LOOK BACK AT A MAGICAL SEASON

It’s hard to believe that we are already into the stretch run in conference play. It won’t be long until the start of the Southland Conference Tournament.

SLC play started at home with against a good Southeastern Louisiana team. We wound up on the short end of a tough defensive game by the score of 61-58. We were 1-11 from three-point range and gave up 5-10, including one with a minute to go in a tie game. Two threes in the last ten seconds were off the mark and we lost our SLC home opener for the second year in a row. Shamir McDaniel, our leading scorer, was held to a season low four points. It was a tough loss after a great non-conference record.

A 61-51 win over Nicholls State three days later was aided by a 43-24 rebounding margin. We led 34-16 at the half and Shamir McDaniel bounced back with 14 points to lead us in the scoring column.

Next up was a game in Lake Charles, Louisiana against McNeese State. After trailing by 12 early in the first half, we came back and trailed by only two at the break. Playing one of our better halves on the year, we pulled away in the second half and won 64-49. We held McNeese to .271% from the floor and finished the game strong from the free throw line.

A 93-90 overtime loss at Lamar came next on the same road trip. A 39-33 lead at the half was erased and we had our chances in regulation but could not capitalize down the stretch. Our defense was not consistent late and we were outrebounded for only the third time this season. Ashton Mitchell and DeLuis Ramirez led us in scoring with 19 each.

Stephen F. Austin, our archrival, came to Huntsville next with a 15-2 record and a one game lead on us after the Lamar loss. In front of a great crowd, SFA jumped out to a 12-2 lead on four three pointers by Josh Alexander, an All-SLC guard. We fought back to trail the game 22-27 at the half.

The last minute of the game went back and forth with three lead changes. After Reggie Rawlins scored to put us up one, Gerald Fonzie hit a deep three with :28 left to put SFA up 56-55. After a time out, we set up a play for Shamir McDaniel and he hit a three pointer to put us back on top 58-56. Alexander missed another three at the buzzer for an exciting finish to a great college basketball game.

Both teams played great defense and only had seven turnovers each. SFA shot 10-19 from three while we were only 3-12. Fortunately, we made our last and they missed on their end. We were only 3-5 from the free throw line, but held SFA to .354% from the field. Ryan Bright, the second leading rebounder in America, had a career-high 18 boards. The win put us back on top in the SLC Western Division.

CHALLENGING NON-LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Jan. 2, 2008

The 2007-08 non-conference schedule was one of the most difficult during our time at Sam Houston State. It also provided us with less travel and more home games ever before. After an opening win against a good second year Dallas Baptist program, Coach Knight brought his Texas Tech team to Johnson Coliseum.

I appreciate Coach's willingness to come and play us in Huntsville.. it's not very often a Big 12 team travels to play a Southland team. The night before the game I experienced something I had never done before. In all my years of coaching I had never had dinner with the opposing coach and his staff. When Coach Knight invites you to dinner, you accept the invitation and try to learn from the winningest coach in men's college basketball history.

The next night we played in front of the third largest crowd in the 30 year history of Johnson Coliseum. It was an exciting atmosphere as people on campus and in Huntsville had been talking about this game for over a year. The Huntsville Item even put a picture of Coach Knight on the front sports page when we released OUR schedule! We were fortunate to win a hard fought game 56-54 and build some confidence for the future.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we beat a very talented Fresno State team 68-57. The game was a return meeting from last year's trip to California for the ESPN Bracketbuster event. We played extremely hard defensively and held Fresno State to .277% from the floor.

Next up was a trip to Wisconsin-Milwaukee for our first road game of the season. We won our fourth game in a row 81-77 for the best start in 21 years of Division One basketball.

We then traveled to St. Louis and came away with a 61-53 victory by holding the Billikens to .293% from the field.

After a week off for exams, we played Texas Southern at Houston and won a defensive battle by the score of 54-51. Ryan Bright recorded his fifth double/double with 13 points and a career high 17 rebounds.

Next up was a return game to Huntsville for California-Irvine. We lost a tough overtime game last December at UCI but pulled out a 61-54 victory this time to improve to 10-0 at the break. We had a good fall season and were certainly happy to be one of only nine unbeaten teams in the NCAA.

The team left for California on December 26th to prepare for the San Diego State Aztecs. Two days of practice after a five day break and we played one of our best games of the season, although losing 78-79 in overtime. SDSU tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer to force OT and another with :11 left to go ahead by one. Shamir McDaniel, coming off a career high 22 point effort against UCI, poured in 25 before missing a shot to win at the buzzer. Our guys expected to win and were devastated by the loss. Two days later we played a return game in Los Angeles against Loyola Marymount and got back on track by a score of 83-66.

An 11-1 record for 2007 with a home game left versus Central Florida before starting Southland Conference play. It was a game against a good friend in Kirk Speraw, the head coach at UCF. We have been friends since I replaced him at Pensacola Junior College in 1990. We played our second OT in three games and won 60-58. A 12-1 non-conference record...best in school history at the Division 1 level. Our guys played solid defense and rebounded the ball consistently in the non-conference.