Recap: North Carolina State
Dec. 23, 2008 4:15 a.m.
Raleigh, N.C. -- Dominic James has gotten plenty of grief over the past few seasons for not quite living up to the promise he showed his freshman year.
Some of that has been warranted. Some of it hasn't.
But like him or not, there's no denying he's been one of MU's best players in the clutch in recent memory.
Start with 25 points he dropped on Duke in the championship game of the CBE Classic in Kansas City his sophomore year. Then the three from the top of the key with five seconds left to win at Valparaiso six days later.
How about the the 13 points in a 5 1/2-minute span to lift MU to victory at Louisville later that season? Or the two free throws with 0.9 seconds left on the clock in Pittsburgh, which helped MU into OT and eventually a 77-74 victory six days after that?
Last year it was a 25-point outburst on a sprained ankle that lifted MU past Villanova on the road.
Then there was Monday night.
With the Golden Eagles on the ropes, having wasted a six-point lead by allowing NC State to hit back-to-back threes to tie it at 65-65 with 1:58 left, James delivered again.
After the Wolfpack's Ben McCauley missed a pair of free throws with 1:20 left, MU's Lazar Hayward was whistled for a charge, giving the ball back to NC State. Rightfully, the ball went right back into the post, where McCauley caught it and was immediately double-teamed by James and Dwight Burke.
The two were able to rip the ball away from the 6-foot-9 center (Burke got credit for the steal), and James got the ball up to mid-court, where the Golden Eagles called time out with 25.6 seconds left to set up a final play.
Out of the time out, the ball went immediately to James who dribbled the clock down to about 8 seconds about 35 feet out before making a move to the right. There he was met by a pair of Wolfpack defenders, with guard Farnold Degand being screened to the left by Burke.
Recognizing the trap, James dribbled back out of it and to the left, while Burke alertly shuffled his feet and got in Degand's way on the other side. That created enough space for James, who rose up and buried his fourth three of the game and third in the final 3:53 with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.
It was a big-time play in a game MU needed in a big way for a multitude of reasons, and James once again was able to deliver.
I asked James afterward where that shot ranked, while keeping in mind all the other biggies he's drained over the years.
"It's pretty big. Probably No. 1, just because it's Coach's first road win," he said. "It's big for this team. I'm living in the moment, so it's definitely No. 1. It's our first true road win and road game. Just going into conference with that type of play, that type of momentum, that's what you need."
If MU is to get back to the NCAAs for the fourth straight year, it's likely going to need more of the same from James. His shot Monday was a great start.
-- I asked Buzz Williams if he thought James' three was on line when he let it go.
"You know, I think Dominic has played at an ultra-high level all year long in regards to having poise but yet engaging his defender," he said. "Not necessarily engaging his defender to score or shoot. But I thought of the four threes he (made), all four of them when he shot them, I thought they were baskets."
-- Here is Williams' opening statement in the post-game:
"I thought it was a great college basketball game. Moreso than any other team that I’ve studied, I think NC State has, collectively, the four best post players that I’ve seen. I think that held true tonight. Obviously with the complexion of our roster, we’re completely opposite of that. Our strength is our perimeter; their strength is their post. And not just their starters, but the guys that came off the bench.
"I thought Costner was unbelievable from start to finish. Scored the first 11 points, scored the three to tie it at the end there. Very hard team to prepare for. Coach Lowe does a great job in that they’re very selective when they run in transition. But of the teams that we’ve played to this point from an offensive perspective…we do a lot of different studies per possession of teams, and they were by far the most efficient team offensively that we’ve played. And with the number of sets that they run, they’re a hard team to prepare your team for.
Their guards do a great job of delivering the ball on-time, on-target to the players they want to have the ball. And they put so much pressure on you because of the players they have in the post that you have to converge and figure out ways to defend it and get it out of there. So we were fortunate to have a victory. I was hoping it would be a possession-by-possession game, and it just so happened we happened to have the last possession."
-- Williams said he didn't have any idea where the victory ranked among his most memorable moments in coaching -- either as an assistant or head man.
"Honestly, this is not coach speak. I don’t spend any time thinking of myself," he said. "I’m really grateful for our players. I think our efficiency of practice and the rhythm of practice this early in the year is at the highest level I’ve been around. And the thing I told them after the game was I don’t know that I’ve ever been around a club, however many years I’ve been doing it, that this early on, without it having to be spoken, every teammate knows what is their strength and their weakness, and they play accordingly.
"Pat Hazel’s gotten to the point at 6-6 as a 5 man that he can play four minutes, and those four minutes are critical as it relates to Dwight Burke. He played 32 minutes at Tennessee and didn’t score a point. Everybody knows what our strengths and weaknesses are, and because of that, I think they understand at very a high level the value of every possession. Not just the possession at the end when Dominic hit the shot, but they showed great poise other than Dayton. Dayton whipped us and they deserved to whip us.
"But even when we were at Tennessee, we’re up two, we foul Wayne Chism on a three with two seconds left on the shot clock. They score four straight free throws, we go from up two to down nine. Our best player fouls out of the game and we hang in there, hang in there, hang in there with a mis-matched group and we’re down two with 2:21 left and Lazar has a great shot. So where it ranks? I don’t know. I think I’ll be employed at Marquette when I wake up in the morning, and I’m really excited that I get to see my three children and my wife tomorrow."
-- Give MU credit for getting back to its strength -- driving the ball in the second half. It was a big reason the Golden Eagles shot 60.9% over the final 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles were judicious and effective from three-point range, knocking down 7 of 16.
NC State's guards, as expected, had plenty of difficulty handling penetration over the course of the game -- with the exception of Courtney Fells, whose length and 6-6 frame caused Wesley Matthews fits and rendered him largely a non-factor on the offensive end.
Jerel McNeal abused Trevor Ferguson at every opportunity, and James pretty much had his way with Degand and Julius Mays.
-- Lazar Hayward's 12 first-half points helped keep MU in it when things were threatening to go south. He once again logged big minutes -- 35 -- with McNeal going 38, Matthews 36 and James 32.
-- Props to Burke for a nice 25-minute outing. He knocked down his only shot, a left-handed hook at that, and also both his free throws, while playing decent defensively against the Wolfpack's quartet of big men.
-- Pat Hazel had a nice outing as well -- four points, two rebounds, two steals and a block (although he was jobbed out of another) in 12 minutes.
-- No Joe Fulce or Chris Otule. No surprise, really. The way it sounded on Sunday, Williams wasn't anticipating being able to get them into the game against NC State anyway.
Expect them to return against Presbyterian at some point.
-- MU had just nine assists on 27 baskets...Monday marked the first time the Golden Eagles won a game when they were out-rebounded (29-26)...It was also the first time MU won when shooting less free throws than its opponent (7 for 10 vs. 9 for 13 for the Wolfpack)...MU scored 18 points off 18 NC State turnovers.
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