College basketball is just a little bit better when it has a pint-sized scoring machine or two, and this year most certainly features a dandy one. And anyone who has the chance to check him out should take advantage and do so.
Campbell senior guard Chris Clemons has received some notoriety for a career that has seen him already score already nearly 2,400 points, but it’s also a fact that his teams have rarely had much more than modest success. The Fighting Camels have a CIT and a CBI appearance for his first three years, with 19-18 and 18-16 team records the last two years.
Perhaps the 5-foot-9 Clemons can lead Campbell to better this year, and if he doesn’t, he’s going to wow us all trying. The Fighting Camels faced Georgetown yesterday, and while the Hoyas outlasted Campbell 93-85, Clemons paced a furious second half comeback when his team cut a 22-point deficit to six late before finally succumbing.
Clemons scored 45 points, his second career game with at least that much (he scored 51 his sophomore year in a memorable Big South Tournament quarterfinal against UNC Asheville) and his second 40-point game this season. Twenty-seven came in the second half, and his point total for the game included nine three-pointers made and 16-for-28 shooting from the field. Oh, and he also added eight rebounds.
Clemons is now averaging 33.8 points per game through six games for the 3-3 Camels. That’s an average for a season we haven’t seen since Kevin Bradshaw of dearly missed U.S. International averaged 37.6 points per game in the 1990-91 season.
Clemons is reminiscent of Keydren Clark, a guard of similar height for St. Peter’s from 2002-06 who was a two-time NCAA Division I scoring champion and scored 3,058 points even as his teams never won more than 17 games. Clemons has a similar bounce in his jump shot, and both he and Mike Daum of South Dakota State have a realistic chance of joining Clark in the exclusive 3,000-point club, which has just eight members.
While Clemons ran hog wild for Campbell, on Saturday just about as impressive for Georgetown was the game of Trey Mourning. Yes, that’s Hoyas great Alonzo Mourning’s son, and Trey-a senior with a combined 67 career points entering this season-posted far and away career highs with 27 points and 12 rebounds to get Georgetown through this one. That he also was wearing a gray T-shirt under his No. 33 jersey-like his pops did under John Thompson-just might’ve made it even better.
Side Dishes
- Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend this year had something distinctly missing. While many were no doubt tuned into college football, longtime hardcore college hoops fans know this was regularly the weekend of the Great Alaska Shootout, and this is the first without the Shootout since it ended its 40-year run last year. Instead we were left with only one tourney on Saturday-the Emerald Coast Classic, another in a host of events in Florida and warm-weather locales that no doubt have their share of honest people working hard to put them on, but also nationally have few distinguishing characteristics. (We’ll take the changeup and the flavor added to the sport of Alaska and moose roaming the streets in Anchorage every single day).
Cincinnati emerged as winner of the tourney, topping Mississippi 71-57 by pulling away in the second half from the Kermit Davis-led Rebels. Jarron Cumberland is looking like he could be carrying the Bearcats’ offense all season, and he had 25 in this one for a team that is still struggling to find some consistent scoring around him. Ole Miss also is on the right track, and could be a real spoiler in the SEC this year. - More good news for the American: Houston earned a nice 76-62 win at BYU. Corey Davis scored 18 of his 24 in the second half, and this was a quality road victory in the battle of the Cougars. Not good news for the conference: The Citadel won at South Florida 85-82, putting a dent in some improvement the Bulls had shown early this season (but a really nice win for Duggar Baucom’s Bulldogs). Also, Tubby Smith’s High Point team won at East Carolina 55-52. Oof.
- Stony Brook has been rather quiet since the Jameel Warney days ended a couple years ago. No more. The Seawolves have a couple sweet road wins already, first at George Washington and South Carolina and now a 68-58 victory at Rhode Island.
- The Atlantic 10 took another blow when Charlie Brown scored 37 for Saint Joseph’s but William & Mary came back to down the Hawks 87-85, with Nathan Knight (21 points), Justin Pierce (20, plus 12 rebounds) and freshman Chase Audige (20) all topping the 20-point mark. At least VCU held off Hofstra 69-67 in overtime as Marcus Evans hit the game-winner with 28 seconds left in OT.
- Another monster individual performance came from Murray State’s Ja Morant against Missouri State. The talented sophomore scored a career-high 29 points and also added 13 rebounds and 12 assists in the Racers’ 77-66 win. The Racers sure have a knack for finding exciting guards. (Also for Missouri State: 1-for-16 from three-point range. Ouch.)
- Kansas State got a scare for a while before pulling away from Lehigh in the second half for a 77-58 win. Dean Wade scored 18.
- Ranked teams posting dominating victories: Virginia Tech blew away St. Francis (Pa.) 75-37. The Red Flash are thought to be the favorite in the Northeast Conference, but the Gobblers held them to 25.9% shooting and then went ahead and drilled 14 of 31 from three on their offensive end. Also, Buffalo cruised past Marist 76-49, with C.J. Massinburg (21 points) hitting 6 of 7 from long range and leading a team-wide 16-for-32 effort from deep.
- Perhaps soon-to-be ranked Texas Tech also rolled 93-62 over Northern Colorado, shooting 60.7%. Two more teams moving to 6-0: North Carolina State edged always pesky Mercer 78-74 and San Francisco took care of Dartmouth 84-65 with Frankie Ferrari revving up for 19.
- Add another one on to that: Abilene Christian, which just completed its transition to full NCAA Division I status last year, is also now 6-0 after a 60-48 win over UC Riverside. The Wildcats-that’s their nickname-have a solid group of wins that includes the likes of Arkansas State, Denver, Elon and Pacific.
- Loyola Marymount is 7-0 now after a 71-63 win over Florida A&M. Good to see the Lions playing well, and all these non-conference wins are going to pay off for the West Coast Conference in February and March, too, in the form of some improved team power rankings.
- North Texas is 8-0, albeit against a very light schedule, the latest a 75-66 win over St. Peter’s. Up next: a trip to Oklahoma Tuesday night.
- Davidson got past Northeastern 78-69, the final score another example of our disdain for margin of victory in power ratings for this was a three-point game in the final minute. Kellan Grady scored 30 and the Wildcats have beaten the Huskies twice in the last seven days. Northeastern, meanwhile, continues to be hammered by injuries; it played this one without star Vasa Pusica, who is dealing with a wrist injury.
- West Virginia struggled to put away Valparaiso, finally winning 88-76 but only after Esa Ahmad scored 30 and Sagaba Konate added 26.
- Notre Dame owned the second half in pulling away from DePaul 95-70. The Fighting Irish have won 11 straight now in this series between neighboring Catholic schools.
- Indiana State quietly earned a solid win, defeating Western Kentucky 63-54 at home. The Sycamores’ big men held their own against the Hilltoppers’ power inside, and ISU’s guards were clearly better with Jordan Barnes and Tyreke Key combining for 33 points.
- UNC Greensboro moved to 6-1 with an 80-73 win over Louisiana Tech. The Spartans’ non-conference wins may not impress the NCAA selection committee, but that’s already four wins away from home, an impressive feat for any team.
- Harvard scored a nice road win, going across country and taking down Saint Mary’s 74-68. Five scored in double figures for the Crimson, who are still missing Chris Lewis, while the struggle for the Gaels is starting to become more apparent now with three straight losses after a 3-0 start.
- Finally, Texas State is a quiet 5-1 after blowing away Portland on the road 91-68. The Bobcats are a darkhorse in the Sun Belt, and the highly underrated Nijal Pearson scored a career-high 33 for Danny Kaspar’s team.
Today’s Menu:
- The AdvoCare Invitational and Wooden Legacy tourneys both wrap up on Sunday. Play gets going very early, with Canisius taking on Alabama-Birmingham in the seventh place game in Orlando on ESPNU (10:30 a.m. Eastern). In more incredibly bizarre TV scheduling, that game is followed by the championship tilt between Villanova and Florida State set for 1 p.m. Eastern (ESPN). Also playing for third in the Disney World tourney is Oklahoma State and LSU (4 p.m., ESPN2), while Memphis faces College of Charleston for fifth (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
The Wooden Legacy title game features Miami (Fla.) against Seton Hall (10:30 p.m., ESPN2), after both have had some close shaves getting to the final. Other notable games include former WAC foes Fresno State and Hawaii facing off for third (4 p.m., ESPNU) and Northwestern and Utah playing for fifth (2 p.m., ESPNU). - The non-tournament schedule for the day has limited appeal, to be frank. Maybe the best game is undefeated Furman on the road in the Blue Ridge region to take on UNC Asheville.
- Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic get together for an in-state contest, with the 5-1 Owls looking to continue a good start.
- Long Beach State gets a rare chance to host a Pac-12 team when Oregon State comes to the Pyramid.
- Stubborn Cal State Bakersfield will try to ugly up the game on the road against USC.
Hoping all have a relaxing Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
