The Butterfly Man scores 11 and we actually tie
UConn 35-all at the half before they take over the second half.
And
then we're unexpectedly up 29-8 on Stanford at the half. Granted, the Cardinal are shooting
9.7%, so it won't hold up but holy crap!
And then...
Code:
Cal State Northridge 55, Stanford 36
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Cal State Northridge (3-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Thomas Hadden C 28 2-3 1-2 3 16 2 2 5
Winston Reyes PF 26 2-8 2-2 0 6 1 2 6
Reinaldo Gonzalez SF 29 6-13 0-0 1 7 0 0 12
Dennis Luther SG 26 2-4 0-0 0 1 2 2 4
Joseph Velarde PG 29 4-14 0-0 0 2 2 1 9
Geoffrey Blodgett PG 20 5-5 1-1 0 0 0 3 12
Raphael Taylor PF 18 1-4 0-0 1 2 1 0 2
P. Faulvarque SG 11 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 1 3
Frank Gilmore C 8 0-2 0-0 0 2 0 2 0
Gregory Lau SF 5 0-1 2-3 0 1 0 0 2
Turnovers: 8 (W.Reyes 1, R.Gonzalez 1, J.Velarde 1,
G.Blodgett 1, R.Taylor 1, P.Faulvarque 1, F.Gilmore 1,
G.Lau 1)
Blocked Shots: 9 (T.Hadden 4, W.Reyes 3, R.Gonzalez 2)
Steals: 4 (W.Reyes 1, R.Gonzalez 2, D.Luther 1)
3P FGs: 3-5 (D.Luther 0-1, J.Velarde 1-1, G.Blodgett
1-1, P.Faulvarque 1-1, G.Lau 0-1)
#1 Stanford (5-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Joshua Flower C 24 3-7 0-1 5 10 1 1 6
John Izzo PF 30 0-5 0-0 1 11 0 1 0
Colby Manning SF 23 1-5 0-0 1 2 1 1 2
Jonathan Torres SG 24 2-14 1-2 3 6 1 4 6
Joel Berman SG 30 0-12 0-0 4 6 0 2 0
George Jones PG 13 1-3 0-0 0 0 1 0 2
Jose Lahr PG 12 1-9 0-0 2 3 0 0 2
Michael Ruth PF 12 0-1 0-0 1 2 1 2 0
Gus Millett SG 9 4-4 1-2 1 3 0 1 11
Lowell Kipp C 12 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
David Lowrance SF 4 1-2 2-2 0 1 1 0 5
Huey Bartz PF 2 1-1 0-0 1 3 0 0 2
John Johnson SG 4 0-0 0-0 1 1 1 2 0
Zachary Cruse PG 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 14 (J.Flower 2, C.Manning 3, J.Torres 3,
J.Berman 3, J.Lahr 2, L.Kipp 1)
Blocked Shots: 6 (J.Flower 2, C.Manning 1, G.Jones 2,
L.Kipp 1)
Steals: 6 (C.Manning 1, J.Torres 1, J.Berman 1, G.Jones
1, J.Lahr 1, G.Millett 1)
3P FGs: 4-23 (J.Izzo 0-2, C.Manning 0-2, J.Torres 1-4,
J.Berman 0-6, G.Jones 0-1, J.Lahr 0-2, M.Ruth 0-1,
G.Millett 2-2, D.Lowrance 1-2, Z.Cruse 0-1)
Player of Game: C Thomas Hadden (CSNTH)
That's right -
we just upset the #1 team in the country and defending national champions on their own turf!!!!. One of those nights where all the chips lay on our side of the table - the flukest win of all possible fluke wins.
They have three Blue/Blue starters!
It'll be a long time, maybe never, before I get a win this big.
Our RP is a whopping
50 - Green for the first time in the history of the universe. And of course we immediately lose a big man recruit to
UC-Davis and are fishing in the 1* pond. That's
0 for 4 in a year where we have 5 scholarships open.
Joseph Velarde scores 31 with 3 steals, and
Reinaldo Gonzalez (12-7-2-1),
Winston Reyes (11 points, 1 steal), and
Thomas Hadden (13 rebounds, 2 blocks) put up a game effort against #3
Tennessee, but we fall 72-81 in a game we never had a true shot at.
vs Seattle (3-4)
Our 26th RPI (Blue for the first time ever!) is going to take a hit no matter what happens this game. This year's Redhawks are far outplaying their talent levels and we're on a high after our recent tough play against two elite teams. Hopefully we don't let down the home fans in our first performance in Northridge.
41-26 lead at the half and we're looking fairly comfortable. Any time you see a huge shooting disparity (22% differential) you always get nervous about what the back half is going to look like.
29 seconds left. They go up 75-74 and I'm swearing my ass off. We call a timeout and play for the last shot. It's
Joseph Velarde and he sinks the dish from
Winston Reyes, scoring from the top of the key as top expires. 76-75 nailbiter win.
Winston Reyes did the heavy lifting with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and a block - including that game-winning assist.
Gem led in all scorers with 26 points and 2 blocks.
Thomas Hadden was his usual self with 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
Joseph Velarde and
Raphael Taylor each score 10 with a steal and a block, 2 steals respectively.
vs Houston Baptist (2-4)
Our RP is still Blue at 33. Don't sleep on these Huskies - they have a lot of promising underclassmen who are still growing into their game and they play tough defense. This could be an upset.
Winston Reyes and
Gem combine for 27 first half points and a cold streak late in the first by our opponents has us up 43-25 - a margin that frankly flatters how we've played outside those two. Nailbiter incoming, I'm sure.
Except it isn't. We hold them to one player in double-digit scoring with 12 points and take the 72-49.
Winston Reyes wins his second PotG nod with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal - finally becoming in his senior year what we expected ages ago.
Gem Gonzalez barely misses the double-double with 14, 9, and a steal, and
Raphael Taylor continues his surprisingly strong bench play with 10 points.
@ UNC-Asheville 0-7
The Bulldogs are off to their worst start since the 2014-15 season, when they had 5 wins all year. A couple talented scorers, but their defense is absolutely atrocious - as awful as our 23rd RPI is amazing. A trap game is always possible, but I just don't see it happening, bar the bad luck Stanford sustained against us.
They shoot 60% from 3 point range and we're down by 11 at the half. Hello, bad luck.
We lose by 20 and
Winston Reyes is out 51 days. Fuck.you. Same BULLSHIT as last season.
@ North Dakota State (4-4)
Our RPI craters to 88 on the back of that shit loss. The Bison have an absolute star in senior
Travis Larson of the 7'2 height and have strong post defense. I'm scared for what this means.
Raphael Taylor is inserted into the lineup, but our offense is riding heavily on
Reinaldo Gonzalez now.
We're losing by 5 at the half despite a 7-0 run to open the game. We're absolutely lost without
Reyes. Second half sees us get absolutely killed, and I'm so over promising seasons getting fucked over by major injury bullshit like this.
vs Albany (2-6)
On paper, we should be able to murder the Great Danes. In reality, you know what's going to happen.
We eke out a 30-24 halftime lead, but both teams are shooting absolute piss.
Joseph Velarde is trying to keep us going with 11 points at least.
13, 12, 11 by
Joseph Velarde,
Raphael Taylor (2 steals), and [b]Geoffrey Blodgett (1 steal) are just *barely* enough to scrape out a 68-66 win that guarantees a winning record no matter what happens our last nonconference game.
vs Weber State (5-5)
The Wildcats have a star scorer, but their defense is suspect. It won't matter - they'll win by 15-20 because we've had ridiculously hard luck with injuries the last two years that have ruined the two most talented teams I've built in my years here.
28-22 lead after 20, but 20% shooting differential says we lose this in the second half.
24 points and 3 steals by
Joseph Velarde, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, and a steal by
Thomas Hadden as we actually cruise to a 63-48 win.
But guess what happens? JUST GUESS?!
REINALDO "GEM" GONZALEZ OUT 51 DAYS.
WHO THE FUCK CURSED THIS TEAM THE LAST TWO YEARS?! WHOO?!?!
0 FOR 5 on the recruiting trail. Well, it's actually 1 for 6 after we finally get a commitment and of course it's a shooting guard. Whatever.
Code:
#52 SG Kevin McKenzie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Height: 6-3
Weight: 176
High School: Roosevelt Senior High School
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
GPA: 3.56
Test Score: 1360
Rating: ***
Attributes:
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Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 51 54 43 56 24 6 0 39 38 23 26 17 54 45 90 20
Potential: C A C A C F F C C D B C
Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24.9 0.8 5.1 1.8 2.6 0.67 3.5 0.8 3.1
Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.4 17.0 .555 4.0 6.0 .667 2.1 5.0 .414
Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qualified: Yes
Committed to Cal State Northridge
Rankings: West Region #70 Overall, West Region #13 SG
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, San Diego State, UCLA, Fresno State, UTEP
Screams converted SF in the tradition of
Rabbithead and
Reinaldo Gonzalez. I suspect that stealing current is heavily misscouted. Red/Green player by our initial look as we finally get another 3* guy to sign with us.
Still no big men.