CLEVELAND – Coaches (present and former) come out differently about conference games in December. “Purists” are vehemently against, claiming this time of year is for learning and teaching, often claiming they’re not ready to begin conference play. A former (and still often) purist, I love league games in December, jumping right into games with real meaning and intensity.
Perhaps Homer Drew said it best the other night after Valparaiso lost its earliest conference opener ever to Cleveland State: “These early games are great when you’re playing mostly experienced juniors and seniors; they’re really brutal when you’re relying on freshmen.” Interestingly, Drew’s Crusaders must have gained some experience at CSU on Tuesday night, as they continued their road trip and won an all-important conference road game at Youngstown State last night.
So with the “Drew theory” on early conference games in mind, we focus on last night’s big game in Cleveland between Butler and Cleveland State.
Those of you who’ve read this space before know that at first this writer was skeptical about Butler: another non-athletic Princeton that says it defends, but really just holds the ball for 34 seconds. Then, I ventured out to Indy for an exhibition game, and after just thirty seconds, that skepticism was gone. The freshmen guards are far more athletic than last year’s group, Shelvin Mack can also shoot from the perimeter, and big, strong, tough center Matt Howard is now a sophomore. And then there is 6-8 freshman guard (that’s right, guard) Gordon Hayward, who led Brownsburg to an Indiana state championship last winter, and about whom former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson should be more ashamed than he is about text messaging. In fact, only a former assistant coach and never a head coach, it was probably arrogant of me to say in an earlier piece that with the release and purity of his shot, his size, and his athleticism, Hayward is going to be a pro (a pro in this country, not overseas). Well, Butler came to Cleveland last night to open its conference schedule at 1-0 Cleveland State, and nothing happened in last night’s game to change my mind.
As high as this writer has been on Butler from the beginning, even with their undefeated non-conference November, last night’s game looked like an awfully tough spot. It was the first conference game for coach Brad Stevens’ freshmen, on the road, at preseason Horizon favorite CSU with its two preseason all-league seniors. In fact, I thought (and perhaps wrote somewhere) that while CSU will improve with next week’s eligibility of freshman guard Trevon Harmon, they were fortunate to get Butler in their gym in early December, before Stevens’ three starting freshmen could be ready. To this writer, last night was the night CSU had to win, given its advantage; by the time these two teams meat in Hinkle the last day of February, well by then Butler’s frosh will be much more formidable opponents.
So having expected Butler to be competitive but CSU to prevail, it now occurs to me that in losing 50-48 last night, CSU may have squandered the best chance it will have had to beat Butler for some time to come.
And Coach Gary Waters couldn’t have written a better script to start last night’s game, with Butler center Matt Howard forced to the bench for 15 first half minutes after two quick fouls. CSU built a seven-point halftime lead, which was then an eight-point lead fourteen minutes into the second stanza.
But just as scripture more than once foretold that “A child shall lead them,” eighteen-year-old Hayward stepped up in every phase of the game, and led a spirited Butler comeback, one ultimately resulting in Zach Hahn’s game-winning three-pointer in the final second. Butler didn’t hold a lead in the game from its 8-6 advantage at the five-minute mark, when Howard took a seat, until 47-46 after a Shawn Vanzant trey at 19:40 of the second. And then, after J’Nathan Bullock scored from the block against Howard at 19:55 to restore CSU’s lead, that trey by Hahn gave the Bulldogs a win in Wolstein at the final buzzer, 50-48. A win in a game as intense, physical and exciting as it was low scoring.
Not only did Howard pick up two fouls in the first five minutes, but he picked up his third as Bullock bulled toward the goal barely two minutes into the second half. Having played just seven minutes at that point and hardly contributed (no points and two rebounds at that juncture), Stevens took a calculated gamble and left Howard in the game with three fouls. And while he would play the rest of the game and not be whistled for his fourth, Howard never regained the ferociousness he’s known for, never regained the aggressiveness robbed by fouls. That tentativeness caused Howard to touch but fail to capture ten more than the seven rebounds he was credited for in the game, and lose the handle on dribbles and passes far more often than his two turnovers indicated. Howard finished with just two field goals, a total of seven points, and even two crucial missed free throws down the stretch.
But on this night of Howard’s worst game in memory, Hayward took a giant step in his development as a basketball player. Blanketed all night long by D’Aundray Brown, CSU’s best defender, this would not be a night Hayward would take over from the arc, finishing with just eight points on 2-7 shooting, just 1-2 from deep. But in an effort to relieve the defensive pressure applied to his smaller guards by CSU’s Cedric Jackson and Norris Cole, for much of the second half Stevens had Hayward handling the ball as his point guard.
And at the defensive end, when it again became clear that the greater threat posed by Cedric Jackson was at the goal rather than on the perimeter, Hayward defended Jackson for much of the second half, taking away most of Jackson’s half court penetration. In one crucial late second half sequence, on three trips down Hayward guarded Jackson outside, Bullock in the post, and then Jackson again outside, all three successfully. And with Howard first seated and then uncharacteristically docile, Hayward took over the boards, finishing with a game-high 12.
Then there were the last four minutes, when Hayward wouldn’t let his team lose. At the 16-minute mark he rebounded Shelvin Mack’s missed trey, was fouled on the follow, and made two free throws, cutting CSU’s lead to five. After CSU failed to convert on a minute-long possession, at the 17:30 mark Hayward hit a trey from the corner. Then a defensive board at 17:50, fouled at 18:20, hitting 1-of-2 from the line. Then great play in the final thirty seconds.
Down two, Hayward dribbled to his right across half court against pressure, saw Bullock’s failure to switch leave open guard Shawn Vanzant (playing 16 minutes for Ronald Nored this night), and made a long, quick accurate pass to his left to assist on Vanzant’s trey that put Butler in front.
Then, after Bullock responded with under 6 seconds remaining, Butler turned to Hayward to play the Tyus Edney role in this night’s drama. Again dribbling to his right across mid-court, Hayward found Hahn to his left behind the arc with a pass good enough for Hahn to catch in rhythm, shot fake Cole, and launch a trey with under a second on the clock. When the lefty’s shot went through, Hayward had assisted on his second trey in the final twenty seconds, and Butler had a most unlikely two-point win.
Stevens was proud that his team “never conceded defeat,” and particularly proud of “Gordon’s big play after big play” in the final minutes. While he was talking about the pass to Hahn when he said “that was a great pass by Hayward,” he just as easily could have been talking about the pass seconds earlier to Vanzant.
On the other end of the drama, Waters focused on opportunities lost playing much of the first half with Howard on the bench (“J’Nathan missed four layups in the first half”), five consecutive poor defensive possessions down the stretch, and late missed free throws (most of CSU’s twelve misses were in the last 8 minutes).
“We’re gonna have to steal one down the road we shouldn’t win, to make up for losing tonight,” Coach said. Well, it’s not a conference game, but tomorrow afternoon at West Virginia is as good a place as any for that.
Horizon News and Notes
- In the first big night of Horizon action, Valpo rebounded from its loss Tuesday in Cleveland and came back from a 9-point first half deficit, winning at Youngstown State 68-57. Home teams prevailed in Wisconsin, as Milwaukee bested Detroit 71-62, and Green Bay defeated Wright State 57-46. Now 0-5, Wright State will have go at least another month without junior point guard Vaughn Duggins, whose Thanksgiving Day practice broken finger was surgically repaired Wednesday.
- While the Cleveland and Indianapolis Horizon contingents (and ESPNU) properly focused on Butler-CSU as the big game this week, one perhaps even bigger – and more startling – was played down in Nashville. On Wednesday, Illinois-Chicago visited Vanderbilt and in a win Coach Jimmy Collins called “great for the Horizon League,” UIC not only upset the SEC’s Commodores, but did so handily, 74-55. Preseason Player-of-the-Year selection Josh Mayo hit 8-of -10 treys to score 30 (overall 11-20), backcourt running mate Robo Kreps scored 23 on an even more efficient 10-15 shooting, and Scott VenderMeer grabbed 11 rebounds.
