018 @ Tulsa (7-9, 4-3): The first half was devoid of defense and we let the Golden Hurricanes hit 58% of their shots. We were fortunate to only trail 46-43 at the break. SG Austin Hunter scored 9 points. Our offense kicked into overdrive in the early part of the 2nd half pushing us to a 64-53 lead with 13 minutes to play. We continued to burn up the net and rolled to a 98-77 victory. We turned the ball over just 3 times the entire game and hit 53% of our shots. SG Austin Hunter tossed in 19 points while C Kelvin Ross and SF/SG Bryan Smith both scored 14. PG Jared Keady scored 12 and dished out 8 assists. PF Angelo Craft and PF Adrian Bains each scored 9. (18-2, 7-1, 1st place; Ranked #4 in the polls; RPI: 3)

[PointGuard]

Game #21, Jan. 23, 2018: Central Florida (7-10, 4-4): We hold a small lead in the early going, but then pull away in the latter part of the 1st half to enjoy a 42-22 halftime advantage. PG Jared Keady topped our scoring with 10 points. We cruise through the 2nd half to an easy 80-54 win. SG Austin Hunter scored 16 plus had 4 assists and 8 rebounds. PG Jared Keady added 15. SF/SG Bryan Smith had his 4th straight game coming off the bench to score in double digits, this time with 10 points. SF John Jones scored 9, dished out 2 assists, pulled down 8 rebounds, and had 2 steals. (19-2, 8-1, 1st place)

Game #22, Jan. 26, 2018 @ #17 Connecticut (13-6, 6-3): UCONN is exceptionally tough at home. It’s tough to know who to focus upon with SG Bobby Harris averaging 16.5 ppg, SF Byron Thompson 13.9 ppg, and PG John Younger 12.9 ppg. We jumped out to a 9-1 lead. But midway through the first half, Connecticut came back to take their first lead of the game at 17-16 as their crowd went wild. We then roared back to forge a 44-34 halftime lead. PF Angelo Craft’s 20 point phenomenal performance led us in the first half. In the 2nd half we expanded our lead to 20 points with 14-1/2 minutes to play. We finished with a satisfying 85-69 road win againt a very tough team. PF Angelo Craft had the best game of his career with 26 points, 2 assists, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals. PG Jared Kennedy dropped in 13 points, SG Austin Hunter and C Jules Grant both scored 12 points, while SF John Jones and C Kelvin Ross both had 8 points. (20-2, 9-1, 1st place; Ranked #4 in the polls; RPI: 2)

Norton Award: SG Austin Hunter was named a quarter-finalist for the Norton Award.