It’s week three of Lasky’s Lounge and I feel like the season is flying by. It needs to slow down a bit so we can all enjoy more basketball. Before you know it, both basketball teams will be in full MEAC mode. Hey, as always, if you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to email umesbroadcast@gmail.com. Talk to you all on the radio soon!

Shout out of the Week: I want to start this week with my shout out because the term student-athlete gets tossed around aimlessly and the student part is sometimes lost. Last Friday morning, Josh Bright of the men’s basketball team officially graduated from UMES. Josh stayed in Princess Anne on Friday and flew to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning. Josh is a business administration major at UMES. I think it’s important to celebrate academic achievement as much as athletic success. Josh is enrolled in graduate school at UMES and will begin his pursuit of a master’s degree this coming spring. Congrats Josh!

Trivia Time: In honor of Hillary Haley connecting on 13 free throws against Washington College, who is the last UMES player to hit at least 13 free throws in a single game? Keep reading for the answer.

Did that Happen?: Full disclosure, I wasn’t at the women’s game against Towson because I was in Pittsburgh. Here is a puzzling discrepancy from the box score. Towson shot 34 free throws in the second half and UMES shot eight. The Hawks were whistled for 20 fouls in the second half while Towson was called for just eight. The number of fouls is a bit skewed because the Hawks committed five fouls in the final 1:51 trying to come back. Towson shot just 44.1 percent (15-34) in the second half. They were 0-2 from the line in the first half.

Century Mark: It’s not often that a team hits the century mark in a game (100 points). Against Division III Washington College, UMES scored at least 100 points for the first time since a 3OT game against Albany during the 2000-01. The Hawks won 102-96. The last time UMES scored 100 points in regulation was during the 1996-97 season when they scored 112 against Centenary. Through 119 MEAC games this season, only three teams have scored 100 points. North Carolina A&T beat N.C. Wesleyan 100-66, Delaware State beat Philadelphia Biblical 103-41 and UMES beat Washington College 102-86.

Endorsement from Jamie Dixon: Following the UMES vs. Pitt game, Pittsburgh head coach Jaime Dixon uttered this message during the opening remarks of his postgame press conference (and I quote) …

“Maryland Eastern Shore is a good team. I think they’ll be at the top of their league at the end of the season; they just get worn down with all these road games at the start.” The only caveat that I feel obliged to mention is that Dixon said this after Pitt played Delaware State 10 days prior, “I anticipate that Delaware State is going to win their league and make it to the NCAA Tournament.” Not sure what to make of the statements. Is it just coach speak or did he think Delaware State was the best and then changed his mind after seeing UMES?

Jets: Raise your hand if you have stayed at the same hotel as an NFL football team. Yep, probably not many of you can claim that. Last Saturday, many of us (players, coaches, staff) were in the lobby of our team hotel in Pittsburgh waiting for the bus to pull up, when a gathering of people formed in the far corner. All of a sudden, Rex Ryan and the New York Jets begin to appear one-by-one. Oh yea, I’m taking LaDainian Tomlinson, Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes, Jason Taylor…all of them. They were checking into the same hotel as us to prepare for their game against the Steelers. Pretty neat to see how they travel and all the fine details that go into travel with an NFL team.

Jackson’s Improvement: Bria Jackson made 13 total 3-pointers in 26 games last season. She has seven after eight games this year. Take it a step further. Jackson scored 83 total points in 26 games last season. She already has 41 points in eight games this season. She has scored eight points in three of her last five games.

Trivia Answer: Ed Tyson is the last UMES player to hit 13 free throws in a single game. He did it on Feb. 2, 2008 on the road at Morgan State. UMES lost the game 67-52. Tyson poured in 28 of the 52 UMES points.

Five-Stars: Time to celebrate the best two players from last week. For the men, my “five-stars” go to Dishawn Bradshaw. The Charm City native poured in 33 points between Pittsburgh (12) and Washington College (21). More impressive in my book was that he handed out nine assists between the two games. He led the Hawks in assists in both games. He adds another dimension to his 3-point game when he puts the ball on the deck and creates for his teammates. On the ladies side, the senior Casey Morton is the recipient. Morton scored 26 points combined in the three games last week. She finished with 13 against ACC foe Wake Forest.

Numbers of the Week: 17 – the number of fast break points the men’s team scored against Washington College, by far the most of the season. In the other 10 games combined, the Hawks scored a total of only 26 fast break points. In the first ten games, the Hawks never totaled more than 4 fast break points. Nice to see the Hawks get out on the break. 94 – The Lady Hawks have hit a 3-pointer in 94 consecutive games. The last time that the Lady Hawks did not hit a 3-pointer in a game was on Nov. 14, 2007 against NCCU. The interesting thing about that game was UMES won by a wide margin, 54-32. That is impressive stuff.

Two for the Road: 1) The men’s team leaves for Colorado on Tuesday with their game set for Wednesday (Dec. 29, 9:00 EST). The Buffaloes have won 19 consecutive non-conference games at the Coors Event Center. Further, the last time UMES made the trek to Boulder was on Dec. 30, 1993. It will be just about 17 years from the day on Dec. 29, 2010. 2) The Lady Hawks are 0-2 all-time against Canisius. It will be the second meeting in Buffalo. The last meeting in Buffalo was on Nov. 17, 2006. Canisius won the game 48-44. Only one player in the whole game scored in double figures (Amanda Cavo, 10 points).

Have a happy and healthy holiday season. Good luck to both the men’s and women’s teams when they resume play.

More Pitt photos

 During halftime, the Little Panthers dribblers performed... boy were they cute.  Their ages were across the board but there were definitely some 2-3 year olds in addition to middle schoolers.  They did such a great job performing different dribbling tricks!

Pitt had a wide variety of gum lined up along the sideline for everyone's use.  It sure was amusing to see.

 Coach Allen's post game press conference

Pitt has an all-time 140-11 record at the Petersen Events Center... how's that for success?

GAME DAY - UMES @ PITT - Starters

UMES - Maroon uniform
3 White
11 Burns
23 Bradshaw
24 Haley
32 Hines

Pitt - White uniform
5 Brown
14 Gibbs
22 Wanamaker
42 Zanna
52 McGhee

Pitt Photos

Photos from tonight's practice at Pitt's Petersen Events Center.  It's a VERY nice facility, I'm excited to see it filled with fans tomorrow night.

 Interview room

 Coach Brown's son, Gilbert, enjoyed the comfy leather seats in one of the suites.

I quickly snuck a peek into their practice gym before we left, I was expecting a lot more photos and glitz/glamour, but it gets the job done!

Welcome to Pittsburgh!

We just arrived in Pittsburgh after about a seven hour drive.  Will get settled in to the hotel for a bit before heading to practice.

Poor quality photo but Coach Brown "won" a UMES "blanket with sleeves" at the holiday party yesterday.  I say "won," because it was the present that he brought and he was determined to leave with it.  He sure was the happiest man I've ever seen to own one.

 Well hello, Westin!

 The view from my room, doesn't look great, but I liked it.  The Monongahela River is in the distance and except for the large building, it was a good view.

Athletic Trainer Randi Kaplan and myself took a walk around the city a little bit after we arrived.  This is a photo of PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I absolutely love baseball so this was a must stop/photo for me.   The photo is taken from the Roberto Clemente bridge, one of the famous bridges in town.  To the far left you can see a piece of Heinz Field, home of the Steelers.

As we're getting ready to order food for after practice this is the menu... ummm, what exactly are wedgies?!  I mean, I know the obvious, elementary school definition, but I have never heard of food that's called this!

Lasky's Lounge Week 2

It’s week two of Lasky’s Lounge and I just returned from Evansville, Indiana with the men’s basketball team. This is your one stop shop for some interesting tidbits about UMES athletics, in particular, the men’s and women’s basketball programs. If you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to email, umesbroadcast@gmail.com. Talk to you all on the radio soon!

Did that Happen?: It was relatively easy to find something that screams “Did that Happen?” this past week. The Lady Hawks were locked in a dandy against LIU on Wednesday evening. With the score tied at 49, there was a 30-second timeout called by LIU. Ashley Palmer was ready to inbound the ball from the sideline near her team’s bench. Palmer was up against the 5-count, panicked and called a time out. However, LIU was out of time outs. Technical foul. The Hawks weren’t able to capitalize and win in regulation but it brought back memories of Chris Webber. Let’s take you into the time machine. It was April 5, 1993 and Michigan was playing UNC for the NCAA title. Michigan is trailing 72-69 with 46 seconds left when they call their last time out. Then, Webber scores after a UNC turnover to trim the deficit to 72-71. UNC’s Pat Sullivan is fouled and he makes the first and misses the second free throw. Webber grabs the rebound (gets away with a travel) and brings the ball into the forecourt. He then gets trapped and calls a timeout. Technical foul. UNC’s Donald Williams hit both free throws and UNC seals the title. Williams was the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. (Kansas and Kentucky were the other two teams in the final four in case you were wondering).

10 Second Violation: During the LIU broadcast, one thing that Dave Byrd and I discussed was the missing 10-second violation in women’s college basketball. It puzzles me that the men’s game enforces a 10-second count in the backcourt but the women’s game doesn’t. I understand that the men’s game is played at a different speed but still. You mean to tell me that Bria Jackson, Casey Morton and Amber Cook can’t get the ball across in 10-seconds? I don’t buy that for a second. The only thing the lack of a 10-second count affords the ladies is a chance to casually bring the ball across. Sometimes late in games you’ll see the point guards dribble in the backcourt and evaporate the clock. They could do the same thing in the frontcourt right? Also, I feel that at least 95% of the time, they get the ball across in under 10 seconds anyway.­­­ I’ll have to get coach Batchelor’s thoughts on this. Maybe he has a profound explanation. What are some of your theories? Should the 10-count be enforced?

Two Good Reads: I was doing my homework on coach Frankie Allen and his dominance in the Old Dominion state of Virginia before the ODU game and I stumbled upon this article. It’s a really interesting read about coach Allen’s time at Roanoke and some of the obstacles he has overcome in his career. http://spec.lib.vt.edu/archives/blackhistory/timeline/frankie_allen.htm

On a sad note, the 33^rd anniversary of the horrific 1977 Evansville basketball team plane crash was yesterday (Dec. 13). Since the Hawks just played Evansville, I have read quite a bit about the incident. For those that were born after 1977, you might not remember a lot about the tragedy. Here is one of the many articles I found. http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/local/article_0bb7d4e2-e7b8-11de-8314-001cc4c03286.html

Trivia time: Who is the only UMES basketball player (men’s or women’s) to make at least 100 3-pointers in a single season since the 2002-03 campaign?

Shout(s) out of the Week: I have multiple so let’s start.

1. Adobi Agbasi for stepping to the forefront and making the coaching staff look like geniuses for diagramming the biggest two plays of the game (against LIU) for her. Agbasi tied the game with a lefty lay in with 57 seconds left. She is tough to guard when moving to her left and turning over her right shoulder.
   
2. Kevin White for chasing a ball in the second half against Evansville (when they Hawks were down big) that was destined for his own bench and diving full-extension after it to try and save it. It wound up being out of bounds off the Hawks but it’s those types of hustle plays that will be paramount come conference play. Kevin really asserted himself in the second half.
   
3. Tyler Hines for recording his third career double-double against Evansville (11 points, 11 rebounds). Hines ripped down six offensive rebounds. He is a tireless worker.

Road Warriors: We had a Thursday afternoon departure with the men’s basketball team for Norfolk, Virginia. The hotel in Norfolk might be one of my favorites for three reasons…1) It’s literally right across the street from the Ted Constant Center. We left the hotel and walked across the street – can’t beat that for convenience. 2) Breakfast provided a wide variety – eggs, sausage, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, bagels, muffins, waffles, pastries, juice and more. 3) Complimentary tea and honey…for a broadcaster suffering through a winter cold, that is as clutch as a free throw with seconds left to ice a game. We awoke at 6:30 a.m. to catch our flight to Chicago (we transferred and caught a flight to Louisville and then bused to Evansville). One thing I found interesting on the aircraft was the food the flight attendants handed out. Everyone was offered a “Newtons Fruit Crisps” bar. Whatever happened to pretzels and peanuts? I guess I’m just old fashioned. Nothing out of the ordinary in Evansville except for the constant change of the time zone we were in. We flew to Chicago (central time) then transferred and flew to Louisville (eastern time) and then bused to Evansville (central time). Easy trip though. Kudos to Curtis Peery and the coaching staff for taking good care of everyone. It’s a lot harder than you think to travel with a group of 19 people, especially when there are practices, games, laundry to be done, food to buy, scouting reports to finalize, flights to catch and so on.

Number(s) of the Week: 406 – the number of points Tim Burns has scored since arriving on the UMES campus. Burns scored 10 second half points against Evansville to cross over the 400 points marker in his career with the Hawks. Burns has 640 college points (two seasons at High Point). 15.2 – the percentage that the Lady Hawks are holding the opposition to from beyond the 3-point line. Through five games, opponents are 12-of-79 from 3-point range against UMES. Syracuse sputtered to a 1-for-23 night from deep and LIU shot 1-of-7 from deep. 41 – The number of bench points that Fred Batchelor received last week against Manhattan and LIU combined. The Hawks scored a total of 107 points. Therefore, 38% of their points last week came from the reserves.

Five Stars: Time to crown the crème de la crème from the last week. Ladies first. She sometimes reminds me of watching a game on West 4^th street in the cage or at Rucker Park with her razzle-dazzle shake-‘n-bake dribbling style but she has a silky smooth jumper that will splash the net from NBA range. Kwinnyata Mercer had a “Five-Star” type of week. Mercer poured in 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the two games last week. She made the two technical free throws late in the second half to give the Hawks a brief lead vs. LIU. She nailed a three-pointer early in overtime to give the Hawks a 54-51 lead. She also made two free throws in OT. It was a challenging week for the men’s basketball team so it took some thought to decide who would receive the award. I’m giving “Five-Stars” to Tim Burns this week. He scored ten points (all in the second half) against Evansville. In the four UMES games prior, Burns had only scored six total points. Burns has lost a lot of playing time of late (8.0 minutes per game in the four games prior to Evansville) and maybe his performance against the Purple Aces will get him back in the thick of the rotation. Remember, Burns started 21 games last season and averaged 33.1 minutes per game (second most of the team). He was also second on the Hawks in scoring (11.2).

Two for the Road: Next up for the men’s team… the Pitt Panthers. Here is a little nugget to digest about Pitt. Before Tennessee tripped them up on last Saturday, they had won 58 consecutive non-conference games in the city of Pittsburgh. Bucknell downed Pittsburgh on Jan. 2, 2005 (last loss before Tennessee). The Lady Hawks next two opponents are Towson, Saturday Dec. 18, and Wake Forest on Monday, Dec. 20. The Lady Hawks have never beaten Towson (0-7 all-time). It has been 23 years since the UMES women’s basketball team has faced Wake Forest. The ‘Deacs beat UMES 73-61 in 1987.

Trivia Answer: If you guessed Toni Kennedy of the women’s basketball team, you are correct! Kennedy knocked in exactly 100 3-pointers during the 2005-06 season. Kennedy made 157 3-pointers in two seasons with the Lady Hawks.

 If you have any questions for me, please feel free to contact me at umesbroadcast@gmail.com.

This week’s broadcast schedule:

Thursday – Coaches’ Corner 7-8 @ Peaky’s Pub (WGOP 540 AM, 100.7 FM)

Saturday – Men’s basketball @ Pittsburgh (95.5 The Sports Animal)