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

[PointGuard]

Game #8: Dec. 9, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (5-2) at Oregon State Beavers (2-5)

We head into the toughest part of our schedule, 5 straight road games in a 2-1/2 week period.

Oregon State has beaten #17 Michigan State at home and lost on the road to #1 Louisville. SG Jason Bryant leads their scoring with 9.9 ppg, but their strongest player is SF Alton Gray, who while only scoring 9.6 ppg, has hit a high percentage of his shots and is really the Beavers’ floor leader.

Uncharacteristically, we made 6 turnovers in the first 6 minutes of play. Even though we didn’t shoot well (37%) and had 9 turnovers in the first half, we gamely hung in with the Beavers and finally took a small lead at the 4:15 mark. We left the court with a 37-33 lead. Travis Stone scored 9 points to lead our scoring.

The Beavers came out in the 2nd half with their shooting eyes locked in and took a 49-42 lead with 15 minutes to play. We fought back to take a 52-51 lead with just over 9 minutes to play.

OSU regained the lead but with 3:51 to play we pulled into a 63-63 tie. Kueth Kirtz launched a bomb from way outside to give us a 68-66 lead with 2 minutes on the clock. Both teams turned the ball over twice in the following 45 seconds. The Beavers beat our full-court press and scored on a jam to tie the game with one minute left. With the OSU fans going crazy in Gil Coliseum, I called a time out. Our designed play failed and Oregon State brought it quickly upcourt and took a 70-68 lead with 42 seconds remaining.

Byron Winlan drilled a 3 at 0:27 and we led 71-70. Clay Houston partially blocked an inside jumper by the Beavers and we got the ball back with 15 seconds to play. The fact that the refs had only called 2 team fouls against Oregon State in the first 19-3/4 minutes worked to our advantage. Oregon State fouled 3 times on inbound passes but still had 2 fouls before we would go to the line. So with 8 seconds to go they allowed us to bring it up court. Seeing a foul coming, Keith Kurtz wisely fired up a shot from outside the arc. He dropped in all 3 of the resulting free throw attempts and the game was ours.

Final Score: New Hampshire-74, Oregon State-70. New Hampshire season record: 6-2.

Scoring leaders: Kirtz-24, Stone-11, Houston-11, Howard-10, Windlan-10.
Rebound leaders: Houston-8, Stone-5, Kresse-5.

Assist leaders: Howard-3, Neubauer-3, Kirtz-3.

Player of the Game: PG Kueth Kirtz-24 pts, 3 reb, 3 assists, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Clay Houston-11 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist, 1 block.

Other notes: We were outshot by the Beavers (48% to 39% from the field and 67% to 33% from 3 point distance), but we forced Oregon State to turn the ball over 22 times (+8) and hit 19 of 19 from the free throw line.

This was a game in which we trailed much more than we led and we were outplayed in many aspect, but showed the grit to hang in and take advantage of Beaver mistakes.

Even with a dominating win at home and a come-from-behind win on the road against a Pac-12 team, our RPI slipped slightly to 36th best in the country.

[PointGuard]

Game #9: Dec. 13, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (6-2) at #20 Massachusetts Minutemen (8-0)

We’re big underdogs for this game against the undefeated Minutemen from Massachusetts. Massachusetts has played 6 games at home thus far and no one has come within 13 points of them in any of those games. The Minutemen have a good inside-outside threat in center Chris Keeling (13.4 ppg) and SG Jason McKie (11.4 ppg), but they have a solid team throughout their lineup.

Albert Howard picked up 2 fouls in the first 30 seconds of play. Shooting extremely poorly, we fell behind 21-8. We then scored the next 10 points to get back into the game. We then went stone cold, allowing Massachusetts to score 16 straight points before we scored the final 4 points of the half. We had dug a real hole, trailing 37-22 at the break. We’d hit just 26% of our shot while making 8 turnovers. The Minutemen hit 56% of their shots. Our leading scorer was Travis Stone with 6 points.

We continued to play poorly in the 2nd half. We were outplayed by the Minutemen, kept off balance by the refs, intimidated by the crowd, but were ultimately undone by our own ineptitude as we fell behind by as much as 24 points. We made a small run at the end of the game, but had too much of a deficit to overcome to seriously challenge.

Final Score: Massachusetts-63, New Hampshire-50. New Hampshire season record: 6-3.

Scoring leaders: Stone-10, Kirtz-8, Howard-8, Neubauer-8.

Rebound leaders: Houston-11, Windlan-9, Stone-8, Kresse-5.

Assist leaders: 2 with 2 each.

Player of the Game: Massachusetts’ SF John Route-12 pts, 7 reb, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Travis Stone-10 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We hit just 31% of our shots while Massachusetts dropped in 45% of theirs...a very weak offensive show by us. Even though we out-rebounded the Minutemen 43-31, we were undone by our 19 turnovers while Massachusetts made just 9. Playing on their court, the Minutemen were just too much for us to handle.

[PointGuard]

Game #10: Dec. 16, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (6-3) at Mississippi Rebels (3-6)

Freshman SG Joe Duhon is Mississippi’s leading scorer with 14.1 ppg.

For a 2nd straight game, poor shooting and turnovers put us in a deep hole early. We trailed 21-7 midway through the first half. We made a run late in the half but still had a 33-25 deficit to overcome in the 2nd half. We only hit 34% of our shots while Mississippi knocked down 41% of theirs. We had a 9-6 turnover deficit. We were 0 for 2 at the line, the Rebels hit 7 of 10. Our leading scorer was Heinrich Neubauer with 10 points.

We tied the game at 33-33 with 15-1/2 minutes to play. Brad Reid hit a 3 to give us our first lead of the game at 46-43 with just over 8 minutes left. Byron Windlan hit two big three-pointers late in the game to make it a 2 possession game. We clamped down defensively and held on for a come from behind road win.

Final Score: New Hampshire-64, Mississippi-58. New Hampshire season record: 7-3.

Scoring leaders: Neubauer-14, Howard-11, Windlan-11, Kirtz-9.

Rebound leaders: Windlan-9, Kresse-7, Stone-7, Houston-6, Neubauer-5.

Assist leaders: Kirtz-5, Neubauer-3.

Player of the Game: Heinrich-14 pts, 5 reb, 3 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF Byron Windlan-11 pts, 9 reb, 2 assists.

Other notes: We hit 36% and Mississippi his 38% of their shots. The big difference in the game, though, was our 43-29 domination of the boards. Joe Duhon led Mississippi with 17 points.

Playing a ranked team (even though we lost) plus winning a game against a Southeastern Conference opponent on the road improved our RPI to 30th best in the nation.

Byron Windlan has an injured calf. Although we could play him in the next game, we are likely to rest him.

[PointGuard]

A year and a half ago, Coach Finnegan (for whom I played at Seattle U and was an assistant coach of his at both Seattle U and Loyola Marymount) retired. When he retired, he just said it “was time”. I’ve continued to communicate frequently with him over the years and about 6 months ago found out that he had cancer (and that was the reason he retired so he could spend more time with his family).

The day after our game against Mississippi, his family let me know that Coach Finnegan was in the hospital with little time to live. I was devastated. I made quick arrangements to fly to Los Angeles so I could see him.

When I arrived in his room, I could hardly recognize him. The robust man I had known so well, was now a mere shell. He was asleep and I sat down next to his bed. After about 15 minutes of listening to his labored breathing, I noticed his eyes slowly open and he seemed to struggle to gain focus. Possibly sensing a presence in the room, he turned his head with difficulty. Upon seeing me, a smile formed on his now gaunt face. His hand shakily reached out toward me and I grasped it. Neither of us spoke for a while, but then the words began as a trickle which built to a torrent. We talked of old times, of good times, of bad times, of family and faith. He expressed his pride in the successes I had had as a coach. He said he was at peace and was ready for the end of his life.

He then pulled me close as his voice weakened and said, “QM, you know there is one thing as a coach that I wish I had done differently. I had several opportunities to make a jump to some very strong programs. But I tended to be too loyal to where I was and sticking with the players I had recruited. But I also took too much pleasure in playing as the underdog. I never took on the challenge that was presented by moving up to a strong and demanding college basketball program. And QM, as I watch you and revel in your success, I think that you may be too much like me. QM, if the opportunity arises for you to take on a completely new challenge, don’t let it slip by. Take it and run with it. For in change there is growth. And in growth there is fulfillment. Other assistants of mine have gone on to head coaching jobs, but QM, I want you to know that I have always felt you were special, like a son. Sometimes a son who asked too many questions, but a son I was proud of and who I thought could go on to great things.” With that his voice seemed to give out. We continued to hold hands and I expressed my appreciation, and yes love, of him.

I visited him again the next morning. He was unable to speak but I think he knew I was there. Later that day with his wife by his side, his breathing stopped and since he had a DNR, no attempt was made to keep him alive. I remained in Los Angeles for the memorial service, even though it meant missing our next game.

[PointGuard]

Game #11: Dec. 20, 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (7-3) at Xavier Musketeers (5-3)

Xavier lost in overtime to #12 Florida and is coming off a strong win playing at Villanova.

Since I was in Los Angeles, I missed this game and my assistant coaches handled it. Here’s their report:

Xavier had Cintas Center rocking. If not a capacity crowd of 10,250, it was mighty close. If we let the Musketeers get on a roll, the crowd would make it might rough on us.

Byron Windlan said he was ready to play, so he started the game, but his minutes were limited. We turned the ball over far too many times in the 1st half allowing Xavier to build a 12 point lead and finish the half with a 37-31 advantage.

We turned the tide in the 2nd half with some gutsy play, dominating the boards, but mainly just doggedly working to cut and then eliminate the Musketeers lead and gradually pull away throughout the half.

Final Score: New Hampshire-70, Xavier-60. New Hampshire season record: 8-3.

Scoring leaders: Howard-13, Windlan-13, Kirtz-10, Kresse-9, Stone-8.

Rebound leaders: Houston-14, Stone-5

Assist leaders: Neubauer-4.

Player of the Game: SG Albert Howard-13 pts, 4 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Clay Houston-7 pts, 14 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We dropped in 44% of our shots while Xavier hit 40% of theirs. But we sunk 17 of 20 free throws and completely controlled the boards 44-24, including 14 rebounds by Clay Houston. That overcame our 18-9 turnover disadvantage. I was proud of how my assistants handled the team and how the team countered Xavier’s home crowd and came back for an impressive win. They dedicated the win to Coach Finnegan.

Our RPI improved to 26th best in the country.

[PointGuard]

Heading into conference play, here's the player stats for New Hampshire this season:



Byron Windlan is our leading scorer (and hitting well over 40% of his FG attempts and 3's) and has rebounded well for a SF.

Clay Houston, Travis Stone, and Andrew Kresse are providing some good inside strength, combining for 21.4 ppg and 19.9 rpg.

Our 3 top guards (Kueth Kirtz, Albert Howard, and Heinrich Neubauer) have combined to score 30.5 ppg and dish out 8.2 apt.

[PointGuard]

After the completion of pre-conference play, here's how the team as a whole is playing:



Our strengths have been scoring, rebounding, and blocks.

We're bettering out opponents in everything but assists.

[PointGuard]

Here's the Top 10 teams in the Media Poll:

[PointGuard]

New Hampshire......8-3.....RPI: 26
Vermont..................7-4.....RPI: 134
Binghampton............6-5.....RPI: 81
Stony Brook.............6-5.....RPI: 293
Boston....................5-6.....RPI: 143
Maine.....................5-6.....RPI: 254
Albany....................5-6.....RPI: 272
UMBC.....................4-7.....RPI: 246
Hartford..................2-9.....RPI: 350

Although we lost three games, I’m still happy with our record, particularly since 7 of our 11 games were on the road.

But now we need to focus on winning within the America East. There is a consensus within the media that we will come out on top in the conference.
While not saying it aloud, I too think our chances are good. No other team presently stands out, but I’ve seen team fortunes turn around after the holiday (as was the case with Albany last year). And I know that on any night any team can bite us in the ass and that road games will be as tough to win as always.

[PointGuard]

Game #12: , 2020; New Hampshire Wildcats (8-3,0-0) at Maine Black Bears (5-6, 0-0)

Maine has been quite inconsistent this year, both at home and on the road. SF Imari Andrews is their top scorer with 12.7 ppg, but he’s shooting percentages are low. So unless he gets hot, we’ll just let him fire away. Their PG Kurtis “KK” Kid, while not a high scorer, is the team leader and a more efficient shooter.

It’s been 7 days since our last game and Christmas has come and gone, so everyone is rested and healthy…and hopefully ready to play. We need to get off to a good start in conference play, so really need to win this away game.

When Maine took a 13-10 lead after 5 minutes of play and Imari Andrews scored 7 of those points, we shifted our focus to him. With 9-1/2 minutes to go in the 1st half, we fell behind 27-17 and Amari Andrews (even with us double teaming him) had 13 ponts. We struggled to get our offense in gear and to apply a strong defense…and by the 3:38 mark took a 33-32 lead. By the break we held a 41-36 lead. Byron Windlan led us offensively with 10 points, but Amari Andrews seemed to have saved his best game just for us and led all scoring with 16 points.

Maine came onto the court growline in the 2nd half and took a 45-43 lead early in the half. We scored the next 11 points to take a 54-45 lead with 14-1/2 minutes to play. We built a 17 point and cruised to a conference-opening win.

Final Score: New Hampshire-73, Maine-60. New Hampshire season record: 9-3; American East record: 1-0 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Kirtz-15, Windlan-12, Houston-12, Neubauer-11, Howard-10, Kresse-10.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-9, Stone-9, Houston-7.

Assist leaders: Windlan-3, Kresse-3.

Player of the Game: PG Kueth Kirtz-15 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Andrew Kresse-10 pts, 9 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Other notes: We hit 47% of our FG attempts compared to Maine’s 42%. 34 of Maine’s 60 shots were from beyond the arc…they hit 35% of those. The refs called 25 fouls against Maine and just 10 against us. We got 21 more trips to the line and scored 14 more points than Maine on free throws. We controlled the boards 41-29 and had a 15-12 turnover advantage. We scored 30 points in the paint. Maine’s Amari Andrews scored 27 points on 9 for 19 shooting (including 8 for 17 from 3-point distance).