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

[PointGuard]

What happened to Albany?

Good question. More about Albany when we play them.

[CoachC]

Albany abdicated to Canada.

[PointGuard]

Here's the player stats for the team after completion of all pre-conference games:

[PointGuard]

My old team, the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners, did not impress in pre-conference play. Their record was 3-10. They did play two ranked teams, losing to both, but the rest of their schedule was rather easy. Only a couple players who I recruited remain. Recruiting seems to have regressed to where it was before I arrived.

[PointGuard]

Here's the Top 10 in the Media Poll near the end of December 2019:

[PointGuard]

Game #12: Dec. 28, 2019; Vermont Catamounts (3-8, 0-0) at New Hampshire Wildcats (6-5,0-0)

Vermont played a fairly strong pre-conference schedule including playing 8 of their 11 games on the road. Two of their wins were on the road so we have to be careful not to overlook them. Their SG Jamie Welch is scoring 21.8 ppg, but he’s taken a lot of shots to get those points.

We let Jamie Welch fire away. He missed his first 4 shots while we were hitting 7 of 10 (including 3 from 3 point land) giving us a 17-3 lead after 6 minutes of play. Vermont’s offense finally came alive but our offense continued to purr. We hit 57% of our shots (and 50% of our 3’s). Consequently we took a 43-26 lead to the locker room. Bobby Havens sat out the final 8 minutes of the half with 2 fouls, but still led our scoring with 12 points.

We held and 18-25 point lead throughout the 2nd half and played our bench extensively.

Final Score: New Hampshire-76, Vermont-55. New Hampshire season record: 7-5; American East record: 1-0 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Havens-28, Neubauer-11, Windlan-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-10, Watson-5, Havens-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-5, Smith-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-28 pts, 5 reb, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Heinrich Neubauer-11 pts, 3 reb, 5 assists, 1 steal.

Other notes: We dropped in 54% of our shots while holding Vermont’s shooting to 36%. We scored 34 points in the paint. Vermont’s Jamie Welch scored 14 points, but had to take 22 shots to even score that much.

[PointGuard]

Game #13: Dec. 31, 2019; New Hampshire Wildcats (7-5, 1-0) at Hartford Hawks (3-9, 1-0)

Hartford played poorly during pre-conference play but got a road win against Stony Brook in their conference opener.

We jumped out to a quick lead and then expanded that into a double digit lead that we held until the end of the 1st half when we left the court with a 36-18 advantage. We hit 48% of our shots compared to Hartford’s 38%. We forced the Hawks to make 12 turnovers while making just 6 ourselves. Bobby Havens led our scoring with 10 points.

Our defense continued to stop the Hawks in the 2nd half. Again we were able to play our entire bench extensively.

Final Score: New Hampshire-68, Hartford-41. New Hampshire season record: 8-5; American East record: 2-0 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Havens-18, Windlan-15, Reid-10, Kresse-9.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-6, Reid-3.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-18 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF Byron Windlan-15 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: Both our offense and defense were effective. We scored on 47% of our shots (and hit 56% of our 3’s) while holding Hartford’s shooting to 36%. We also held a 20-13 turnover advantage.

[CoachC]

my stats are 0 across the board, cept for 1000 in kicking ass...hire me pg!

[PointGuard]

Game #14: Jan. 4, 2020; Boston Terriers (5-8, 1-1) at New Hampshire Wildcats (8-5, 2-0)

Boston played a tough pre-conference schedule during which they had wins over Arizona State, Butler, and Texas A&M. PG Michael Shueller is their leading scorer, averaging 11.0 ppg.

The defenses of both teams overwhelmed the offenses of the other, but midway through the half, our defense became downright stingy thus allowing us to pull away a little. The refs must have bought new whistles and wanted to try them out…they called 12 team fouls against each team. We hit just 38% of our shots, but only allowed Boston to convert 28% of theirs. We took a 37-28 lead to the locker room. Andrew Kresse led our scoring with 13 points.

Boston caught fire in the 2nd half and pulled within 1 point of the lead midway through the half. That woke up our players and they rebuilt a 13 point lead with 3:19 to play. Whereas the first half had been all-defense, the 2nd half was all-offense, with us outscoring the Terriers 53-47.

Final Score: New Hampshire-90, Boston-75. New Hampshire season record: 9-5; American East record: 3-0 (1st place).

Scoring leaders: Kresse-23, Havens-16, Reid-13, Neubauer-10, Watson-8.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-9, Watson-6, Windlan-5.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-4, Kresse-4, Smith-3.

Player of the Game: C Andrew Kresse-23 pts, 9 reb, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Jake Watson-8 pts, 6 reb, 1 assist, 1 block.

Other notes: The refs call 47 fouls and awarded 70 foul shots in this game. We won the game by dominating the boards 39-27 and turning the ball over just 8 times while Boston had 14 turnovers.

[PointGuard]

Game #15: Jan. 7, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (9-5, 3-0) at Albany Great Danes (4-11, 0-3)

Albany’s season has been nearly the complete opposite of what they enjoyed last year. At the end of last year four of their starters graduated. But this year they have 3 players averaging in double figures (SG Paul Kirland-18.0 ppg, PG Larry LaFlem-11.8 ppg, and SF Jason Avery-11.3 ppg). Their 1-2-2 zone defense has been porous, though.

Andrew Kresse picked up his 2nd foul just 5 minutes into the game. Albany played well in all aspects of the game during the first half. They built a 17 point lead which we whittled down slightly at the end of the half, but we still trailed 43-32 at the intermission. Albany hit 50% of their shots, out-rebounded us 19-10, and held a 7-6 turnover advantage. Byron Windlan led our scoring with 14 points. I tore our guys up about not boxing out on the boards.

We got out-played in the first half. Then in the 2nd half, we simply played just horribly. The team as a whole gave up. We looked like whipped puppies. Albany took advantage of our ineptitude by opening a 34 point lead.

Final Score: Albany-79, New Hampshire-48. New Hampshire season record: 9-6; American East record: 3-1 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: WIndlan-14, Neubauer-12, Smith-9.

Rebound leaders: 2 players with 4 each.

Assist leaders: Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: Albany’s SG Paul Kirkland-22 pts, 5 reb, 4 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Heinrich Neubauer-12 pts, 1 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Other notes: Albany hit 51% of their shots, we hit just 36% of ours. Albany pulled down 36 rebounds, we grabbed just 20…a MINUS 16! WTF? Both teams had 16 turnovers. Albany hit 16 of 22 free throws, we hit just 4 of 7. We were called for 19 fouls, Albany was whistled for just 11. Bobby Havens hit just 3 of 19 shots before fouling out. Andrew Kresse was held to 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Albany obviously decided to take out upon us the frustrations that had built within them this year as their season went into a tail-spin. They definitely did that to perfection. But we helped them by pretty much giving up and letting them run away with this game. That was more discouraging to me than simply losing.

I’ve decided I don’t like the location, design, colors, look, lighting, feel, sound, smell, temperature, humidity, seats, scoreboard, fans, cheerleaders, band, locker room, programs, scorer’s table, refs at Albany’s SEFCU Arena. Oh yeah, and did I say...the taste of their popcorn sucks?