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
Volleyball. Assistant 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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