McCauley Slams Home a Win!
Ok, Sunday wasn’t exactly what the doctor ordered for our Men’s Basketball team, but the important thing is we left the RBC Center with a win. The game didn’t get off on the right foot, but ended with the left hand, that’s for sure. The Pack came out slow, sluggish, and extremely far from the way they came out last Thursday in Durham. However, I thinking much of it has to do with the crowd, as quiet the team came out the fans were even quieter. Much of the student section of the endzones was empty, and the entire arena seemed deflated at the start. I know it’s hard for students to get to noon games on time and it’s not just basketball, take a look at kickoff photo’s for any noon kickoff for football.
Now, let’s talk about the officiating. I am extremely vocal when it comes to officiating, and yes I’ve tried it, all sports, even though it’s just young kids, so I know how difficult it can be, but you are in one of the top college basketball conferences, you should be consistent, and you should know what you are talking about. We should have known it was going to be a long day when the initial jump ball didn’t determine possession, and we had to have another one. The first half saw both teams gripping about calls, and the second half was the same. In the first 55 seconds of the second, WFU picked up 3 fouls, and not long after that the fouls were 6-2 for the half. Of course, the official’s had to even them up and next thing you know fouls are even at 6.
Ok, enough of the negative, let’s look at the positive. This team never let up, they never gave up, and they fought their way back to earn this victory. Many will say, this Wake team is young and will learn to finish games and put teams away. But, what about our team? We don’t have an old team, both of our point guards are experiencing league play for the first time, and our starting center is just a freshman himself, so I don’t think our come back had as much to do with Wake losing it as it did to us fighting our way back. Wake didn’t turn the ball over consistently down the stretch or settle for dumb shots, our boys just went out there and earned that game, Wake didn’t just give it to us.
Now on to some individual “awards”. Ben McCauley, what can be said about this young man? At the beginning of the season he lost his starting job to JJ Hickson, but he kept working and fighting and now has replaced Costner in the starting line up. Ben goes game in and game out, works hard and does what it takes for this team to be successful. Yesterday afternoon, when many people would have just thrown the ball in the Gavin and watched him fly down the court for the last shot, he hustled his way down the court, stopped, jumped, and sent the RBC Center into a frenzy. Go back and watch the video, Ben doesn’t stop, he looks like he is running sprints at the end of practice, on a play that many of us would just trust Gavin, and be glad to take it to Overtime after being down by 9 in the second half, if he missed.
Trevor Ferguson, who I believe deserves some mentioning for his hard work, and strong defense Sunday. Previously Trevor had come under scrutiny for his play by some fans, and saw his minutes decrease at the start of ACC play. However on Sunday, he stepped it up, came in, moved well on defense and hit a very important 3. I look for Trevor to continue to see limited time, but for him to make the most of his opportunities and be able to give our starters a break.
Javi Gonzalez, the next Engin Atsur. Yea, I said it. Look at him, watch him improve, who does he remind you of? Maybe it’s because Engin is the most recent point guard for State, but I like where Javi is headed. Marques Johnson better watch out, Javi is coming back after the starting position. He is getting smarter, he is getting quicker and most importantly, he is protecting the basketball. After the first two league games, at unc-ch and at Clemson, Javi has 18 assists and just 9 turnovers over that 5 game span. I remind you that included games against the ACC’s steal leader and Duke and their high turnover forcing defense.
The future for our Pack is bright. If we can win all the games we are suppose to, and steal one or two from the league leaders, then it would be extremely hard for the Selection Committee to keep us away from the big dance, however, a meltdown or two and it will take another run to the tournament title game for us to think about cutting down some nets. Let’s just hope Ben’s slam Sunday, not only sealed a victory, but is a springboard for the remainder of the season!