Recap: Western Carolina
Dec. 19, 2008
Obviously, the big story coming out of tonight's game was the debut of both Joe Fulce and Chris Otule.
And while both looked rusty and neither accomplished much, they each got their first real taste of Division I basketball at home, and in a relatively low-pressure environment.
There were some ugly moments, to be sure. Otule looked completely gassed after going less than 2 1/2 minutes in his initial stint, during which his attempts to post up were repeatedly denied by a player two inches shorter and 40 pounds lighter.
Fulce, meanwhile, bricked a three from way out on the top of the key and got shoved around some when he ventured inside.
But on the bright side Otule did shoot six free throws -- hitting three -- and also made a strong post move or two, including a nice jump hook that just missed later in the game. Fulce, meanwhile, managed to grab four rebounds in just 11 minutes and showed some of that springiness that he had iin late October before going down with the knee injury.
"I thought they were both pitiful, and however many minutes they're able to play on Monday, if any, I think they'll be bad again," said coach Buzz Williams.
"If you could pick any two players on the team who you knew needed the 42 practices and the 10 games that we've had prior to tonight, those would be the two that I would pick. We're so size-deficient, and obviously Chris helps that, and we're so length-deficient, and I think Joe helps that.
"Because they've never put on a uniform at a Division I institution, when you miss 42 practices and 10 games, I think you
are going to be really, really bad. I think they're familiar with our teminology, but doing dummy offense in practice is different than doing offense out here.
"But it's good to have them, and we need them to get better. I don't know that either one of them will play 11 minutes for a long period of time between now and then, but if they can play six or seven, those 13 minutes combined that we would get from them definitely helps us get to 200 for the game, because we've been stretched pretty thin so far."
-- Williams said that David Cubillan's free-fall in the rotation has not been due to him practicing poorly.
After playing less than a minute Tuesday at Tennessee, he didn't get off the bench in the first half on Friday, and played just the final 3:00, which was the definition of garbage time at that point in the game.
"He got caught in these numbers," explained Williams. "Joe right now can only play at the 4. Chris will forever only play at the 5. So when you start trying to balance those guys around...Mo's only going to play at the 1. Cooby's gotten to the point where I can sub and he's going play the 2, but I can mix and match those other guys.
"He's been fine. We've all got to get better, though. That includes me."
-- An interesting interaction occurred in the first half when, during the first media time out, TV analyst Stephen Bardo pointed out to one of the officials that the scoreboards all read 7-1 in favor of MU when the score indeed should have been 8-1.
One of the officials checked with the scorer, who assured him the score was 7-1. However, about 10 seconds later, the official was brought back over and informed that the score was actually 8-1. The lead official, John Cahill, made his way over to thank Bardo afterward.
In the final analysis, that extra point wouldn't have meant anything on Friday. But it was amazing that no one else picked up on the discrepancy.
-- Williams was correct in describing the game as a "tale of two halves."
MU was fantastic on both ends in the opening 20 minutes, setting a season high with 53 points and shooting 63.0% from the field while Western Carolina had two more turnovers (10) than field goals (eight).
Contrast that to the second half, when the Catamounts shot 52.0% and 60.0% from three-point range (9 for 15). It appeared as though MU was well on its way to another 100-point performance with 10 minutes left in the game, but a late spate of turnovers and miscues left them with 94.
"The first was probably as good as it's been all year on both ends of the floor," said Williams. "I thought in the second half we weren't very good, and our mentality was poor coming out of the half."
-- Lazar Hayward's 27 points were a collegiate high, and his 19 in the first half represented the highest-scoring half by an MU player this year.
-- MU set a season high with 24 assists on 29 field goals, including 14 on 17 in the first half.
"That's atypical because our team scores most of its baskets off penetration, and we don't get that many assists," said Williams. "When you make shots like we did in the first half, it makes everybody look good."
-- The Golden Eagles have now won 20 straight non-conference games at the Bradley Center.
-- MU's 11 three-pointers tied a season high, while Western Carolina's 13 represented the most allowed by the Golden Eagles.
-- MU again dominated at the free-throw line, going 25 for 32 (78.1%) vs. Western Carolina's 12 for 16. Hayward led the way, going 9 for 9.
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