It was a special day for Coach K and our staff as we were fortunate to have a visit from legendary Coach Bob Knight. Obviously, Coach Knight has a special relationship with Coach K and is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history. It was an honor to have him spend some time with us. He came to our shoot-around before the game and watched game film with our staff after the game. He was able to talk to our team about the little things that make a good team great. It was a special treat for all of us.
The Rhode Island game turned out to be one of the more exciting games in college basketball so far this season. Two of URI’s players, Jimmy Baron and Delroy James, had amazing performances, which enabled URI to pretty much control most of the game. Baron put on one of the best shooting performances I have witnessed in person as he made 7-8 3pt shots in the 2nd half. It seemed like each shot kept getting farther from the basket with tighter defensive pressure. I said after the game that now I know how other coaches felt having to coach against JJ Redick. The thing that was great to watch with this game was how hard our players continued to fight, even as URI kept hitting difficult shot after difficult shot. Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer both had incredible performances for us and we were able to pull out a hard-fought 82-79 win.
We had little time to celebrate our Rhode Island victory, as we were now headed to New York City to play Southern Illinois in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic. Southern Illinois has been a program that has had a tremendous amount of success over the past 10 years and they have made their reputation with tough defense and maximum effort. Our players were very excited to play them in Madison Square Garden. Like Cameron Indoor, it is one of those places that feels special right when you step on the court. The day before the game, we were able to practice at the New Jersey Nets practice facility. The guys really enjoyed that as it showed them a glimpse of life on the next level. Midway thru practice, we got some good-natured ribbing from former UNC star Vince Carter, and we recieved a surprise visit at the end of practice by one of our former stars, Chris Duhon. We are really proud of how Chris has been doing as the starting PG for the New York Knicks and it was great for him to pass some things on to our current team.
We played a very sloppy first half against Southern Illinois. The best part about that game was the contributions we got from Brian Zoubek, Miles Plumlee and Elliot Williams. Each of those guys stepped up as our team was struggling. At halftime, we had 17 turnovers and neither Kyle Singler nor Gerald Henderson had a point in the game. In the second half, Kyle and Gerald combined for 33 pts, we were able to get in a better rhythm, and we pulled away for an 83-58 win. We were excited about playing for a Championship the following night.
We found out late that night that we would be facing Michigan in the championship game. Maybe people had predicted a Duke-UCLA title game, but Michigan pulled the upset in the semis. Michigan is an extremely well-coached team that plays a very unique style and system under Coach John Beilein. We told our team that it was going to take maximum concentration during our preparation for the game with only a short time to get ready. Our players really responded well. We had a total team effort as we won the tournament championship with a 71-56 win. Kyle Singler was named MVP with two outstanding performances, and Gerald Henderson made the All-tournament team. Everyone was very excited after the game. Winning a championship, no matter when it is, is a great accomplishment and we wanted our players to enjoy the moment.
We had an extremely quick turnaround as we had to face the Montana Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon. We didn’t arrive home until 2 AM on Saturday morning from NYC. It was going to take a mature group to re-focus and get ready to play after having great success in New York. As a staff, we knew that we were going to need all of our guys ready to play and contribute. Although banged up and a little tired from the week, our guys gutted out a 78-58 win. We were able to get 10 players over 10+ minutes and everyone did well. We had to play the game without Greg Paulus, as we try to get him healthy from a forearm injury. We are hoping that he will be ready to go for our next game against Duquesne. We certainly missed not having him out there.
As you can see, it was a long, but successful week for our team. Four games, four wins and we want to keep getting better each step along the way. It is a long season and we are excited about the journey. We will need for all of you to continue to support us.
Goodbye for now and we wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!
Coach Collins
