Premiere Edition: November 24th

by James Miller as The Beaver

The second year of the Jay John era began last Saturday at Gill Coliseum in front of a meager crowd of 2,843, due mostly to the fact that the Civil war football game was that afternoon.  The Beavers opened with defending SWAC Champion Prairie View A+M.  Second year coach Jerome Francis Jr led the Panthers into Gill looking to start another SWAC championship run.  Prairie View, a traditionally African American College was an opponent that Jay John’s Beavers could not afford to overlook. 

The Beavers did not disappoint coming out in businesslike fashion and racing out to a 15-4 lead and never looked back, cruising in for a 70-53 victory.  At the half the Beavers were up 35-22 and had held Prairie View to a paltry 33% shooting performance for the half.  The Panthers would draw to within five points in the second half.  The young Beavers didn’t panic and quickly smothered the Panther run out.  Junior David Lucas who scored 16 points from all over the floor, and Angelo Tsagarakis who shot 3-4 from beyond the arc for 11 points were instrumental in keeping the Beavers’ offense consistent.

The Beavers were solid on offense as a team.  They moved the ball well and shot (26-61) for a solid 43% from two.  From beyond the arc the Beavers shot 28% (4-14), three of which were put away by freshman guard Angelo Tsagarakis.  The Beavers also turned in an impressive 19 assists including 7 from JS Nash but were out rebounded (37-40).    

Most surprising was the Beaver defensive effort, holding the Panthers to 33% shooting (22-57), 10% from three (1-10), forced 25 turnovers, blocked two shots, and stole the ball 6 times.  Prairie View forward Tyrone Nelson was very impressive scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  Panther point guard Kevin Cooper had a dreadful night racking up 10 turnovers, mostly unforced.  

This Week’s positional and team grades:

Center - C:  The only player listed as a true center is freshman Kyle Jeffers.  Kyle was impressive defensively holding down and eventually fouling out behemoth 6-11 327 pound (listed as 327, yeah right!)  Panther center Roderick Riley.  Kyle was workmanlike and did what his team needed him to do.  However, Jeffers collected only 4 rebounds and scored a single point hence the passing but not excelling marks.

Forwards – B-:  Most impressive of the forward group was junior David Lucas.  Lucas was the epitome of team play on Saturday night.  He was a catalyst on offense and coordinated the defense.  Also impressive was Quasi Forward Jim Hanchett.  Hanchett, a junior transfer is undersized but couldn’t be stopped and seemed to get his hands on every loose ball.  Jim seems to specialize on getting on the floor and should lead the team in floor burns after this week.  Freshman Kenny Hooks was also good in the team flow making athletic plays and getting to rebounds.  Hooks was also great on defense. 

Guards – B+:  This was the position that impressed me the most this week.  Junior JS Nash looks like he has finally decided that he is sick of being told that he is not a pac-10 level player.  Nash was impressive directing the offense dropping 7 dimes and collecting 7 points.  Also impressive in the team setting was Lamar Hurd.  While his numbers did not impress Hurd was the difference on Saturday.  He made an absolutely huge block (some fans next to me swore they saw his head hit the rim) on a Kevin Cooper layup attempt that prevented the lead from being cut to 3 and lead to a fastbreak Tsagarakis tre that put the lead back up to 8.  Speaking of Tsagarakis, who struggled in exhibition shooting the ball.  Angelo was outstanding offensively and defensively most notably going 3-4 from three.  Also impressive on defense was Chris Stevens.  

Coaching – B+:  Coach John did a great job game planning a team that this team should beat.  A young team like this could easily have tanked this one but they wouldn’t allow it to happen.  You have to give Jay credit for that.

Team – B:  Defense was great, offense solid.  What more can you say?            

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