The Morning Dish – Tuesday, November 25th
It’s 1982 All Over Again!: Ok, not quite, but you can still chalk this up as another Chaminade upset. Kashif Reyes’ two threes and two free throws in the final 2:30 gave the host Silverswords a 52-49 victory over Villanova in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. Jay Wright’s Wildcats did go into the game with a significant handicap. Only seven Nova players saw court time as the school is still serving up suspensions for last year’s multiple misuse of a university phone card. While the Chaminade victory doesn’t stack up against their most storied upset ever – a 77-72 shocker over Ralph Sampson and No. 1 Virginia – the win does up the Silverswords’ Maui Invitational record to 4-53 overall. Look out. Here they come.
Mourning Retires: One of the best college centers ever to play the game called it quits yesterday. Alonzo Mourning, whose NBA career spanned 12 seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and New Jersey Nets, cited a recurring kidney disease as reason for the exit. He will need a transplant and has already added his name to the national donor list. The five-time NBA all-star and one-time gold medalist wasn’t too shabby during his college days either. Here’s a look back at Zo’s four-year career at Georgetown, 1988-1992:
• 4th in school history in points with 2,001 over 120 games.
• 6th in career scoring average at 16.6 ppg.
• 5th in highest single-season point total: 681, 1991-92.
• 3rd highest rebounder in school history with 1,032. His 8.6 average was good for 11th on the all-time Hoya list.
• 2nd in shots blocked with 453, a 3.77 blocks-per-game average.
• 1st player in Big East Conference history to be named Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Tournament MVP all in one year, 1992.
Owls Soar to Top of the World: Michael Harris poured in 15 points and Rice defeated Washington State, 64-49, to win the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska Sunday night. Harris, who averaged 15.3 ppg, and 11.3 rpg in the three tournament games was named MVP. In their first two games, the Owls thumped Idaho State, 76-46, and St. Mary’s, CA, 69-55.
Humphries Honored: Freshman forward Kris Humphries of Minnesota showed all other rookies how to start a college career. His 23 point and 12.5 rebound-per-game averages in the first two rounds of the Preseason NIT earned the Gopher a Big Ten Player of the Week honor. Against Missouri-Kansas City, Humphries netted 26 points and 15 rebounds to become the first Minnesota freshman since 1991 to put up a 20-point, 10-rebound night. The 6-9 big man liked the feeling so much he went out and accomplished the feat again, posting 20 and 10 against Utah. Humphries is the first freshman to win the Big Ten Player of the Week award in the first week of regular season play.
Cotton Bawl: No. 7 Michigan State, which faces, No. 5 Kansas tonight, will be without freshman point guard Brandon Cotton for at least a month. The McDonald’s All-America may have a stress facture in his right foot, but according to coach Tom Izzo, will undergo more tests. Cotton had two points in a five-minute debut against Bucknell, where the Spartans escaped with a 64-52 win.
Hoopville Top 25 Games of Interest: 16,356 came out to Charlotte Coliseum to see Roy Williams coach the No. 8 Tarheels against Davidson. UNC cruised, 91-68, behind Jawad Williams’s career-high 28 points.
No. 3 Arizona smoked Northern Arizona 107-73 as the Wildcats shot 47 percent from the field and had five players with 14 or more points. The win was Lute Olson’s 500th as head coach of the Wildcats, and is eight wins from 700 overall.
Jared Maxiell put up 26 points as 21st-ranked Cincinnati clobbered Oakland, 89-60. The Golden Grizzlies’ Mike Helms was held to 13 points on 4-of-18 shooting and he missed 10 of his last 12 shots. Kudos to Oakland for their non-conference schedule, with Xavier, Michigan, Cincinnati, Missouri, and Memphis on their slate.
No.11 Texas made it look easy against Sam Houston State, 122-71. Sydmill Harris and Brandon Mouton combined for 43 points. Freshman PJ Tucker continues to impress. The forward had 18 points, 11 boards for the 2-0 Longhorns.
Northern Illinois got as close as six when Anthony Maezstrani sank a three with forty seconds to go, but keen foul shooting down the stretch gave 17th-ranked Notre Dame a 74-65 win. Torin Francis tallied 24 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks in the season opener for the Fightin’ Irish.
Tonight’s Menu
• In what could be a preview of a game we might see in March, 7th-ranked Michigan State visits No.5 Kansas. Both teams won their first games. Keith Langford is coming off a 24-point effort against Chattanooga in the Jayhawks’ opener while center David Padgett registered 10 boards and five blocks; Michigan State hopes for another strong effort from big man Paul Davis who chimed in with 21 points and 8 rebounds in a 64-52 win against Bucknell.
• No. 9 Florida cracks open their season by hosting 2-0 Montana State. The Gators, with their slew of super-sophomores, hope to build off of last season’s 25-8 campaign. They’ll have to go through FIU Tournament MVP Jason Erickson and hot-handed Danny Faaborg, who averaged 19 ppg against Quinnipiac and Howard.
• Other games involving the Hoopville Top 25 include No. 14 Oklahoma entertaining in-state foe Tulsa; 15th-ranked Wisconsin takes on Eastern Ilinois; No. 16 St. Joseph’s travels to Boston U.; Stanford, No. 18, tchallenges 2-1 UC-Irvine, and in a clash of the Capital Beltway, Maryland a receiving-votes team, hosts George Mason.
• Who would have thought that a team called Lubbock Christian would ever want to participate in anything related to Las Vegas? The Las Vegas Invitational continues tonight when 2-0 Bradley, which had to come back from 13 down to upend Louisiana-Monroe, faces the NAIA Chapparals of LCU. The aforementioned UL-M Indians, meanwhile, face Northeastern in a contest of 0-2 teams. And Miami of Florida goes for three straight against 1-1 Rhode Island.
