Thursday, December 20, 2018

Sports Journal December 12-19, 2018

12-12-18
The Aggie Coaches Show was on at the same time today as the UTEP Women’s Basketball Coach’s show, but on different radio stations.  Normally, there wouldn’t be a conflict for me, but I heard it announced beforehand that they’d interviewing Katarina Zec on the UTEP team.  Well, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to actually hear my favorite opposing player speak.   

I heard a bit of UTEP’s Coach Baker while flipping back-and-forth between the shows.  He was trying sound upbeat, but UTEP was on a seven-game losing streak.  Steve Kaplowitz asked him about their upcoming Christmas road trip.  Baker said that coaches love scheduling trips in December after finals, since there’s no interference with school work, and they can work out the team as much as they want.

Player Jordan Alexander was interviewed first.  She mentioned that they practice against a team of men, as I think as most college women’s teams do.  “They are bigger, stronger, faster, and quicker than we are.”  Honestly, that statement surprised me coming from a female college student-athlete.  (You might get a different answer from a non-athlete female college student.)  “They don’t take it easy on us,” she said.  Jordan seemed really nice.   

Kat was up next.  Squee!  (I sounded like a schoolgirl.)  She has an Eastern European accent from being from Serbia, but sounded very American from what she said.  The nerdy glasses she wears when not playing are not for fashion.  Kat is a Bio-Chem major and therefore, a nerd (but a hot one).  Her parents want her to get a degree in the field and a job, but she hopes to play pro ball.  Kat is embarrassed that she likes to sleep in, instead of getting up early to practice.  Well, she needs her beauty sleep.  Before she came on, Kappy asked Jordan to give some personal information about Kat.  She said Kat was a dancer.  Kappy got Kat to promise to do a dance on court if she hits a game-winner.  That was worth missing the Aggie show for, but thankfully they posted the part I missed on Twitter later.

12-17-18
After a nine-day layoff, the Aggie Men’s Basketball team was back in action at home versus the Northern Colorado Bears.  I’m sure they’ve been aching to get back out playing after just losing to Kansas (12-8-18).  Coach Jans was just hoping the team wouldn’t have a letdown playing this game. 

Unfortunately, I was pretty busy with work while the game was on and wasn’t able to really listen.  The Aggies got a new player, Trevelin Queen, who had been academically ineligible, but was able to get on the team after an appeal.  He came in for some spot play. 

In the first half, the Aggies led reasonably comfortably, though after nine turnovers about halfway through, the Bears got within single digits.  “Just keep turning the ball over, guys!”  The coach was standing close enough to Jack Nixon’s microphone for that to go out over the air.  “The coach is sometimes a bit sarcastic,” Jack felt like he had to say something after that.  It was 41-24 after 20 minutes.

During halftime, Las Cruces’ own boxing champ, Austin Trout, came on.  The boxing-crazy girlfriend of one of my co-workers hates him from some reason.  He’s pretty charming.  I’m sure if she met him, she’d like him.  Trout has a gig to start calling fights on cable, but he is not retired.  He’s going to try fighting in a lower weight class. 

I had even less time to listen in the second half.  I heard Jack say, “Temper, temper,” to the Northern Colorado coach after he got a technical, but I don’t even know what caused it.  The Aggies won 74-62.  They seemed a bit undisciplined at times, but might have been some rust after the long layoff.  Ivan Aurrecoechea scored 20 and Eli Chuha had 18 to lead the team.  They had 19 turnovers, but were 51% in shooting.

12-18-18
The Aggie Women’s Basketball team began their holiday road trip playing the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders.  This was the Islanders’ biggest home matchup of the year (they’d played Texas Tech in Lubbock), so they were up for it.  The game was even being broadcast on local TV there (and over the Internet where I was watching it).  This was more-or-less because this game was part of a double header with their Men’s team playing afterward.  A pair of professional announcers were working the game, but there was no time and scoring on screen, so I had to keep a separate screen open with the scoring on it.

I picked up the game right after I got to work about halfway through the first quarter.  The announcers really liked Brooke Salas.  It’s always so satisfying to hear the opposing team’s announcers praising your players.  Her and Adenike Aderinto were doing well in a high-scoring first.  The Aggies were trailing 18-24 after ten minutes.  I saw that the Aggies were still committing too many unforced turnovers, as they were against the Lobos (12-15-18). 

I was at work, so my watching was a bit distracted.  It was 33-35 Islanders at the half.  In the third, the Aggies went down by at least six.  Brooke missed a couple of free throws after a foul.  The announcers and myself were surprised, though she’s had trouble shooting them this season.  But, the Aggies came back.  Stabresa McDaniel tied it at 44 with a three.  She hit another to put them up 47-44. 

Oops.  Puppy break!  Someone brought a puppy into work.  I got no work or basketball-watching done for about 20 minutes.  It was time well spent.  (Poor dog.  She got sick after she was taken home.  She was treated for parvo the next day and is still receiving treatment.)  I got back to the game late in the fourth quarter.  Nike hit two free throws to give the Aggies a four-point lead, 64-60, with under a minute left. 

Gia Pack was intentionally fouled with seconds left.  She made both to keep the Aggies at a four-point lead.  The Islanders came right back down and hit a three.  The Aggies held a one point with just under four seconds left.  Brooke was fouled.  The announcers told her to make the first and intentionally miss the second, so that the Islanders wouldn’t be able to get off a set play.  Brooke missed the first and made the second.  I don’t know what say here.  With one second left, the Islanders weren’t able to get a shot off on the inbounds.  I’d like to tell you how dramatic those last seconds of this close game were, but in reality it took about ten agonizing minutes to play out.

67-65 Aggies was our final.  Adenike Aderinto led the Aggies with 18.  Brooke Salas had 16 (and she really needs to work on her free throws).  Stabresa McDaniel had 10.  Gia Pack did everything today with 9 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 5 steals.  The Aggies led in offensive rebounds, but the Islanders had a better shooting percentage.  We were warned that the Islanders’ coach could be a bit rough in his team evaluations, but he seemed pleased with his teams’ performance in the postgame interview.  The coach thanked the announcer for broadcasting the game, saying it really helps to promote them.

12-19-18
One last Aggie home game for this year, and I actually got to watch most of it.  Tonight, the Men’s Basketball team took on the Cal State University-North Ridge Matadors.  They play in an arena called the “Mata-Dome.”  No comment.  The Mats have a star freshman, Lamine Diane, which is pronounced nowhere near how it looks.  La-lean Jah-nay?  No, really.  While mentioning where all the Matadors are from in California, Jack Nixon asked color commentator, Justin Hawkins, if he was homesick.  He said, “A little,” but his home is in Las Cruces now.  Jack pronounced him, “Las Cru-cified.”  Umm.  No comment.  

Also in the pregame at the “Aggie-Dome,” Jack interviewed AD Mario Moccia, who had good and bad news about the Aggie VolleyballAssistant Coach Ben Wallis was leaving to take a head coaching job with . . . UTEP!  What’s with these rival schools stealing our coaches?  Mario wished him well, and unprompted, Coach Jans did as well during his interview.  (Actually, I do too.  He did a good job here.)  Apparently Ben was well liked.  On other topics, Mario was already exhorting people to come out to the GCU game in early January. 

The game video was broadcast on the WAC Digital Network.  They were picking up the radio call and only using a midcourt camera shot for game, but they did have game graphics onscreen.  There weren’t any ads, so they were showing the live courtside activities during the breaks.  Occasionally, you’d also get Jack talking to his producer.  It looked like a decent crowd, though the students were off.  It was officially listed at 5,300.

First half
Two Aggies hit the floor hard on same possession early.  They were okay thankfully.  I’m sure injuries were the last thing the coach wanted for this tune-up game.  Coach Jans wanted to get everyone involved tonight.  Early, he subbed out the whole team at the first break. 

It was 15-7 Aggies after about 11 minutes.  Keyon Jones hit a three.  Another Aggie hit deck.  Still no damage.  18-7 Keyon hit another three.  Timeout.  During the break, the announcers talked about the Aggies doing the dishes, or rather dishing the ball for five assists so far.  Hawk said Coach Rick Majerus told his teams that the “The ball has energy that grows when it’s passed around.”  That’s profound.

20-8 Aggies, newcomer Trevelin Queen got a leaping rebound under the basket and put it in for his first Aggie points.  Diane, again his name doesn’t look like how it’s pronounced, lost his shoe in play.  His teammates still passed him the ball, but thankfully there was a quick stoppage so he could retrieve his shoe.  Queen hit the court hard on a play.  He initially looked like he might have twisted an ankle, but he was okay.  The Aggies were really getting lucky tonight just missing injuries.  There was another whole team change.  Jack said, “It’s like a line change at a hockey match.”

During another timeout, both teams took seats out on to the court, like Lobo girls did here (12-15-18).  I’ve seen this before; I just don’t understand it.  Santa Claus and Pistol Pete made an appearance on court for Toys for Tots.  Back to play, Ivan Aurrecoechea (thank goodness for copy and paste) made a tremendous move under the basket for a layup to make it 26-13.  Hawk commented that was, “A thing of beauty.  He’s like a dancer.”  37-21 Keyon hit his fourth three.  Meanwhile, Diane had gotten half of the Matadors’ points. 

I was 47-26 Aggies at the half.  Mohamed Thiam hit a straight-on three at the buzzer.  The crowd, Jack, and myself erupted.  Thiam is pronounced “Chahm,” by the way.  Him and Diane are both from Senegal, where spelling is apparently a very creative art.

Halftime
The promised “Teddy Bear Toss” happened at the half.  The court was bombarded by teddy bears.  It was impressive and good to see.  Hopefully, they find good homes.  The Cheerleaders went out to collect them.  Jack interviewed a visiting coach from a Tennessee school who was in El Paso for the Sun Bowl tourney.  He’s a friend of Coach Jans and came to see him.  The coach has lots of friends out there in college basketball.
 
Second half
This was a great way to start.  Shunn Buchanan (pronounced “Sean”) made a no-look pass by to Ivan (don’t ask me to transliterate his last name) under the basket for a bucket to make it 56-30.  Ivan made another great move under the basket for a 60-30 lead.  75-44, Keyon hit his fifth three.  The reserves were getting lots of playing time tonight and doing well. 

Jack was asking during a break for an update on the GCU game being played tonight.  He wants the WAC teams to win against out-of-conference teams.  78-46, Keyon’s sixth three.  84-53 he got his seventh.  Keyon Jones finished with 21 points, a career high.  Queen finished the scoring for the night with a jam.  92-57 Aggies


That worked out well.  I picked a fun game to watch.  AJ Harris, Ivan Aurrecoechea, Eli Chuha, and Robert Brown all scored in double digits.  The team played a good game overall.  Even the coach was reasonably pleased.  He’d told the team to go make 700 three’s over the break on their own time, and on the honor system.  Jack asked Coach Jans about his Christmas shopping.  He said that the wife took care of that, and he thanked her for it.  He just provided the money.

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