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

[PointGuard]

Game #4: Nov. 24, 2018; Rhode Island Rams (1-2) at New Hampshire Wildcats (1-2)

We finally have a home court game. Fortunately 6 of our next 8 games are at home. Rhode Island prefers a slow pace on offense and primarily deploys a man-to-man defense. They have balanced scoring throughout their lineup.

We held a lead throughout most of the 1st half. Rhode Island controlled the boards 20-11, but we turned the ball over just twice while forcing the Rams to make 12 turnovers. We went to the locker room with a 30-22 lead. Nate Augustus, William Kamara, and Bobby Havens each scored 6 points for us. Even though we led, I wasn’t impressed by our play and let the team know that they needed to step things up in the 2nd half.

We came out flat and let Rhode Island cut our lead to 1 early in the half, but then drew away to take an 11 point lead. But we couldn’t hold onto it and the Rams went ahead by 2 with 6 minutes to play. We then rallied in the final 5 minutes to win going away.

Final Score: New Hampshire-65, Rhode Island-51. New Hampshire season record: 2-2.

Scoring leaders: Havens-20, Strickland-12, Kamara-8

Rebound leaders: Kress-8, L. Smith-7, Havens-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-20 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-7 pts, 6 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We hit just 38% of our shots primarily because we went just 4 for 21 (19%) from beyond the arc. We let the Rams hit 47% of their shots and also out-rebound us 32-24. We won the game by forcing Rhode Island to turn the ball over 21 times while we had just 8 turnovers. We also hit 19 of 21 shots from the foul line.

Vernard Strickland hasn’t been shooting well (33%), while Nate Augustus has (46%). Augustus has had fewer turnovers also, so I have decided to replace Strickland with Augustus as PG in the starting lineup for a few games and see how things work out. Strickland will still get a significant amount of playing time, though.

Looking over out stats thus far, our guards are scoring most of our points, but they’re taking a lot of shots to do it. None of them are hitting a high percentage of their shots. They need better shot selection. Our staring big men (Andrew Kresse and Luis Smith) are both hitting over 70% of their shots, but are passing up a lot of shots.

[PointGuard]

Game #5: Nov. 28, 2018; Drake Bulldogs (2-2) at New Hampshire Wildcats (2-2)

Drake tends to run a slow-paced offense with a lot of offensive freedom. Their main defense is man-to-man. Their PG Robbie Haynes is their best player, and we need to keep him from getting hot.

Both teams hit under 40% of their shots in the first half. Team statistics were pretty even except that we had a 7-3 turnover advantage. We went to the locker room with a 35-29 lead. Bobby Havens was high point man with 9 points. During the half we talked about the need to dominate on our home court.

We expanded our lead to 14 points, but then let Drake close to within 5 points with 6 minutes to play. We clamped down defensively to pull away for the win.

Final Score: New Hampshire-71, Drake-60. New Hampshire season record: 3-2.

Scoring leaders: Strickland-16, Havens-14, Kamara-11, L. Smith-10, Augustus-9.

Rebound leaders: Babul-4.

Assist leaders: Augustus-4, Havens-4, Strickland-3.

Player of the Game: PG Vernard Strickland-16 pts, 3 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Luis Smith-10 pts, 3 reb, 1 block.

Other notes: Drake out-rebounded us 34-28, but we used a 17-9 turnover advantage to take control of the game. We also shot well again from the free throw line, hitting 19 of 22.

[PointGuard]

Game #6: Dec. 1, 2018; New Hampshire Wildcats (3-2) at Purdue Boilermakers (4-1)

Purdue pushes the ball up-court and employs a quick-paced offense. On defense, then normally go man-to-man. C Julian Ausler and PF David Gipson, their two big men, are averaging a combined 31 ppg. We will focus our efforts on Ausler.

Even though we shot poorly (31%), we gamely fought the Boilermakers, pulling down 24 rebounds to their 16. The half ended with us trailing 35-32. Bobby Havens scored 15 points.

We kept Purdue within our sites the entire 2nd half, but by only hitting 32% of our shots could never get over the hump to take the lead. Down by 8 with a minute to play, we cut their lead to two by hitting two 3’s, but time expired before we could one last chance.

Final Score: Purdue64, New Hampshire-62. New Hampshire season record: 3-3.

Scoring leaders: Havens-21, Kresse-15.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-8, Havens-8, L. Smith-6, Beck-6, Babul-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-6.

Player of the Game: Purdue’s SG Jesse Wilson-13 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-15 pts, 8 reb, 2 blocks.

Other notes: Purdue shot better, 44% to 32%, but we out-rebounded the Boilermakers 40-33 and held a 14-12 turnover advantage which allowed us to keep in the game and nearly score a big upset. We held their big men, Julian Ausler and David Gipson, to a total of 17 points.

Our RPI is now 97th best in the country. After being in the high 200's and low 300's last year, I'm happy with the improvement.

[PointGuard]

Game #7: Dec. 5, 2018; Charleston Southern Buccaneers (3-3) at New Hampshire Wildcats (3-3)

Charleston Southern has one impressive win, a 7 point victory on Cincinnati’s home court. The Buccaneers press a lot and employ a man-to-man defense. They are led offensively by SG Marcelle Gaither who is scoring 13.5 ppg.

In the 1st half we again let a team shoot well against us (50% to our 44%) plus out-rebound us, 20-15. But we forced the Buccaneers to make 10 turnovers while making just 4 ourselves. After falling behind by 9 points midway through the half, we scored 10 straight points to move ahead and finished the half on top 36-34. Our leading scorer was Bobby Havens with 15 points. Andrew Kresse had 6 points in the first 7 minutes but then got into foul trouble and sat out the remainder of the half.

We fell behind early in the 2nd half and then had to scrap to get back into the game. We retook the lead midway through the half and held a slim lead the rest of the way. Up by 3 with2 mintues to play, Bobby Havens hit a 3 to give us a 6 point lead. We tightened our defense to hold Charleston Southern scoreless the rest of the way.

Final Score: New Hampshire-64, Charleston Southern-55. New Hampshire season record: 4-3.

Scoring leaders: Havens-25, Kresse-9.

Rebound leaders: L. Smith-6, Kamara-5, Havens-5, Babul-5, Augustus-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-5, L. Smith-4.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Haven-25 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Nate Augustus-5 pts, 5 reb, 5 assists.

Other notes: We only hit 40% of our FG attempts, while the Buccaneers hit 44%. We lost the battle of the boards, 37-33. But we held a 20-10 turnover advantage. We outscored Charleston Southern 15-5 on second chance scoring and 18-8 on fast break points.

[JMD]

I was wondering, how do you get WS File Modder to work with DDSCB2?

[PointGuard]

I was wondering, how do you get WS File Modder to work with DDSCB2?

Sorry, I really can't help you with this. I don't do mods...heck, I don't even modify individual players. You might try some of the guys who have done mods (see the CB2 or PB3 Mod forums). Good luck.

[PointGuard]

Game #8: Dec. 8, 2018; Toledo Rockets (6-1) at New Hampshire Wildcats (4-3)

Toledo brings the game to its opponents, pushing the ball up court quickly and firing away with a high rate of success from outside. They have 5 players each knocking down 43-48% of their 3’s. SG Raymond Watson is averaging 21.4 ppg and SF Chris Worthing is chipping in 13.3 ppg. We have to be on top of them all over the court. Their primary defense is man-to-man.

I’m starting Nate Augustus at SF in place of William Kamara since Augustus is a little tougher defensively and I think we’re going to need that.

We fell behind 11-4 early as the Rockets hit their shots and we didn’t. We then played catch-up until tying the game at 20-20 with 9:18 to play in the first half. From that point to the end of the half, we shut them down defensively and quickly pulled away. We hit 47% of our shots and limited Toledo to 30% shooting. We out-rebounded the Rockets 22-16. When the buzzer sounded we led 43-29. Bobby Havens put up 16 points for us.

Toledo picked up their shooting and looked like they were going to make a run early in the 2nd half. But I was proud how our guys closed the door on them repeatedly and played with a real purpose.

Final Score: New Hampshire-72, Toledo-58. New Hampshire season record: 5-3.

Scoring leaders: Havens-26, Augustus-11.

Rebound leaders: Beck-6, Augustus-5, Havens-5

Assist leaders: Kamara-4.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-26 pts, 5 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Nate Augusts-11 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: Even though we hit just 2 of 14 threes, we still knocked down 45% of our FG attempts. We also shot well again from the foul line, sinking 20 of 23 free throws. Toledo hit 41% of their 3’s but just 36% of all their FG attempts. We won the battle of the boards 37-31 and had a 20-15 turnover advantage. After our slow start, this was a very impressive win for us.

Our interior guys have yet to really assert themselves. Too frequently they are passing up scoring opportunities and instead kicking the ball back outside. If our outside guys were hitting a high percentage of their 3’s that might be OK, but on this team that definitely is not the case. None of our big guys have stepped up yet to really pound the boards, either.

Our RPI catapulted to 34th best in the nation. Personally I think that is too high, but the guys have worked hard so it’s good that their efforts are being recognized.

Bobby Havens won the America East Player of the Week Award.

[PointGuard]

Game #9: Dec. 12, 2018; CSU Bakersfield (5-4) at New Hampshire Wildcats (5-3)

I’ve been really looking forward to this game. It will be good to see some of the players I recruited and with whom I worked. They lost a lot of players last year, so it’s a rebuilding year for them, but they are stronger than their present record would indicate. The team runs a pretty conservative offense and goes with a man-to-man defense most of the game. I’m surprised the Coach Scott Roberts and his recruiting assistant, Jon Carroll, recruited so poorly last year. Because of that they have several walk-on players.

A small group of the “Roadrunner Roadies”, the travelling fan club that got started while I was at CSU Bakersfield, made the cross-country trip. It was good getting together with them again before the game.

Nate Augustus played very well in the last game, so he is starting again tonight.

We were ice cold for the first 15 minutes of the 1st half. We were unable to buy a basket from the field and dropped behind by 10 points. Fortunately we were getting and hitting a lot of foul shots. Finally we hit a few shots towards the end of the half and with a last second driving layup, we got our first lead of the game to make it 28-27 at the half. We hit just 26% of our FG attempts, but dropped in 15 of 17 free throws. We were out-rebounded 16-11 but we had a 10-4 turnover advantage. Nate Augustus scored 7 to lead our scoring.

We struggled in the early portion of the 2nd half and the lead went back and forth as the game continued to be nothing short of ugly. But with 9 minutes to play, we hit our shots and squeezed them defensively. We slowly drew away and won going away.

Final Score: New Hampshire72, CSU Bakersfield-58. New Hampshire season record: 6-3.

Scoring leaders: Havens-16, Kresse-12, Augustus-9, Strickland-8, Kamara-8.

Rebound leaders: L. Smith-5, Kamara-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-4, Jeppson-3, Strickland-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-16 pts, 4 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-12 pts, 4 reb, 1 assist, 1 block.

Other notes: By hitting our shots late in the game, we improved our shooting to 44% to equal the Roadrunners shooting proficiency. We pulled down 29 rebounds to CSU Bakersfield’s 26 and forced them to make 19 turnovers while making 14 ourselves. But we really won the game at the free throw line where we hit 29 of 35 shots.

[PointGuard]

Game #10: Dec. 15, 2018; Holy Cross Crusaders (4-6) at New Hampshire Wildcats (6-3)

The leading scorer for Holy Cross is SG Mike Montgomery who is averaging 19.7 ppg, but he has a low shooting percentage. Their two big men are both strong rebounders, C Andre Butler is averaging 8.9 rpg and PF Grant Budde is averaging 8.4 rpg. The Crusaders like to move the ball quickly and defensively use a 2-3 zone, which may be a challenge for our poorly shooting team from outside the arc. They lost badly to #4 ranked Georgetown, but put up a very good battle in losing at #6 Boston College. They’ve only played two games at home thus far, so their record is a bit deceptive.

We jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Our defense was stalwart and with 6 minutes to play in the 1st half, we led 25-10. We finished the half atop the Crusaders 37-20. We hit 49% of our shots and held Holy Cross to 26. Bobby Havens led our scoring with 20 points.

We pulled away further in the 2nd half and held a 20+ point lead most of the way.

Final Score: New Hampshire-77, Holy Cross-53. New Hampshire season record: 7-3.

Scoring leaders: Havens-40, Kresse-10, Beck-9.

Rebound leaders: Beck-10, Kresse-7, Kamara-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-4, Strickland-3, Jeppson-3, Kresse-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-40 pts, 1 reb, 3 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Adrian Beck-9 pts, 10 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We knocked down 46% of our shots (including 48% of our 3’s) while Holy Cross hit just 35%. We out-rebounded the Crusaders 37-32 and held a 16-8 turnover advantage. We held Mike Montgomery scoreless in the first half but he picked up 15 points in the 2nd half.

Our RPI improved to 18th best in the country. Albany has a 10-0 record and their RPI is 30th best in the nation.

Bobby Havens won the America East Player of the Week Award.

[PointGuard]

Game #11: Dec. 19, 2018; New Hampshire Wildcats (7-3) at USC Trojans (4-5)

Southern Cal hasn’t played a tough pre-conference schedule with the exception of their 20 point loss to #3 Syracuse in the last game. They run a man-to-man defense and like to work the ball inside. SG Joey Dumic is shooting well and averaging 11.7 ppg.

Midway through the 1st half we fell behind by 13 points but gamely fought back to tie the game near the end of the half and went to the locker room down 35-34. We hit 58% of our shots to USC’s 47%, but they out-rebounded us 18-12 and got 7 more free throws (scoring 3 more points from the line) that did we. Bobby Havens dumped in 19 points for us.

We continued to shoot well plus we turned on a tenacious defense early in the 2nd half and opened a 61-40 lead with 10 minutes to play. Our shooting them went cold and USC got hot. In a 9 minute run then cut our 21 point lead to 2 points. With 1 minute to play we led 73-71. We called a time out and designed a play to free up Nate Augustus. It worked and he hit a 12 foot baseline jumper to put us up by 4 with 57 seconds to play. USC was fouled on their shot but only sunk one free throw to close to 75-72 with 40 seconds on the clock. Adrian Beck tossed the ball away to give USC another chance. Joey Dumic made us pay by hitting a 3 to tie the game with 24 seconds left. We shot too early and gave USC a final 50-footer that missed and the game went to overtime.

OT: Southern Cal drew first blood and stayed in front of us. Down by 6 with 30 seconds to play, Bobby Havens hit a 3, but then we had to foul. USC hit one free throw but we missed a shot and fouled quickly but USC made both shots.

Final Score: USC-88, New Hampshire-82 (OT). New Hampshire season record: 7-4.

Scoring leaders: Havens-47, Strickland-8, Augustus-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-6, L. Smith-6, Havens-6, Beck-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus.5, Strickland-3, Havens-3.

Player of the Game: USC’s C Blake O’Bannon-15 pts, 12 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Bobby Havens-47 pts, 6 reb, 3 assists, 3 steals.

Other notes: We hit 50% our FG attempts (and 42% of our 3’s) and USC hit 49% of FG attempts. The Trojans held a 37-29 rebounding advantage. But ultimately we lost the game at the free throw line. USC got 21 more free throw attempts and scored 15 more points at the line than us.

It was disappointing to give away a 21 point lead, but USC came to life and wasn’t to be denied on their home court. While it was a collapse, it was more of a partial collapse combined by an explosion by USC. Hopefully it teaches our guys that no lead is safe and that they have to keep the pressure on throughout the game.

Our RPI slid to 23rd best in the nation.

Bobby Havens won the National Player of the Week award and the America East Player of the Week Award. He’s scored 87 points in our last 2 games. He’s now has the 3rd highest points per game (24.2) in the nation thus far this season.