Recap: IPFW
Dec. 13, 2008
Lazar Hayward.
That was pretty much the story on Saturday. I did a lot of digging afterward, and his 18 rebounds were the most by an MU player in more than 13 years. Amal McCaskill had 19 against UW-Milwaukee back in 1995, tying the Bradley Center record set by Ron Curry three years earlier.
Just off the top of my head I thought Marcus Jackson might have come close to that once or twice and it turns out I was right -- he had 16 against IPFW in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 2, 2005.
Afterward Hayward said he had been shooting for 20 rebounds.
"I try to tell them to let me know how many I have at some point," he said with a smile. "I know they said I had eight in the first half, so I was like, 'Let me just try and get 20."
Coach Buzz Williams called Hayward's performance Ben Wallace-like, and compared his junior forward to Dennis Rodman for his instincts when it comes to chasing down the basketball. High praise indeed.
Hayward is now averaging 16.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, making him one of six Big East players to be putting up a double-double as of Saturday.
The others? Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair, DePaul's Mac Koshwal and Rutgers' Gregory Echenique.
Hayward now has three double-doubles this season, and 31 boards in his last two games.
-- MU's 48 rebounds and the 32.2% it allowed IPFW to shoot both represented season bests.
-- On the flip side, the Golden Eagles allowed a similarly-sized team in the Mastodons to grab 12 offensive rebounds, and IPFW actually scored more points off turnovers -- 15 off 14 compared to 13 off 12 for MU.
"Tennesee will probably have more than 12," said Williams when asked about the 12 offensive boards. "Probably double it."
-- Williams was able to use his bench quite a bit more against IPFW, a good thing considering Tennessee is coming up on Tuesday.
But even with those increased minutes, none of the reserves really made a move forward. IPFW's subs outscored MU's, 9-6, and the Golden Eagles' bench as many fouls and turnovers -- 10 -- as rebounds and assists.
That's got to change for the better at some point.
-- Wesley Matthews' three blocks were a collegiate high, and with 13 points and nine boards fell one rebound shy of notching his first double-double.
-- Another solid game for Dwight Burke, with five points and six boards in 22 minutes.
He also actually knocked down a pair of free throws in the second half, prompting a laughing Williams to pull Burke from the game right after in order to congratulate him.
-- MU has now won 20 consecutive non-conference games at the Bradley Center.
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