Dawgs beat Texas Pan Am

Bulldogs start the season off on the road and come home with a win 80-62. Texas Pan American has traditionally been a tough place to play with Tech losing five of their last seven trips down in south Texas.  Always nice to start a season off 1-0.

Starters
DeAndre Brown
Jamel Guyton
Kyle Gibson
Olu Ashou
Magnum Rolle

• Balance – Four players in double figures and a fifth with 9. This team will be hard to defend if they continue to produce both in the paint and from the perimeter.
• Point in the paint 44-16. Enough said.
• Second half points 42-27. What was a three point lead at the half quickly ballooned to ten by the first media timeout and didn’t get any closer. In fact the Bulldogs built it up to 21 with a couple of minutes left. Most impressive part of the 42 point second half – only one three point basketball for the Bulldogs in that half. That’s efficient offense.
• Depth. Rupp played ten players in the first half.
• Negatives. Poor outside shooting (4 for 14) and a negative A/TO margin – 13/17

 

*Olu Ashalou – a player’s largest jump is from their first year of Division one basketball to their second and Ashalou appears to have made quite a leap. Career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and steals for the sophomore. A tidy 6 for 8 from the field and 6 for 8 from the charity stripe equals 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists in 33 minutes of action. Several nice finishes above the rim as well.

*Magnum Rolle – tell me if you’ve hear this one before: Rolle gets in quick foul trouble and has to sit most of the first half. Rolle played a grand total of four minutes before the break. Played well in the second half when the Bulldogs ran away. Every time Magnum shot the ball tonight it went through the hoop – playing 17 minutes 5 for 5 from the field, 2 for 2 from the line – grand totals of 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

*Kyle Gibson – a poor shooting night for Gibson from the arc (1 for 5). But as he has shown throughout his career when his jumper is not falling he finds ways to score. 16 points on 5 for 11 shooting.

*Jamel Guyton – the only starter not in double figures Guyton ended the night with nine points. All of his offensive production came from long range as he was 3 for 5 from deep. If he is this efficient with his shot selection the rest of the season only good will happen.

*DeAndre Brown – 13 points, 2 assists in his official debut with the program Brown is a smooth player who always seems under control. Got out on the break and finished the layup a couple times. Had four first half turnovers but none in the second half.

Bench
Not much offensive production from the bench tonight but not a large number of mistakes either.

• Yonas Berhe may be the most improved player on the team. 21 minutes, 2 assist/zero turnovers. Tech has gone from 0 quality point guards last season to two.
• Darius Redding made his first official minute before the halfway mark of the first half. Only took one shot in 12 minutes (made it) but also contributed an assist and a steal.
• David Jackson logged the most bench minutes tonight (as expected as the only non starter senior – 23). As usual put up numbers all over the stat sheet. 5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.
• Shawn Oliverson – big man got into foul trouble that limited his minutes (3 fouls in 9) but did end the night with two points and one rebound.
• Justin Rake – apparently he’s shooting the ball as well in practice as he did in the scrimmage. Freshman hit the floor in the first half but did not take a shot in five minutes.

 

Any road win in college basketball is a great win.

Off to New Mexico for a tournament next and an early season measuring stick game with the hosts.

Texas Pan American comes to Ruston Christmas week for round two.

Two post players reportedly sign on the dotted line

Still waiting on the official release but unofficially two post players signed with the Bulldogs today. Bleed tech blue is reporting Deuce Johnson’s signature has come into Ruston.  Another report has Scottie Farrington from Odessa College (yes the same school as Josh Brown/Kadeem Colby) faxing in a LOI.

Deuce Johnson a 6’6  four from Campbell Hall high school in Los Angeles. Click here to read a post I did when he committed.

Explosive and strong lefty. Really elevates to finish on post moves, goes through contact. Showed some ability to hit 15-foot jumper.

Scottie Farrington 6’9 210 Odessa Community College. Native of the Bahamas.

He originally signed with Oral Roberts and was also recruited by Tulane, Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M among others. Did not qualify and ended up at Rogers State (NAIA school) for one season.

Rivals.com described him as  junk yard dog from Houston’s Christian Life Center, is bouncy, rugged and a good rebounder.

{Rogers State head coach} on Farrington: Scottie is probably our best athlete when it comes to running and jumping. He has an unbelievable ability to block shots in the paint which will allow us to pressure the ball more on the perimeter. We feel really good about his ability to rebound as well.

Athlon sports called him “a shot-blocking pogo stick”

• Averaged 18 ppg in high school
• Averaged 9 rbs per game in high school
• Averaged 2 blks per game in high school
• Won a gold medal for the Bahamas Junior Nationals
• Won a bronze medal for the Bahamas Junior Nationals

 

Still waiting on DJ Wright and Josh Brown.

Thoughts from the exhibition game

Exhibition games are expected to be like the homecoming game in high school. Bring in an opponent you should handle. The starters get to rest most of the second half and everyone leaves happy. Thankfully unlike Syracuse that’s exactly how it went for the Bulldogs on Saturday night in the TAC.

Don’t want to draw too many conclusions until the bullets are flying for real starting next weekend but here’s my thoughts on the 37 point win over Lincoln.

*starters

*Kyle Gibson – barring injury he will be first team All-WAC and depending on where the Bulldogs finish is a legitimate Player Of Year candidate. 5 for 13 from the field, 4 for 7 from deep, and 9 for 11 from the charity stripe. 23 points total, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers, 3 steals in 31 minutes. Seems like he likes playing his natural position at the three.

*Magnum Rolle – 15 points, 8 rebounds on a very efficient 5 for 9 from the field. Made a great defensive play with one of his two blocks. There’s no reason he can’t have these numbers every night out.

*Jamel Guyton – Didn’t shoot well from the perimeter (0 for 4) but had a good overall game with 10 points on 5 for 10 shooting. Great night on the defensive end with 5 steals. Also had 3 assists.

*DeAndre Brown – a quiet night from the point guard but one that I liked. He ran the team and deferred to his teammates to score. Went 2 for 5 from the field and ended with 5 points. He just needs to run the team and be enough of an offensive threat to make the defense respect him. He showed me that in the scrimmage last week.

*Shawn Oliverson -Big man started at the five which shifted Rolle to the four. Sixteen minutes, four points, five rebounds (3 offensive), 2 steals and a block.

Olu Ashalou – brought some offensive punch off the bench. As usual ran well in transition which led to easy buckets. Is improved. 5 for 9, 10 points, 7 rebounds in 22 minutes.

Yonas Berhe – speaking of improved I am not longer worried every time Behre brings the ball down the court as the backup point. 7 points, 2 steals in 19 minutes. Amazing how actually getting to participate in preseason workouts can help a player.

David Jackson – I loved the job “Mr. Role player” played last season with the ability to give you a few minutes at the three and the four, catch and shoot the three, and notch almost every column on the stat sheet every night. Every team needs at least one of those guys. New season, same Jackson. 14 minutes, 7 points (hit a three), 2 rebounds, and a steal.

Darius Redding – frosh played seventeen minutes and only hit one field goal. But with that field goal he showed the home crowd that there will be many great explosive athletic plays from him in the next few years. A great windmill dunk on the break that was Sportcenter worthy.

Justin Rake – the preferred walk on originally from New Orleans came in with a reputation as a shooter. Looks well deserved as Rake nailed his first two shots from three. Missed his last three shots from the field and ended the night with six points in nine minutes. He may develop into a nice zone buster.

Trey Felder – freshman from Jackson played three minutes and got on the board with a free throw.

Kaiser Stegall – Karl Malone’s nephew played three minutes and missed the only shot he took to end the night as the only Bulldog to not score.

Did not play -

Brandon Gibson
Anson Bartlett  (Returning Walkon – sat out in street clothes)
Andres Marmolejo (Preferred Walkon – reportedly going to redshirt)

 

Early update from Brown/Coleby

Two games in at Odessa College the Wranglers are 2-0 and two future Bulldogs are playing well.

Game one against Wayland Baptist Josh Brown went for 23 and Kadeem Coleby scored 10.

Game two against North Lake College Josh Brown had 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Only the double figure scorers were mentioned.

An outsider’s preview of the Bulldogs

Chris Murray keeps churning out WAC basketball articles. Today he looks at the Bulldogs.

November 3, 2009

WAC Preview: Rupp, Bulldogs return key core players

By Chris Murray

Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a nine-part series previewing the WAC basketball teams.

During the summer, Louisiana Tech basketball coach Kerry Rupp met with each of his players to highlight five areas where that player could give a “career-best effort” this season.

Whether it be shooting percentage, rebounding or simply supplying maximum effort every game, Rupp figured that if each player gave a “career-best effort” in five areas, the big picture would take care of itself.

And those “career-best efforts” will be coming from a roster that stayed mostly intact from last year.

The Bulldogs return nearly their entire team, including 83 percent of its scoring, 92 percent of its rebounding and 79 percent of its assists from last season.

The two most important returning pieces are preseason All-WAC second-team selection Kyle Gibson (16.1 ppg, 43.4 percent on threes) and center Magnum Rolle (12.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.7 bpg).

Gibson has been a steady force for Tech the past two seasons, but Rupp is looking for a little more out of Rolle, the athletic 7-footer from the Bahamas.

“I think we’ve got to do a better job of getting his career-best effort every time he steps on the floor,” Rupp said. “We’ve got to set goals and he needs to have individual game goals so every time out he knows exactly what he needs to do, and we can’t let him slip below those levels. We have to hold him accountable every time and get his career-best effort in regards to his points and his rebounds and his defensive effort and intensity.”

Tech also added some firepower at the point guard position in DeAndre Brown, a junior-college All-American who should help shore up one of the Bulldogs’ weaker positions last year.

“I’ve been excited about him,” Rupp said. “He’s one of the guys who has brought some energy and some freshness to the program as a true point guard who really understands how to create in the open court and does a good job of stopping the ball in transition and doing the things that are necessary that we’ve always been looking for in a point guard.”

for the rest click here.

Best of the WAC including players, coaches, cities and facilities.

Chris Murray of the Reno paper posts his lists of the WAC’s best.It’s a short blog so I’ll post it in its entirety (forgive me Chris) . Click here to read it on the paper website.

Best of Western Athletic Conference basketball, including players, coaches, cities and facilities.

• Best player: Luke Babbitt, Nevada
• Best pro prospect: Paul George, Fresno State
• Best passer: Mac Hopson, Idaho
• Best rebounder: Wendell McKines, New Mexico State
• Best shooter: Kyle Gibson, Louisiana Tech
• Best defensive player: Anthony Thomas, Boise State
• Best glue player: Tyler Newbold, Utah State
• Best hair: Justin Graham, San Jose State

Justin Graham, recipient of the “Best Hair” award.

• Best coach: Stew Morrill, Utah State
• Biggest trash-talker: Anthony Thomas, Boise State
• Fastest player: Jahmar Young, New Mexico State
• Most athletic (big): Magnum Rolle, Louisiana Tech
• Most athletic (small): Armon Johnson, Nevada
• Most quotable (player): Sylvester Seay, Fresno State
• Most quotable (coach): Marvin Menzies, New Mexico State
• Best rivalry: Utah State-Nevada
• Best homecourt advantage: The Spectrum, Utah State
• Worst homecourt advantage: Thomas Assembly Center, Louisiana Tech
• Best homecourt facility: Save Mart Center, Fresno State
• Worst homecourt facility: Cowan Spectrum, Idaho
• Most exciting WAC city: Honolulu
• Least exciting WAC city: Las Cruces, N.M.

Update: We have received a report that Justin Graham has gone to the buzzcut, so the new winner for “Best Hair” is Idaho’s Luciano de Souza.

Deuce Johnson commits to play for the Dawgs

Deuce Johnson  a 6′7 Los Angeles, California native has committed to sign in November and suit up for the Bulldogs next fall. He scored 18 ppg and grabbed 11 rpg for Campbell Hall last season.

Westcoasthoops said this about Johnson:

Deuce Johnson 6’7”     C         2010              Campbell Hall HS

Explosive and strong lefty. Really elevates to finish on post moves, goes through contact. Showed some ability to hit 15-foot jumper, but could improve in this area. Needs some polish, but great physical tools.

Another review of Deuce:

Has the athleticism to be converted to the 3 at the next level.

Full court Press Blog comments: Undersized but athletic “four” is active around the cup.

Johnson was named one of the Top 25 players at the Fullcourt Press All-Frosh/Soph Camp in 2007.

Very improved athletic jumping jack is quick and nimble around the basket and has improved his mid-range game.

Credit goes to the guys over at BleedTechBlue (see link on right hand side of page) for breaking this story.

Video from Basketball Bonanza

The official La Tech basketball youtube channel is now featuring footage from the Basketball Bonanza last night. I don’t know who on the basketball staff is responsible for this – but great job.

Thoughts from Basketball Bonanza

This was an eight minute street ball like scrimmage with no set offense or defense. The team half heartedly set screens but no real effort.

To put it in perspective Anson Bartlett (walk on) who in all reality is the last man on the roster was in the first ten players who started the scrimmage.

That being said here are some thoughts from in the TAC tonight.

Wow. I wish we would have had the Regal Blues when I was a student.

Kyle Gibson had a fine showing in the three point shootout. Got into a grove in the finals and hit six or seven in a row.

Olu  Ashlou won the dunk contest when Rolle missed his final attempt.

Starters:

Blue Squad – Brown, Guyton, Ashalou, Oliverson, and B Gibson

White Squad – K Gibson, Rolle, Bartlett, Berhe, Jackson

Jamel Guyton  – started the scrimmage off with a deep trey from the right side. Didn’t develop a conscience in regards to shot selection in the offseason. Keep knocking them down and I don’t care. 3 points.

Shawn Oliverson – playing his role Oliverson crashed the boards and put back in a DeAndre Brown miss. 2 points.

Magnum Rolle – Too big, Too athletic. Got to the rim at will.  Never took a shot outside the lane. 10 points.

DeAndre Brown – he looked the part tonight with his ball handling also hit a couple threes. 6 points.

Olu Ashalou – Ran the break well, once getting a basket on a goal tending by Rolle and once slamming home a reverse dunk on a nice assist by Brown. 4 points

Anson Bartlett – scored on a fast break when Brown turned the ball over trying to go behind his back with a too fancy pass in traffic. Did throw a nice alley op to Rolle on a break. 2 points total.

What did tonight mean? Nothing. Bartlett outscored Kyle Gibson.  The only player I really wanted to see was Brown and he didn’t disappoint. He will be an offensive threat from the point position and I can’t wait to see him run the team in a real game situation.

A feature on Magnum Rolle

Kevin McCarthy over at Parsing the WAC takes a look at Magnum Rolle’s last season and the expectations for this year.

The following comes with this proviso: we have seen Magnum Rolle play but once, have no tape of him and have solicited no information about his strengths and weaknesses from a professional — so don’t try this at home.

One of the most intriguing players in the WAC this season is Louisiana Tech ‘big’ Magnum Rolle. Possessing mindboggling athleticism, some have Rolle earning a first team, all-WAC nod at the conclusion of the coming season. Others placed on the second team.

For the record, Rolle was an WAC All-Defensive team selection as well as an WAC All-Newcomer squad member in first season after transferring over from Louisiana State.

Time will tell what future honors he earns but what’s already accurate is that he has the paint to himself in 2009-2010 — with Kenneth Cooper gone to Alabama Birmingham.

Will we indeed see Rolle make a big step forward as a fifth-year senior?

Let’s take a look at his WAC totals and his post-Cooper 2008-2009 league numbers:

In 16 WAC games, Rolle averaged 30 minutes a contest, 11.7 points per game, shooting .517% overall and .583% (60 free throw attempts) from the foul line. He grabbed 7.8 rebounds each time out and totaled 33 shotblocks, 45 personal fouls, one foul out and 36 turnovers. Cooper played in the first four of these games before his dismissal from the team.

What we don’t know is if Rolle played with any nagging injuries that may have effected his production so do also keep that in mind.

Looking at it from a game-by-game perspective, sans Cooper, here is what Rolle put on the board:

1-17-09 Idaho: 28 minutes, 17 points (7-10), nine rebounds, two blocked shots, four fouls

1-22-09 @ Fresno State: 26 minutes, six points (3-10), nine rebounds, three blocked shots, four fouls

1-24-09 @ Boise State: 40 minutes, 23 points (11-11), 10 rebounds, three blocked shots, three fouls

1-29-09 Hawaii: 38 minutes, 10 points (3-7), seven rebounds, one blocked shot, zero fouls

1-31-09 San Jose State: 36 minutes, 19 points (9-14), 12 rebounds, six blocked shots, two fouls

2-5-09 @ Nevada: 33 minutes, 15 points (6-11), four rebounds, two blcoked shots, two fouls

2-7-09 @ Utah State: 34 minutes, eight points (4-8), five rebounds, four blocked shots, two fouls

2-12-09 Fresno State: 18 minutes, eight points (4-8), five rebounds, one blocked shot, four fouls

2-16-09 @ New Mexico State: 22 minutes, two points (1-5), 11 rebounds, zero blocked shots, four fouls

2-26-09 New Mexico State: 26 minutes, 25 points (8-13), 12 rebounds, zero blocked shots, three fouls

2-28-09 Boise State: 31 minutes, five points (2-7), eight rebounds, two blocked shots, three fouls

3-5-09 @ Idaho: 23 minutes, 10 points (3-7), eight rebounds, one blocked shot, four fouls

3-12-09 Idaho: 20 minutes, nine poits (2-6), five rebounds, one blocked shot, four fouls

3-13-09 Nevada: 27 minutes, 24 points (8-12), five rebounds, two blocked shots, two fouls

That’s six games — out of 14 — in less than double-figure scoring for Rolle, plus two games at 10 points. It’s five games with five or less rebounds. But consider it’s also seven games with less than 10 field goal attempts.

Click here for the rest.