Veggie Tales: The Cale Jefferson story

[3manweave]

[December 17th, 2015 - Game #11, vs. Nebraska-Omaha]

UNO (1-7) @ UMKC (7-3) :: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO

Got tickets to tonight's game with a friend and co-worker of mine that is a UMKC graduate. Down 20 at the half, the Mavericks fought back late but ultimately fell short 80-65 on the road at UMKC, now 8-3 under first-year head coach Cale Jefferson; and in the midst of one of their best starts in school history. Omaha didn't have an answer for reserve guard Brad Fitzwater, who came off the bench to score twenty-three points in all, and had nineteen at the break.

However, it seemed that the head official had some sort of beef with the young head coach, as the foul disparity was 7-1 in favor of the road team, making questionable calls from sub-optimal angles. On one or two occasions, he made it a point to over-exaggerate a foul call right in front of him. Finally, I think he had enough, and was assessed a technical foul with 13:19 to go in the first half. They were up 24-15 at that point, and that seemed to get his team going again as they ended up leading 49-29 at the break with Fitzwater leading the charge. Also, the foul calls seemed to balance out after that, as the Kangaroos had nine fouls to the Mavericks' eight.

UMKC had thirteen assists on twenty made baskets in the first half, showing incredible efficiency. They shot 20-of-34 as a team in the first half (.588), and hit seven threes. As a fan of the Mavericks, it was simultaneously fun and frustrating to watch at times.

The same official picked up where he left off from early in the game, as Jefferson was livid with the officiating again after the Mavericks began the second half on a 8-0 run, and a handful of ticky-tack calls had put standouts Ronnie Chappel and Will Bedard into foul trouble with fourteen minutes to go. He channeled his inner Coach K by ripping off his sport coat in frustration. Honestly, he was beginning to make an ass of himself by this time, but I could understand the source of the frustration at least.

UMKC held their largest lead at twenty-one with 5:56 to go after a Stephen Jones trey, his third triple of the game. Jefferson put Bedard and Chappel back in with four fouls after sitting them for awhile due to the foul trouble, but were quickly ousted from the game in a matter of minutes as they were called for touch fouls on consecutive possessions, one of them by the same referee. I don't know what happened, but this guy clearly had some issue with Jefferson, and was trying to make an example of him. Well, whatever he was doing worked; as he finally was fed up, and dropped an F-bomb to get himself tossed. It was much to the delight of the near-sellout crowd, as they had been hard on that official all game long, and cheered the coach as he headed back to the locker room.

I'm a UNO graduate living and working in Kansas City who follows both of these programs and other mid-major programs like Creighton, and I hadn't ever seen anything like this at this level. I don't think Jefferson is totally clean here, but if I were him, I'd send that game tape to their league office and have it reviewed. The foul disparity was 29-17 in favor of Omaha. UMKC shot ten free throws to Omaha's forty-one, and Omaha after the first ten minutes were relegated to mainly jump-shooting because they kept getting their shots blocked when they went inside. There was no way they played in a way that would allow them to shoot thirty-one more foul shots than their opposition without a little help.

OMAH (01-08): 29-38-65
UMKC (08-03): 49-31-80

Rebounds (Offensive): UMKC 35 (6), OMAH 29 (5)
Blocked Shots: UMKC 10, OMAH 5
Steals: UMKC 8, OMAH 8
Assists: UMKC 20, OMAH 15
Turnovers: OMAH 14, UMKC 13
Field Goals: UMKC 32/59 (.542), OMAH 17/45 (.378)
Three-point: UMKC 10/22 (.455), OMAH 6/14 (.429)
Free Throws: OMAH 25/41 (.610), UMKC 6/10 (.600)
Points In Paint: UMKC 22, OMAH 16
Second Chance Points: UMKC 14, OMAH 1
Fast Break Points: UMKC 13, OMAH 4
Largest Lead: UMKC 21, OMAH 0

Player of the Game: Brad Fitzwater, UMKC - 23 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, block, 2 steals

OMAH
Dan Klein: 15 points, 6 rebounds, steal, assist
Robert Tucker: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, steal, 3 turnovers

UMKC
Will Bedard: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals
Stephen Jones: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks

[3manweave]

[December 19th, 2015 - WAC Offices, Englewood, CO (12:37 PM)]

I just got called into the league office, so I have to hop a plane to Englewood this afternoon. Apparently, Cale Jefferson sent in game tape from a few nights ago to the WAC office, and now they need to "talk to me" about it. Look, I know that I was a little heavy-handed about how I acted, and I'll apologize for that right up front. But I don't believe any of the calls I made were wrong in any way. Frankly, I acted the way I did to bring Jefferson down a peg or two. For some reason, I just don't like his smarmy face.

[Wayne23]

"Get some rope.
Find a tree.
Let's go hang
The referee!"

[3manweave]

[December 21st, 2015 - The Fields residence, Kansas City, MO (7:34 PM)]

We're going to Knoxville to go watch our 'Roos play Tennessee, and spend Christmas with family in the area! The sale of my client's house (that I've been working with for MONTHS) finally went through yesterday, and that big, fat, $10K commission check just posted. The tickets were bought immediately after that. I decided to splurge and get seats just four rows from the court in the visitor's section. In the infamous words of Bart Scott...."Can't wait!"

[3manweave]

[December 21st, 2015 - Game #12, at Tennessee (7:00 PM)]

UMKC (8-4) @ Tennessee (6-1) :: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN

Here are some excerpts from Tennessee play-by-play announcer Buck Shorts (all players are UMKC unless otherwise noted):

David Prescott (TENN) hits tough leaner from ten feet to kick off the scoring (19:41) 2-0 TENN
Brad Fitzwater grabs the steal, kicks to Terry Mitchell for the dunk on the breakaway (13:33) 9-8 TENN
Will Bedard with the steal, forward to Mitchell again who dunks on the fast break (10:42) 17-13 UMKC
Rodney Chavis (TENN) hits three to cap 9-0 run (7:59) 22-19 TENN
Bart Robertson (TENN) gives Vols largest lead at five with NBA-range three (5:49) 29-24 TENN
Jon Meliet's (TENN) jumper pushes the lead to double digits (3:49) 35-25 TENN
Fitzwater hits three to cut deficit to nine (2:29) 39-30 TENN
Ronnie Chappel trims half-time deficit to four with ten-foot floater at the buzzer (0:00) 40-36 TENN

Bedard hits a pair of free throws to tie the game (17:28) 43-43
Chappel gives UMKC their first lead of the second half with a three (14:10) 52-49 UMKC
Marcus Sanders (TENN) hits tough shot in traffic (11:51) 56-56
Three-point play by Jerry Livas (TENN) gives Vols largest lead of second half (8:03) 68-58 TENN
Rupert Frost (TENN) hits pair of free throws to give Vols largest lead of the game (5:06) 75-60 TENN
Meliet dunk pushes Vols' lead to twenty (1:29) 82-62 TENN

UMKC (08-04): 36-31-67
TENN (07-01): 40-44-84

Rebounds (Offensive): TENN 42 (10), UMKC 40 (7)
Blocked Shots: TENN 10, UMKC 1
Steals: TENN 6, UMKC 5
Assists: TENN 20, UMKC 13
Turnovers: UMKC 10, TENN 7
Field Goals: TENN 27/64 (.422), UMKC 22/61 (.361)
Three-point: UMKC 7/16 (.438), TENN 6/23 (.261)
Free Throws: UMKC 16/20 (.800), UMKC 24/32 (.750)
Points In Paint: TENN 24, UMKC 16
Second Chance Points: TENN 16, UMKC 0
Fast Break Points: UMKC 6, TENN 2
Largest Lead: TENN 20, UMKC 6

Player of the Game: Jerry Livas, TENN - 16 points, 7 rebounds, assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks

UMKC
Will Bedard: 17 points, rebound, 3 steals
Brad Fitzwater: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, steal

TENN
David Prescott: 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Bart Robertson: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks

[3manweave]

[December 23rd, 2015 - Cale's apartment, Kansas City, MO (6:34 PM)]

Recently, I've been growing tired of my small, one-bedroom downtown apartment and was looking to make a change. I've been living here ever since I got the job at Johnson County after arriving back in the states from Italy about three years ago, and I'm tired of renting. With nearly three times the salary I was making before, I felt like I could afford something nice, or least something a little bigger. Chuck recently closed on his house, so I asked him earlier today for a referral.

"Yeah, there's this guy you should look into," I remember him saying as he handed me a card. "Real nice guy, and he was able to get me a pretty good deal just within the past few days on our new place since the house had been on the market for a while. He's pricey; but he got me in within 45 days, which is pretty fast in real estate. Apparently, he's a pretty big fan of you and the basketball team."

"Does he do condos?" I asked. "I don't anticipate needing more than one or two bedrooms." I remember looking at the card. Spud Fields, is that right? Sh*t, why not.

"Condos, houses, apartments, you name it," he said. "Tell him Chuck Roast says hey. It's too late for me, but he might even cut you a break on commission."

[3manweave]

[December 24th, 2015 - Game #13, vs. North Alabama]

UNA (5-5) @ UMKC (8-4) :: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO

It was a rough go of it early for UMKC, as they were down 17-8 and 26-17 early to the Lions, enjoying their first season in Division I men's hoops. However, they fought back to lead the Lions at the half 31-29, and then rode a strong second half surge as they drubbed North Alabama 80-57 in what ended up being a 'laugher', all told.

Will Bedard posted a solid 21-point, 7-rebound performance, including three offensive boards. Head coach Cale Jefferson emphasized being stronger on the glass this week, and while they ended up getting out-rebounded 32-30; they compensated by forcing twenty-four Lion turnovers, a season-worst for them. Conversely, it was also the most that Jefferson's defense has forced so far this season as the non-conference season ends, and the 2015 year winds down.

Those twenty-four turnovers yielded seventeen points, and they doubled the Lions' fast-break points by a 20-10 margin. Travis Gray led all scorers with twenty-two points on 11-of-18 shooting for the Lions' top big man. He also grabbed five boards.

UMKC ends the non-conference portion of the schedule at 9-4, but they have an extended break for the holidays until January 4th, when they begin conference play at Grand Canyon University.

UNAL (05-06): 29-28-57
UMKC (09-04): 31-49-80

Rebounds (Offensive): UNAL 32 (8), UMKC 30 (6)
Blocked Shots: UNAL 4, UMKC 3
Steals: UMKC 13, UNAL 9
Assists: UMKC 14, UNAL 14
Turnovers: UMKC 15, UNAL 24
Field Goals: UMKC 29/61 (.475), UNAL 22/51 (.431)
Free Throws: UMKC 18/23 (.783), UNAL 11/19 (.579)
Free Throws: UMKC 4/12 (.333), UNAL 2/15 (.133)
Points In Paint: UMKC 40, UNAL 32
Second Chance Points: UNAL 10, UMKC 9
Fast Break Points: UMKC 20, UNAL 10
Largest Lead: UMKC 23, UNAL 9

Player of the Game: Will Bedard, UMKC - 21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, steal

UNAL
Travis Gray: 22 points, 5 rebounds
Robbie Williams: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, steal

UMKC
Stephen Jones: 14 points, 2 rebounds
Kevin Rollerson: 8 points, 2 rebounds, assist, steal, block