The top six teams are now 37-4 against the bottom six teams. Props, Ups, Love, or whatever the cool kids say these days to give credit to Rod Barnes and Georgia State.
Jihad Ali, who had scored 42 points all season in 11 conference games and not scored in four of those games, dropped 22 on the Patriots. This includes burying a three with 42 seconds left. (How do you leave that guy open?) Also, Our Man Oooos–a 57% free throw shooter–hit two free throws to seal the game.
Said Rod Barnes afterward, about Ali: “We sat down this week and had a little heart-to-heart, and I told him how good I thought he could be. He can put the ball in the hole, and he has a great feel for the game. He just had to have the confidence in himself.”
Couple things. First, we again have a giant three-way at the top of the standings. ODU, Nor’easter, and Mason are all 10-2 headed into a huge Saturday. (Teaser…)
Most importantly, here’s today’s lesson: we should always listen to the coach. Always. And it isn’t his words, it’s how they are delivered. Jim Larranaga has been saying his team has a long way to go for two weeks.
The implication of his words: we may be 10-1, but we’re not a 10-1 team. If you shut out the coachspeak about taking care of the basketball and making foul shots, you could hear the nervousness in his voice when he talked about the Patriots. It’s like he knew last night was coming.
It also makes us wonder how important it is for Mason to have Good Cam, instead of last night’s Bad Cam.
Now, Mason faces its gauntlet–five of their final six games are against top six teams.
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Old Dominion, simply, manhandled The Pugs. We’re with Gasaway in believing rebound percentage is far more important than rebound margin. However ODUs 48-25 glasswork tells you the story. W&M also misfired 32 times from the field (20 from three) and managed just eight offensive rebounds. Frank Hassell had five o-rebs himself (and was 5-5 FG and 5-5 FT).
Forget anything offensive in this game for ODU. The Monarchs held The Pugs to zero field goals and four foul shots from 9:11 until Matt Rum hit a meaningless shot with seven seconds to play.
***
VCU continued to surge, drilling UNCW. This game features some funny stats. Larry Sanders did not score but pulled in 10 rebounds and led the team with five assists. Ed Nixon scored a career high 19 points, but many came in critical times. He had nine of VCUs 18 points in an 18-9 run after UNCW closed to within four in the second half.
And this gem, per VCU SID Scott Day: Every VCU coach that has won in his first trip to Trask has won the CAA and gone to the NCAA Tournament that same year. The other two: Sonny Smith (1996) and Anthony Grant (2007).
To tie into listen to what a coach is saying from earlier, here’s Shaka Smart, on Ed Nixon: “He always does the right thing…we really try to instill confidence in him and when he plays with confidence he’s obviously tough to contain.”
***
Finally, we wrap with Hofstra beating JMU. I’ll note Pecora’s picola substitutions. Beach likes a lot of stuff. We find out Saturday. (More teaser…)
February 4th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Mike, I wanted to get your thoughts on why Ed Nixon continues to be used exclusively off the bench and in much more limited playing time than his performance would seem to justify. The guy is a MUCH better defender than either Burgess or Rozzell (especially in a pressing scheme), and now that he has a legit outside stroke to go with his slashing game, he’s a nightmare to defend. If Rozzell isn’t hitting 3s, I really don’t have much use for his game at all.
Obviously Smart knows his personnel and what he’s looking for better than some poster on a basketball blog — heck, I’m not even a VCU fan — but it seems to me that Nixon has played his way into the lineup ahead of either of the other two wing players. He could really add another dimension to that offense because he’s the only guy on the team capable of consistently driving the ball into the paint and creating mayhem for the opposing D.
What say you?
February 4th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Also, just wanted to point out that despite getting the worst game of the season from its best player, and GSU getting the best game of Jihad Ali’s life, Mason still had a chance to tie with a 3 in the last 10 seconds of a conference road game — against a team that always seems to play GMU tough.
Does the loss hurt? Yep. But when you really think about it, it’s actually kind of encouraging for Mason fans because several young guys (especially Hancock) stepped up and made plays when Long was struggling. As this maturation process continues, the team will learn to win games without Cam having to go off for 20-plus points. Then Coach L won’t sound so nervous any more.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Great points, Jim – on the Mason stuff. I really have no clue about anyone on VCU except Sanders. I look forward to him leaving early for the NBA after this year…
February 4th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Here’s my guess, and just my opinion…it may be an ego thing. Nixon doesn’t care if he starts or not–he just wants to play. Rozzell might need the ego boost of being labeled a starter. So, the best way to achieve harmony is to let each guy have what he needs–Rozzell starts and Nixon sees more minutes.
Maybe Smart likes for Nixon to see what’s going on for a few minutes so Nixon can be more effective when he gets in there. And maybe Nixon becomes half as effective when he is tired; so a rested Nixon when the other team’s starters are wearing down is even better for VCU.
It does always seem like Nixon is on the floor when VCU starts rolling, though.