Path to the Hall of Fame

[randy]

3/1/95

Central Arkansas def Texas Arlington, 81-67
- Damian Dixon 22 pts, 5-11 3PT

Texas A&M Corpus Christi def Texas St, 76-60
- Mitchell Brinson 15 pts, 12 rebs; 6 TAMCC players scored 8 or more pts


3/2/95

Texas A&M Corpus Christi def Lamar, 92-78
- Regie Kamouna 23 pts, 14 rebs; Tony Driver 25 pts, 9-12 FG, 4-4 3PT

Nicholls St def Central Arkansas, 67-63
- Jeremy Baker 10 pts, 5 rebs; UCA held to 38% FG


3/3/95

Texas San Antonio def Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 65-57
- Ryan Goolsby 17 pts, 5 rebs, 8-13 FG; TAMCC held to 36% FG


3/3/95: Nicholls St (13-15, 6-8) @ #10 Sam Houston St (24-3, 13-1)
NIC is -4 in team prestige

Pre-game Notes
[INDENT]1. We beat NIC both times this season, with a combined winning margin of 41 pts
2. NIC is a defensive-oriented team. If we can bulldoze our way in the paint, we should have no problems beating them
[/INDENT]
Initial instructions
[INDENT]1. Offense Sets / Focus: Auto (mostly Motion) / Balanced
2. Offense Pace / Freedom: 4 / 50%
3. Off / Def Rebounding Crash: 9 / 10
4. Defense Sets / Intensity: Man / 8 (single coverage)
5. Pressure Set / Frequency: Auto / 9
[/INDENT]


Tip off (1st Half)

14:48, Up 8-6
Cook and Coulibaly with 4 pts each. NIC is also setting up a lot of inside plays

11:51, Up 14-6
Cook scored the last 6 pts; he has 10 but got called for his 2nd foul

7:07, Up 23-11
NIC shooting poorly at 33% FG

2:08, Up 25-21
Just like that, NIC hit a couple of 3s, had a couple of block shots, and they are back in the game. I decided to keep Cook on the bench


Halftime, Up 30-26
We'll increase def intensity to 9, and double up on everyone (except PG)


Start of 2nd Half

14:04, Up 36-32
Roles with 3 fouls. We started the half shooting 1-6 FG, and NIC briefly took a 1 pt lead.

11:46, Up 43-35
Cook is sitting down in the bench with 3 fouls. It's the supporting crew who's keeping us in the lead

9:21, Up 49-35
We scored 6 pts off 3 NIC turn overs. I'll bring back Cook and Rowles

2:54, Up 62-47
We'll slow down the pace


Final score: Nicholls St - 50, #10 Sam Houston St - 66


Box Score

[INDENT]Cook 16, 5, 0, fouled out
Coulibaly 12, 6, 6, 4 stls, 2 blks, 5 tos
Carr 11, 9, 1, 2 stls, 3 tos
Majerus 10, 2, 0, 2 stls
Rowles 6, 5, 1, fouled out
K Griffin 5, 1, 0
F Griffin 2, 1, 9
Granville 2, 1, 2
Belton 2, 0, 0
[/INDENT]
Team Stats Comparisons

[INDENT]FG: 54-36%
REB: +6
TO: -1 (14-15)
Paint: +20 (36-16)
2nd Chance : -5
Fast Break: +8
[/INDENT]


Other Notes

[INDENT]1. NIC was 4-8 3PT at one point, but missed their last 9 attempts ending at 4-17 from 3PT (23%). The game was up for grabs until the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, before NIC got cold in offense
2. Notwithstanding his 5 turn overs, Coulibaly had a superb all around game today
3. ISR = 1.7
[/INDENT]

[randy]

3/4/95: Texas San Antonio (16-12, 7-7) @ #10 Sam Houston St (25-3, 13-1)
UTSA is -3 in team prestige. If there is one team that I would like to avoid facing in a conference tournament, it's UTSA and their 2-3 zone

Pre-game Notes
[INDENT]1. UTSA has 3 starters out: 1 on injury, and 2 others on suspension; and yet they are here in the conference tournament finals. They are a dangerous team, with an RPI of 60
2. Similar to our first 2 meetings, the key here is we need to hit our outside shots to break their 2-3 zone
[/INDENT]
Initial instructions
[INDENT]1. Offense Sets / Focus: Auto (mostly Motion) / Balanced
2. Offense Pace / Freedom: 4 / 50%
3. Off / Def Rebounding Crash: 9 / 10
4. Defense Sets / Intensity: Man / 8 (single coverage)
5. Pressure Set / Frequency: Auto / 9
[/INDENT]


Tip off (1st Half)

15:46, Up 6-4
Both teams identical at 2-7 FG

11:49, Up 12-7
UTSA always seems to get the long offensive rebounds; they have 5 already

7:58, UP 14-12
It was 12-4, and then UTSA went on an 8-0 run (including 2 3s), before we were able to stop their run

2:55, Up 24-16
UTSA's 10 turn overs allowed us to negate their advantage in off rebs


Halftime, Up 29-20
Poor shooting night for both teams; FG is 41-29%. Only 6 combined fouls were called


Start of 2nd Half

14:36, Up 42-29
Coulibaly just hit 1st FG, after going 0-8. Fouls are 4-0 against us

8:46, Up 48-38
Both teams making mini-runs, but all it did was just to cancel each other out. Cook already has a double double, with 14 and 10

4:19, Up 64-46
We go on a scoring bonanza, with 16 pts in just less than 5 mins. We'll slow things down


Final score: Texas San Antonio - 56, #10 Sam Houston St - 68
Conference tournament champions for the 2nd straight year!

Box Score

[INDENT]Cook 18, 13, 1, 2 stls
Carr 16, 5, 1
Rowles 12, 10, 2, 2 stls
Majerus 8, 5, 0
Coulibaly 4, 4, 2, 2 stls, 2 blks, 3 tos
F Griffin 4, 1, 3, 3 tos
Granville 4, 1, 1, 2 stls
K Griffin 2, 2, 1, 2 stls
[/INDENT]
Team Stats Comparisons

[INDENT]FG: 42-37%
REB: +7 (41-34, 17-11 off rebs)
TO: -10 (9-19)
Paint: +28 (44-16)
2nd Chance : +15 (20-5)
Fast Break: +17 (22-5)
[/INDENT]


Other Notes

[INDENT]1. We were -3 in off rebs in the first half, but our big men (Cook and Rowles) reversed the trend in the 2nd half. UTSA puts a lot of bodies to get those off boards; when they were not getting those rebounds, it made them susceptible to easy fast break pts on our side. We ended up with 22 fast break pts (I believe this is our season high)
3. ISR = 2.2
[/INDENT]

[randy]

Our Rankings
- Media Poll: #9
- Coaches Poll: #12
- RPI: #3

We were selected as a 5-seed.

We will be playing in Albuquerque: (5) #9 Sam Houston St vs (12) Texas El-Paso

We met UTEP twice this season, on a home-and-away series. Both teams winning on their home court, and what better way to settle the score than on the NCAA tournament!

The (1) seeds
- #3 LSU (26-3, 14-2)
- #1 Kansas (28-4, 14-2)
- #4 St John's (26-2, 16-0)
- #2 Georgia Tech (26-6, 15-3)

[randy]

3/14

Longwood def Texas San Antonio, 81-53
- LONG shot 16-36 3PTs

James Madison def Lamar, 66-51
- Lamar ice cold with 29% FG

[CoachC]

Hard to get respect. Ranked #9 but have at at least 16 other teams seeded ahead of you. Very realistic though.

[randy]

3/17/95: (12) Texas El Paso (17-12, 10-8) @ (5) #10 Sam Houston St (26-3, 13-1)
UTEP is +8 in team prestige.

Pre-game Notes
[INDENT]1. UTEP finished 4th in Conference USA, and lost their 1st round match in the tournament against SMISS, 59-71. They had wins against ranked opponents (Houston, Memphis, and Toledo)
2. A big blow for UTEP is that their leading scorer, Lawrence Smith (20.3 ppg) is out with a broken foot. However, they are not to be taken lightly, as they have beaten #15 Houston without Smith on their lineup
3. UTEP uses a 1-3-1 zone as their primary defense. We'll go Heavy Inside initially
[/INDENT]
Initial instructions
[INDENT]1. Offense Sets / Focus: Auto (mostly Motion) / Heavy Inside
2. Offense Pace / Freedom: 4 / 50%
3. Off / Def Rebounding Crash: 9 / 10
4. Defense Sets / Intensity: Man / 8 (single coverage)
5. Pressure Set / Frequency: Auto / 9
[/INDENT]


Tip off (1st Half)

15:30, Up 10-4
We switched to Favor Inside, as UTEP elects to use more man defense instead of the 1-3-1 zone. We have not missed, going 5-5 FGs

10:15, Up 22-8
Cook is focused today, with 12 pts and 6-7 FG. As a team, we're shooting 79% FG. UTEP now using their 1-3-1 so we go back to Heavy Inside

7:49, Up 26-17
With Cook on the bench, UTEP goes on a 9-4 run. I put Cook back in. Carr on the bench with 2 fouls

3:58, Up 28-18
Both teams turning the ball over too many times; a total of 19 combined turn overs already


Halftime, Up 41-21
Coulibaly hits a 3 at the buzzer. Cook does now want to end his college career without winning an NCAA tournament game; he has 18 pts on 9-10 shooting


Start of 2nd Half

14:50, Up 48-27
5 mins into the 2nd half, and our FG is still at 82%!

11:51, Up 54-31
Cook with 20 pts, 10-12 FG

4:59, Up 66-50
Now it's UTEP turn to get hot in the field, but we were able to answer back

2:52, Up 71-52
This is over. I clear the bench and slow things down


Final score: (12) Texas El Paso - 54, (5) #10 Sam Houston St - 71
On to the round of 32!

Box Score

[INDENT]Cook 20, 3, 0, 2 blks, 10-12 FG
Coulibaly 15, 3, 7
Majerus 12, 2, 1
Carr 9, 1, 2
Rowles 8, 2, 2, 2 stls
F Griffin 5, 4, 6, 2 blks, 4 tos
Granville 2, 0, 3
K Griffin 0, 5, 0, 2 blks
Smith 0, 0, 1
Belton 0, 0, 0
[/INDENT]
Team Stats Comparisons

[INDENT]FG: 67-45%
REB: -3 (4-11 off rebs)
TO: -1 (13-14)
Paint: +18 (40-22)
2nd Chance : -2
Fast Break: -6
[/INDENT]


Other Notes

[INDENT]1. We only attempted 1 FT; UTEP was called for only 8 fouls
2. Everyone shot well from the field; the "worst" shooting performance came from Majerus who went for 6-12 FG (50%)
3. UTEP's SG Perry Long had a good game with 20 pts on 8-12 FG, and so is their C Brad Zimmerman with 10 pts, 9 rebs.
4. ISR = 2.2
[/INDENT]

[randy]

Hard to get respect. Ranked #9 but have at at least 16 other teams seeded ahead of you. Very realistic though.

Agreed. Southland Conference has a prestige of only 4.

[randy]

(1) #2 Georgia Tech vs (9) Oregon
(4) #5 UNLV vs (5) #10 Sam Houston St

(2) #14 Minnesota vs (10) Villanova
(3) #21 Iowa vs (11) Arkansas

[randy]

Season
[INDENT]After losing their regular season opener at Wyoming, UNLV has put together an impressive 19 game winning streak to finish on top of the Mountain West Conference with a 15-1 record, and also winning the conference tournament. In the Round of 64, UNLV trounced Eastern Illinois 76-53
[/INDENT]


Key Players
[INDENT]1. SR F/C Alex Abrams; #48 in his class; 9.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.5 spg, 1.8 bpg; MWC POY, 3-time MWC 1st team, 3-time MWC DPOY, MWC FOY
2. FR SG Brad Willie; #22 in his class; 15.7 ppg 43, 4.4 rpg, 1.6 spg, 43% 3PT, 81% FT
3. JR F Malcolm Jarmond; #27 in his class; 9.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg
4. SO F Samuel Brown; #38 in his class; 8.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 47% 3PT
5. JR F/C Steve Cleaver; #21 in his class; 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 50% FG [/INDENT]


Strategies
[INDENT]1. (Defense) UNLV has good shooters in Willie, Brown, and SR walk on starting PG Derrick Cambridge (almost 6 3PApg). However, I am more worried about UNLV's big men. In their round of 64 game against EILL, they grabbed 18 off rebs. UNLV is #10 in the nation in OR% (33%). We will play 2-3 zone, with def reb intensity set at 10

2. (Offense) UNLV plays man defense, and they press all the time (full court press). We will play with a Balanced focus, and pace of 4. Our perimeter players need to knockdown their outside shots, so Cook and Rowles can have room to operate inside.
[/INDENT]

[randy]

3/19/95: (5) #10 Sam Houston St (27-3, 13-1) @ (4) #5 UNLV (27-7, 15-1)
UNLV is +77 in team prestige!

Pre-game Notes (see scouting report above)

Initial instructions
[INDENT]1. Offense Sets / Focus: Auto (mostly Motion) / Balanced
2. Offense Pace / Freedom: 4 / 50%
3. Off / Def Rebounding Crash: 9 / 10
4. Defense Sets / Intensity: 2-3 zone / 8
5. Pressure Set / Frequency: Auto / 9
[/INDENT]


Tip off (1st Half)

15:19, Up Down 5-6
Cook looking for his shots early, but is only 1-5 FG. UNLV's Willie has hit a 3. The 2-3 zone has prevented UNLV to grab an offensive rebound. Team fouls: 0-2

10:30, Tied at 16
Cook (4 pts, 2 tos) needs to settle down, so his scheduled rest for the next few minutes might help. My starting back court of F Griffin and Coulibaly already combined for 8 pts.
For UNLV, it's all Willie on the outside (8 pts) and Jarmond (8 pts), who has sliced our 2-3 defense at least 3 times already. UNLV has 1 off reb

7:30, Down 17-25
UNLV's Jarmond (12 pts, 6-6 FG) continues to shred our interior defense with his drives to the basket. MEanwhile, our FG has dropped to 33%. I'll bring back Cook, and witch to Favor Inside; hopefully, we can get UNLV's big men to foul trouble

3:18, Down 21-41
UNLV hitting 4 3s, and just like that we're down 20. We'll switch to 1-2-2, and increase pace to 7. Our 6-2 disadvantage in turn overs does not help also

Lead went up as high as 24, 49-25, as UNLV's big men took advantage of our 1-2-2 zone. Coulibaly scored 5 consecutive pts, including a 3 at the buzzer, to get the lead below 20


Halftime, Down 30-49
UNLV shot 67% from the field. We need to alter the pace and go all in (10), lessen def reb intensity to 5, and apply full court man defense all the time. Also increasing the def intensity to 10


Start of 2nd Half

14:41, Down 37-61
Nothing working. I go to Favor Outside. Cook is 1-8 FG, 5 tos

11:57, Down 46-63

9:06, 52-69
The best we have done so far is cut the lead down to 15. Switch to Heavy Outside

3:20, Down 58-75


Final score: (5) #10 Sam Houston St - 65, (4) #5 UNLV - 83
Lead was down to 13, but UNLV had an answer to every small run we make. As a consolation, we won the 2nd half, 35-34


Box Score

[INDENT](UNLV)
Willie 23, 1, 3, 2 blks, 3 tos
Jarmond 15, 10, 5, 5 stls
Abrams 12, 4, 1, 4 blks
Brown 12, 2, 2, 2 stls
Cleaver 8, 5, 1, 3 blks
Cambridge 8, 3, 7, 3 tos
Tricco 3, 1, 0
Ryan 2, 1, 1
Oneal 0, 0, 0
Moore 0, 0, 0

(Sam Houston St)
Coulibaly 18, 3, 1, 3 tos
Majerus 15, 2, 0, 2 blks
Rowles 9, 8, 0
Carr 7, 4, 0
Cook 6, 12, 1, 7 tos, 1-11 FG
F Griffin 4, 3, 8, 2 blks, 3 tos
K Griffin 4, 1, 0
Smith 2, 0, 0
Granville 0, 1, 0
[/INDENT]
Team Stats Comparisons

[INDENT]FG: 44-53%
REB: +7 (11-4 off rebs)
TO: +10 (17-7)
Paint: -14 (24-38)
2nd Chance : +4
Fast Break: -6
[/INDENT]


Other Notes

[INDENT]1. UNLV's athleticism was on display today, as they had 11 blks and 10 stls
2. Cook tried his best. Winning the rebounding battle against UNLV's bigs is not an easy thing to do. It was his first time to face opposing big men that are of the same caliber as he does; and UNLV has at least 4 of them
3. Overall, a very good season for us, and lots of lessons learned for the battles ahead.
[/INDENT]


Final 1994-95 season record: 27-4, 13-1