The Phenom

[Wayne23]

12/28: 88-84 at American. Down 1 at the half. They were tough. We opened up a decent lead several times, once by 13, but they came back every time.

17, 5 for Owen, 17, 4 for Mert, 13, 9, 3 for Celk. 9 TOs.

Joel Dens played well again but late in the game he severely sprained a toe. Out for at least two weeks. Mike Song will get his minutes.

On to Southern Conference play.

[Wayne23]

1/4/2022: 62-51 over Western Carolina here. Up by 3 at the half. We are definitely a 2nd half team when we're playing our game. We led throughout the 2nd half, usually by 10 or more.

14, 10 for Celk, 15, 5 for Owen.

Excerpts from the Post Game Presser:

Q: Coach, what's going on with Gary Owen. He seems to be in foul trouble every game.

Coach: We're concerned about the fouls but Gary is playing great ball overall,; he's our #2 scorer and our #2 rebounder. We're going to make a little adjustment regarding how often he's at Power Forward and how often he's at Center. Celk is going to get more PT at the Center position. We'll see what effect that has.

Q: You're 10-2, 1-0. How do you think you'll fare in the new conference?

Coach: Too soon to tell. 3 of our next 4 are on the road. Ask we after that.

Q: Senior Mike Song is now you're #3 guard due to Dens' injury. How's he doing?

Coach: Mike is getting his shot. Tonight he definitely gave us what we needed from him. He's a senior, and I have every confidence that he'll do well as our #3 guard. I'm not worried at all.

[Wayne23]

1/7: 88-70 at Furman. They led throughout the 1st 1/2, by at the end. We didn't take our first lead until there were about 8 minutes left but we just soared from then on. It was interesting in the respect that there were only 2 lead changes in the entire game; they led for the first 32 minutes, usually not by a lot, and we led for the last 8 minutes.

Owen led us with 21, 4. Sand had 22, 1, 4. We went inside and outside very well, mostly just to Owen and Sand; no one else did much.

Joel Dens will be back for our next game. We've missed him.

[Wayne23]

1/11: 77-69 at NC-Greensboro. Up 1 at the half. It was a real battle for most of the 2nd half. We came on very late to seal the win. But we were down 12 at one point in the 2nd half so it was a big comeback.

16, 10 for Celk, 16, 2, 5 for Hayd, 10, 9, 3 for Owen. 11 TOs.

Dens played 21 minutes but that may have been a mistake on my part; he didn't seem ready. I think he will be from here on.

Excerpts from Post Game Presser:

Q: Coach, you're 12-2, 3-0 after beefing up the schedule a little and moving to a tougher conference. Anything you care to say about that?
Coach: Challenges make you better. UCLA hammered us but we learned a lot and we've played a lot tougher since then, losing only once, and by one point. I think the Southern is a tough conference for us. We haven't played any of the top teams yet. There will be some challenges ahead.

[Wayne23]

1/14: 88-68 vs. Bellarmine here. Up 4 at the half after trailing for almost all of the 1st. Then we owned the 2nd half.

24, 9, 4 with 6 steals for Owen. 19, 5, 8 for Sand. Only 9 TOs.

Dens looked like himself tonight. He played well.

13-2, 4-0. It's early but we're one up on three teams.

Excerpt from Post Game Presser:

Q: Coach, Owen has taken over again as team leader, and he's putting up some great numbers, but he winds up with 4 fouls just about every night. What's going on with that?

Coach: I wish I knew. We work on playing tough defense without fouling at every practice, and he seems to do it then, but we get into games and he fouls, often committing one or two really unnecessary fouls. He gives us a lot but he can be really frustrating at times.

Q: Is fouling a problem in general?

Coach: Only for Owen, and often for Celk. Otherwise we're okay with that. We go to the line 21.3 times per game and our opponents go 18.1.

[Wayne23]

1/18: 90-73 over Mercer, there. They were tied for 2nd place so we beat a good team on the road. We took an early lead and held it all the way, leading by as many as 27.

18, 7 for Celk, 16, 4, 5 for Sand, 17, 4 for Mert, 13, 7 for sub Rick Sage. +8 RBs.

Rick Sage, sub F/C: Finally had a good game. I've been getting lots of minutes since both Owen and Celk usually foul a lot, but I haven't done that much. Tonight I did.

[Wayne23]

1/21: 80-69 over Wofford here. We jumped out to a big early lead. It was down to 8 at the half.

We led all the way but they kept fighting to get close. Fortunately, every time they got really close we went on a mini-run.

24, 8, 3 for Celk, 15, 7, 3 for Mert, 16, 7 for Owen. +8 RBs.

Celk hurt his hand. He's going to miss at least one game. Naturally our next is against the 2nd place team in the conf.

[Wayne23]

1/25: 79-69 at VMI. Down 6 at the half. We played like we wanted it in the 2nd; really aggressive, going after every RB, every loose ball. Shooting was the big difference, we shot 51.9%, they shot 38.2%.

Our big guy was Gary Owen, who had his best game of the season, 30 and 6 with only 2 fouls. Sage didn't score much but he got the job done on D, holding his man to 4, and he had 8 RBs. Excellent bench play, 25, 10, 4. +11 RBs.

We hold a 2 game lead in the Southern Conf.

Joe Gunn, Atlanta Star: Kennesaw State U.'s, yes I'll say it, phenomenal coach, Dunphy Nomakowski has brought his team to new heights. Last night they beat the

#2 team in the Southern Conference, VMI, by 10, with their best player seeing only very limited action. They now lead the conference by 2 games.

You may remember that at the Coach's request A. D. Tank Perkins moved the team from the Atlantic Sun to the more competitive Southern Conf. Well, Coach Phee's kids are dominating the conference so far.

Much of the credit goes to their terrific inside game, with freshman Rah Celk and junior Gary Owen leading the way, supported by senior Ren Mert and super sub junior Rick Sage. They are a FORCE inside. Want proof? #3 in the country in PPG, most of which comes from inside, and #4 in rebounding. Their 5th in NET offense and #7 in overall NET rating. Their overall D isn't quite as good but at #41 it isn't bad. When you consider that their Team Prestige is only 14, this is pretty unbelievable. They're sitting pretty at 16-2, 7-0 in conf., and appear to be headed for their 2nd straight appearance in the Big Dance.

Oh, Coach Phee. He is a joy to watch. He's a dynamo on the sidelines, never stopping moving, never stopping talking. Unlike so many coaches who do little more than scream, he shouts words of encouragement, and it is clear by his body language during time outs that he instructs rather than pointing fingers or hurling insults. His players are clearly attentive to what he is saying and if the results tell us anything they tell us that the kids are working hard to put Coach's teachings into practice. He talks about his twin mantras of working hard all the time and believing that the individual and the team can do great things, and at least over the course of last season and this season this is nothing but the truth.

There are much higher ranked teams in the state of Georgia but nobody in the state is more exciting to watch than the KSU Owls.

[Wayne23]

1/28: 70-59 over Chattanooga here. They jumped out to an early lead and stretched it to double digits. We were only down 3 at the half though. We took the lead early in the 2nd but didn't get it to 10 until about the halfway mark. We were in control from that point on.

16, 6, 7 with 4 steals for Celk. 13, 13 for Owen, 15, 6 for Sand.

Only East Tennessee ST is 2 back. We play them there next, and then here later in the season.

Our NET rank is #26. Pretty cool. 17-2, 8-0.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 68-71 at East Tennessee State. They took an early lead and were up 5 at the half. We got it to a one possession game and even tied it a few times but we never could get the lead late. We missed a half court shot at the buzzer.

We didn't shoot well, 39.1%, 3-11 on threes. Our outside D could have been stronger, too. We gave up 8 threes and a lot of outside shots. Bench was out scored 4-22.

25, 11 for Celk, 18, 8, 3 for Owen, 13, 5, 3 for Sand.

17-3, 8-1, at the halfway point of conference play. Everyone except East Tenn. ST is at least 3 games back so it's a 2 team race and they end the season at our place.