B-RadHoops - February 2009

WE’RE BIG SOUTH CHAMPS.  HOW COOL IS THAT?

Who could have imagined that we could have gone from finishing in 7^th place last season to winning the whole enchilada?  I don’t think I would have believed that possible when I first stepped foot on RU’s campus 22 months ago.   It’s the first time in Big South history a school made that big a jump.  We are now guaranteed a post-season NIT invite.

This has been a long and eventful week.  We beat Charleston Southern 80-71 for our 8^th consecutive conference road game on Monday.   Art Parakhouski scored a season a season high 29, Amir Johnson and Joey Lynch-Flohr had 16 a piece, we shot 50% from the field and only committed 12 turnovers.  Charleston Southern played well and is a much better team than their record indicates. 

The win in Charleston combined with Presbyterian’s defeat of VMI the same night gave us a 2 game lead over the Keydets and set the stage for a dramatic showdown between your Highlanders and VMI on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. 

Cameron Hall is VMI’s home court and with 4,744 on hand (the third largest crowd ever to watch a VMI home game there) we played and inspired 40 minutes to clinch the Big South Regular Season Championship with the final score 97-90. 

Statistics of VMI games are among the most unique and bizarre you will ever see.  That afternoon VMI made 16 three point field goals – on 54 attempts!  We went into the game with a goal of keeping them under .30% from beyond the arc.  They shot .296% - mission accomplished.  We went into the game wanting to hold them to an overall field goal percentage under .40%.  They were 30-85 which is .35%.  We shot 61% against them making 38-62 field goals.  Because they missed so many shots and had only 11 offensive rebounds we outrebounded them 65-26.  Individual efforts for RU included Art Parakhouski 17 points & 10 rebounds, Joey Lynch-Flohr 15 points & 14 rebounds, Amir Johnson 15 points & 14 rebounds – all defensive rebounds, Kenny Thomas 28 points and 6 assists, and Chris McEachin 11 points and 7 rebounds.  We committed a lot of turnovers vs. their full court pressure but also scored a lot against it with some aggressive open court plays. 

The win was our 9^th conference road win (9-0) setting a new conference record.  The nine road W’s is also a RU school record. It ties us with UConn for the nation’s longest road winning streak.  And it was the 15^th time this season we had at least 4 players in double figures.  I love the balance we have achieved this year with our inside-outside approach to offense. 

As a coaching staff we have preached the concept of TEAM all year long.  The power of a group all committed to one cause.  To witness 10 uniformed players in the tiny VMI locker room after the game huddled so tight you could have fit them inside a hoola-hoop, hopping up and down chanting “Big South Champs” was thrilling for our staff to watch.

Words cannot express the gratitude our team has for the fans who traveled up I-81 to cheer us on Saturday.  To hear “RU” chants overpower a near sellout crowd of Keydets and Lexingtonians was inspiring. 

It would be great if we can pack Dedmon for our last two regular season home games this week.  Up Wednesday is High Point – a dangerous team with size, athleticism and scoring power.  And Saturday we host Liberty – a 20 game winner on Homecoming weekend. 

Saturday night I was lucky enough to catch a party where a RU banner was hanging and the crowd was very excited about our win.  On Sunday I caught my breath, downed some chocolate, came back down to earth and went to see The Wrestler – Mickey Rourke’s “comeback” performance.  His character was tragic and endearing – go see it if you can. 

Big South Regular Season Champs.  I like the way that sounds. 17. Oui. Oui.    

Go Highlanders.

Brad

P.S.  Please register for Homecoming now.  There will be lots of festivities. 

http://www.radford.edu/~alumni/homecoming/

P.S.S.  Please forward B-RadHoops to any other folks who might like to read about Highlander Hoops.  We want everyone to be able to share in the excitement.

http://www.radford.edu/~ruhoops/

It was a great week for Highlander basketball.  A home and a road win to bring our conference record to 12-2 good for sole possession of first place in the Big South.

Coastal Carolina is a very good team and played a strong “out of the box” defensive game against us last Monday.  They played a Triangle and 2 defense where two defenders are guarding two offensive players and the other three defenders form a triangle zone protecting scoring areas close to the basket.  We missed a lot of good shots early, got a little tentative against it and never really got into a good offensive flow.  But we fought and ended up a 71-67 overtime winner.  Chris McEachin and Kenny Thomas made some clutch baskets to get us into overtime.  Art Parakhouski, last week’s Big South Co-Player of the Week had 16 points and 18 rebounds for his 12^th double-double of the year.   Amir Johnson played all 45 minutes.

Saturday afternoon in Asheville, we scored the first basket of the game, a three by Kenny Thomas, and that was the only time we were in the lead until Joey Lynch-Flohr scored with 1:21 left in the game to give us a 62-61 lead.  Kenny Thomas scored on a put back to give us a 64-63 lead.  But UNCA scored to go ahead 65-64 with 7 seconds to go.  Their player missed a free throw that could have given them a 2 point lead and after Kenny Thomas got the rebound, Amir went the rest of the way for a game winning drive.  Amir picked up his 400^th assist in the game joining a select group of Big South guards.  Art Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr combined for 29 points and 23 rebounds.  It was Art’s 13^th double-double.  Eric Hall scored just one field goal but was fantastic getting 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, an assist and a steal in 16 minutes of action.  We could not have won the game without Eric.  

The win was our 7^th straight road win and the last time a Radford team did that was the 1978-1979 season.  The 12-2 conference record is the best RU start in Big South play since the 2000-2001 season. 

The game was an afternoon affair and that gave us a chance to actually celebrate afterwards with a nice meal and it was even more special in that our staff had family and special friends who had traveled to Asheville to celebrate with.  We found a great Thai-Japanese restaurant in downtown Asheville. The Sushi was great, the Sake smooth and a Japanese eggplant stuffed with seafood dish a taste sensation. 

The feeling you get as a coach when you see your team celebrate a great win and the feeling you get being able to celebrate it with them is special.  Working with a staff and players just about every day for months and months and succeeding in a fiercely competitive environment is an incredibly rewarding experience

We traveled to Charleston Sunday morning, practiced in the late afternoon and took the team to Jim ‘N Nicks Bar-B-Q.  All I can say is…..full slab of baby backs!

We play Charleston Southern Monday night.  We are now in first place – all by ourselves and realize there is a big target on our backs as teams always get up for a shot at the top team in the league.   

If you enjoy reading B-RadHoops please forward this email and link below to your friends so they can sign up to receive it and read about the Highlanders.

http://www.radford.edu/~ruhoops/

Make your reservations now for Homecoming, especially the after party.  We play Liberty and it will be an exciting game and weekend.  Here’s the link for Homecoming info and registration.

http://www.radford.edu/~alumni/homecoming/

Go Highlanders

Brad

It’s fun to write B-RadHoops when our team is having success on and off the court.  That was the case this past week as we completed regular conference season “sweeps” of both Winthrop and Presbyterian to run our BSC record to 10-2 and our overall record to 13-10.  The last time a Radford team won 10 league games was the 2000-2001 season. 

The Winthrop game on Monday, February 2 was our 6^th straight league road win.  Sophomore guard, Chris McEachin, scored a career high 19 and hit a driving bank shot with 14 seconds to go to help seal the win.  Art Parakhouski had another double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds.  Amir Johnson had 8 assists and will move into the #2 spot in career assists for RU before the end of this year.  We held Winthrop to .299% fg’s and they made just 1 of 20 (.05%) three-point attempts.  I thought we played pretty good defense but I also think Winthrop had a bad shooting night.  They missed 54 shots but got 19 offensive rebounds and that is something we have to guard against if we play them again.  They have strong competitive athletes.  

On Saturday we beat a tough Presbyterian team 78-61.  The Blue Hose (one of the weirdest nicknames in college sports) have won 7 BSC games and have Al’Lonzo Coleman, a powerful inside player.  We forced PC into 21 turnovers and got the ball inside to Art – 21 points, and Joey – 13 points to wear them down in the paint.  Amir Johnson had 15 points and 4 assists. 

But the difference maker in the game was junior small forward Phillip Martin.  Phillip had a career high 16 points and only missed 1 shot all night.  He was 4-5 fg’s, 2-2 on threes, and 6-6 from the line.  He even banked in a ft!  I always tell our players to think of two things when they shoot free throws.  1) Shoot it straight.  2) Get it over the front rim…don’t miss short….give it a chance just like a golfer making sure not to leave a putt short.  Phillip, being the smart guy he is, did just that on his banked free throw and was rewarded.  

Earlier this week he was rewarded with something more significant when he was chosen an ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors) District III 1^st Team Academic honoree along with Duke’s Greg Paulus and Brian Zoubek, Gardner Webb’s Aaron Linn and Charleston Southern’s Giedrius Knysas.  Phillip has a 3.91 GPA majoring in Social Science and Philosophy and Religious Studies. 

If you enjoy reading B-RadHoops please forward this email and link below to your friends so they can sign up to receive it and read about the Highlanders.

http://www.radford.edu/~ruhoops/

Make your reservations now for Homecoming.  We play Liberty and it will be an exciting game and weekend.  Here’s the link for Homecoming info and registration.

http://www.radford.edu/~alumni/homecoming/

Go Highlanders

Brad

A strong 2^nd half was the key to a solid Saturday evening 76-57 win over Gardner Webb.  Improving our defense has been a priority for us this season.  We established defensive field goal percentage “game goals” this season.  We aspire to hold opponents under .40% from the field and under .30% on three pointers. 

We met both goals in this game holding GW to .339% (21-62) from the field and .174% (4-23) on threes.  In all fairness to GW – Grayson Flittner, their leading scorer was injured and did not play.  That made them a little easier to defend.

Amir Johnson was strong guarding their playmaker Aaron Linn, Joey Lynch-Flohr and Eric Hall did a fine job on Nate Blank - one of their best outside shooters who made just 1 field goal in 26 minutes, and Art Parakhouski blocked 5 shots in the 2^nd half to shut down the lane.  Art has blocked 11 shots in the last two games.  Art is now the 12^th leading rebounder in the country with 10.4 rpg.    

We had some special fans rooting us on against the GW Running Bulldogs.  RU Tennis Coach Mike Anderson and his team traveled directly from Atlanta and their convincing win over Georgia State to Boiling Springs, NC to watch our game. 

Our team left Boiling Springs for Rock Hill following the game, about an hour drive.  We decided it best to get settled in for Winthrop after the game.  After an early afternoon practice, I traveled to Davidson, NC with Assistant Coach Ali Ton (Davidson alum) to root on the RU Tennis team as they put a whooping on Davidson. 

We stopped by Davidson’s Basketball Office to chat a bit with Coach Bob McKillop and his staff.  Bob – a fellow New Yorker - and I go way back to our college playing days.   Bob, Rick Pitino and the Greenberg brothers would meet two or three nights a week during the summer at various designated Long Island playgrounds or gyms for pickup games.   

We are now 8-2 in the league, in second place and have won 5 straight road games.  This is the best league start for a RU team since the 2000-2001 season when the Highlanders opened Big South play 12-2.  In the month of January we went 7-1 and held opponents to .376% from the field and .296% from beyond the arc. 

If you enjoy reading B-RadHoops please forward this email and link below to your friends so they too can read about the Highlanders.

http://www.radford.edu/~ruhoops/

Make your reservations now for Homecoming.  We play Liberty and it will be an exciting game and weekend.  Here’s the link for Homecoming info and registration.

http://www.radford.edu/~alumni/homecoming/

Go Highlanders

Brad