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

[PointGuard]

bakersfield court done

Thank you very much!

[PointGuard]

Game #8: Dec. 8, 2014; Creighton Blue Jays (3-3) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (6-1)

Creighton is led by their PF Dan Borman who is averaging 11.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. SG Anthony Cabrera is averaging 13.7 ppg but has a very low shooting percentage. I’m perplexed that they are not playing redshirted Freshman Nate Iverson (rated as 4 stars currently with 5 star potential) who looks to be very strong offensively and defensively as well as a strong rebounder and adept passer and ball handler, but he has yet to get off the bench. He’s got a bit of a toxic attitude and doesn’t get along too well with either his coach or teammates though. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t try to transfer after this year.

Since they haven’t shown much ability from the outside, I decide to employ our 2-3 zone pretty much all the time at the beginning of the game and see how they do against it.

Ali Lyde twisted his ankle early in the game and I kept him out of the game as a precautionary measure. They exploited our zone defense early hitting shots from all over the court to take a 15-9 lead with 14 minutes to play in the first half. I decided to switch off between our man-to-man and zone and try to throw them off balance. We quickly tie the game at 15-15. The remainder of the half was a battle all the way. We left the floor with a 37-35 lead. We hit 52% of our shots while Creighton only hit 39%, but they controlled the boards 19-13 and we had 4 guards on the bench with 2 fouls apiece. Marcus Evans scored 10 points before getting into foul trouble. Losing Ali Lyde was a big blow to us.

Early in the 2nd half the game continued to be a back-and-forth war, but midway through the half we wore them down and pulled away to a double digit lead that we continually increased.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-78, Creighton-63. CSU Bakersfield season record: 7-1.

Scoring leaders: Evans-16, Jrl Brown-16, Pastner-11, Bryson-9, Durham-9.

Rebound leaders: Jarmond-7, Saunders-5, Bryson-5.

Assist leaders: Durham-5.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-16 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF/SG Marcus Evans-16 pts, 4 reb, 2 assists.

Other notes: We hit 48% as compared to Creighton’s 39% from the field. We held a slim 35-33 advantage in rebounding, and we made 13 turnovers but caused the Blue Jays to make 17. While Creighton had 8 more free throw attempts, we shot better so only made one less point from the line than the Blue Jays.

Our RPI improved to 21st best in the nation.

PG Michael Curry pulled a muscle late in the game and may miss the next game.

[PointGuard]

Game #9: Dec. 12, 2014; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (7-1) at Indiana State Sycamores (1-4)

Indiana State’s record is unimpressive, but 2 of their 4 losses have come at the hands of ranked teams (Notre Dame and UCLA) and all 5 games they've played before tonight's were on the road.

The Sycamores hit early and often to pull away to a 19-11 lead but then we clamped down defensively which allowed us to score the next 10 points. We held the lead until close to the end of the half and left the court trailing 32-28. The Sycamores hit 46% of their shots while we could only manage to sink 34% of ours. The refs called 12 fouls on us compared to 5 against Indiana State. This gave the Sycamores 8 more free throw attempts on which they scored 3 more than us from the line. Randy Durham led our scoring with 9 points.

The 2nd half went back and forth. The game was tied 53-53 with 2 minutes to play. The Sycamores hit a jumper, then after we missed on our possession, they added a point on a one-and-one to make it 56-53. We called a time out with 1:01 to play to set up a 3 point attempt. Jerell Brown’s 3 point attempt went off the front rim, but Marcus Evans grabbed the rebound and hit a jumper to make the score 56-55. We fouled and they missed the first shot of a one-and-one. We rebounded and called a time-out. Our play unfolded as planned and we got a good look at the basket but were unable the shot or either of the two resulting put-backs. So we had our chance...just couldn't convert.

Final Score: Indiana State-56, CSU Bakersfield-55. CSU Bakersfield season record: 7-2.

Scoring leaders: Durham-13, Jrl Brown-12, Lyde-11.

Rebound leaders: Lyde-8, Durham-5, Jrl Brown -5, Saunders-5.

Assist leaders: Lyde-3.

Player of the Game: Indiana State’s PF Harris Trombley-14 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Ali Lyde-11 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Other notes: Both teams shot poorly…Indiana State hit 38%, we hit 35%. We held a 35-34 rebounding advantage and a 18-11 turnover advantage, but the game was lost by the refs calling 21 fouls against us but only 11 against Indiana State. That gave the Sycamores 16 more free throw attempts than us and they made 8 more points at the line than did we.

[PointGuard]

Game #10: Dec. 15, 2014; Saint Louis Billikens (6-3) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (7-2)

Saint Louis has 3 players averaging in double figures. They are no pushover when playing on the road since they’ve won 3 of 6 away games including losing to #2 Kentucky by just 10 points.

We hit 535 of our shots in the first half while holding Saint Louis’ shooting to 37% and took a 47-36 lead to the locker room. We pulled down 19 rebounds compared to the Billikens 13, we only turned the ball over 4 times while Saint Louis made 6 turnovers. Jerell Brown led our scoring with 16 points.

We maintained a double digit lead throughout the 2nd half and expanded it to 19 with about 5 minutes to play. I then played the deepest part of my bench the remainder of the game.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-83, Saint Louis-73. CSU Bakersfield season record: 8-2.

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-22, Evans-15, Lyde-11, Durham-11.

Rebound leaders: Jrl Brown-7, Bryson-7, Durham-5, Lyde-5.

Assist leaders: Durham-8, Jrl Brown-3.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-22 pts, 7 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Randy Durham-11 pts, 5 reb, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: We hit 48% of our FG attempts while holding Saint Louis to 39%. We out-rebounded the Billikens 38-28 and forced them to make 14 turnovers while making just 9 ourselves.

RPI is 22nd best in the country. We now have 4 players scoring in double figures: Jerell Brown-16.0; Marcus Evans-10.9, Ali Lyde-10.4, and Randy Durham-10.1.

[PointGuard]

Game #11: Dec. 19, 2014; Houston Cougars (6-5) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (8-2)

Houston’s SG Troy Kennard is averaging 21.2 ppg so he’ll get some extra attention from us tonight.

The Cougars took a small lead early in the half, but we fought back to move ahead and then increase our lead toward the end of the half. We hit 46% of our shots while holding Houston’s shooting to 35%. We forced Houston to make 13 turnovers and had just 7 ourselves. We also out-rebounded Houston 16-13. Consequently we took a 34-24 lead to the locker room. Our leading scorer was Marcus Evans with 7 points.

We improved our play in the 2nd half and opened as much as a 25 point lead, allowing us to play our entire bench extensively.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-71, Houston-52. CSU Bakersfield season record: 9-2.

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-18, Evans-9, Durham-9, Lyde-8, Dunn-8.

Rebound leaders: Jrl Brown-10, Evans-5.

Assist leaders: Lyde-5, Durham-4.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-18 pts, 10 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Ali Lyde-8 pts, 4 reb, 5 assists, 2 steals.

Other notes: Although we shot poorly during the final minutes of the 2nd half, we still finished the game hitting 45% of our FG attempts and held Houston to 35% shooting. We held a 17-9 turnover advantage and a 37-31 rebounding advantage. We allowed Houston’s Troy Kennard to score just 10 points as he hit but 2 of 12 FG’s.

[PointGuard]

Game #12: Dec. 22, 2014; Appalachian State Mountaineers (0-10) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (9-2)

Given Appalachian State’s winless record, my biggest task this week has to try to stem overconfidence on the part of my team.

We played sluggishly through most of the 1st half. After maintaining a small lead most of the way, we let the Mountaineers slip into the lead with about 5 minutes to play. That seemed to get our players attention as they began knocking down their shots and stopping Appalachian State. That allowed us to move ahead 43-28 at the halftime break. We hit 54% of our shots while Appalachian State hit just 38% of theirs. We were out-rebounded 17-12 but held a 12-4 turnover advantage. Our leading scorer was Marcelle Pastner with 12 points, but Jerell Brown added 11 also.

We opened a 20 point lead early in the 2nd half and then continued to build on it, even when our deep reserves were in the game.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-84, Appalachian State-56. CSU Bakersfield season record: ; Great West record: 10-2.

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-26, Pastner-16, Evans-9.

Rebound leaders: Jrl Brown-6, Lyde-5.

Assist leaders: Durham-8, Lyde-4.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-26 pts, 6 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Marcelle Pastner-16 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.

Other notes: We out-shot the Mountaineers 52% to 39%. The refs favored us for a change and 23 got 14 more free throws than Appalachian State, scoring 13 more points from the line than they did. We made just 8 turnovers while forcing the Mountaineers to make 19.

Our RPI dropped to 42nd best in the country.

[PointGuard]

Benson Jones, the CSU Bakersfield AD, stops by the next day to congratulate me on our good start this year. He then says, “Hey QM, guess what! I’ve got some really exciting news. Your 10 wins this early in the season have resulted in an offer from a shoe company to provide the players with basketball shoes.”

I reply, “Wow Benson, that’s great! Who is it? Nike?” To which he replies, “No.”

“OK, then…Converse?” The reply again is “No.”

“Ah, well then it must be Adidas, huh?” Benson clears his throat, and then says, “Well, not them either.”

“Well hell, what company is it then?”

Benson then looks a bit sheepish before saying, “Uhhh, it’s a company that was trying to get a nationwide deal, but the deal fell apart.”

“Hmmm, that’s not sounding so good, Benson. What’s the name of the shoe and who were they trying to deal with?”

Benson hesitates, then finally replies, “Well look QM, I don’t think that’s the important thing. So what if it was Wal-Mart. The main thing is that we’re getting an offer like this…we’ve never had something like that for a team from CSU Bakersfield before. Ever! So, even though the shoes are named ‘Court Buddies’, it really doesn’t matter. We’re going to take this sponsorship, and your players are going to wear them.”

“I don’t think you really know my players, Benson. We’re gonna have a revolt on our hands if they’re forced to wear ‘Court Buddies’. So just go back to this company and thank them for their offer, but inform them we’re gonna have to pass.”

“Look QM, I don’t think you’re hearing me”, Benson retorts. “We’re taking the deal and your players are wearing these god-damned shoes. The players are getting full-ride scholarships and they have to do what the school decides. End of story.”

I roll my eyes and say, “Oh I hear you, Benson. But this is gonna go over like a lead balloon. If you’re gonna shove my players feet into these shoes, you’re gonna be the one who tells them. I’ll set some time aside for you after this afternoon’s practice. Good luck.”

To put it simply, his time with the players later that day ain’t pretty. In fact, it’s brutal. But the end result is that the shoes were delivered the next day and it was wear them or go home.

[Wayne23]

Kickin' butts! Hope the new shoes don't take the kick away from your guys.

[CoachC]

Do they have those lights that flash when they run?

[Wayne23]

lol Walmart Special, shoes on aisle 6!