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Pacific Basketball shaky but optimistic
By: Arash-Scott Behnam
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Many Pacific Tiger fans are witnessing something they have not been familiar with in the past: a streaky team looking for their identity. Fans in the past have been used to seeing their Tigers absolutely dominate in Big West play but this year is a little different. After a tough pre-season schedule which included road games against Wisconsin (ranked #3 in the nation) and Texas A&M (#7 in the nation), the Tigers bounced back opening up the Big West conference play with wins against Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside. Even though they started 2-0 in league play, Pacific fans also were excited with seeing the return of sophomore forward Joe Ford. In the win against Northridge, Ford came off the bench to score 10 points and 2 rebounds. The next two league games the Tigers looked anything but an undefeated Big West team.
After a tough road loss to Big West leading Cal State Fullerton, the Tigers returned home but were embarrassed by UC Irvine, losing 67-42. It marked the worst Big West loss for the Tigers since 1990, and the worst home loss since 1988. Redshirt freshman Casey Neimeyer commented about the lackluster performance. “We didn’t show up to play that game. We shot the ball very poorly and even though we had some late runs in the first and second half, we dug ourselves too deep a hole to get out of.”
After the home loss to UC Irvine, the Tigers were dealt more bad news. Junior center Dangelo Garrett, who has been battling injuries all year, could be out for the rest of the season as the result of his knee problems worsening. Joe Ford, who returned to play in four games for the Tigers, also found out that his shins were getting worse and had to have season ending surgery last Friday. “Injuries have been a problem for us all year,” Garrett explained. “It seems like when one of us is healthy again, another player ends up with an injury. It’s been hard to get everyone in the rotation since there have been so many injuries lately.” Garrett has a point. The Tigers have not had a game this season where all 12 players were healthy and ready to play. The loss of Ford and Garrett for the season is a huge disappointment considering the immediate contributions they could have made for the rest of the season. Garrett would have been another big body to come off the bench and provide rebounding on both ends of the court. Joe Ford is arguably the team’s best defender and brings enthusiasm and leadership to the floor. Even though losing both men for the season is a big loss for the team, Neimeyer is encouraged about the future. “There is really nothing we can do when those guys went out for the season. Joe and Deangelo are both great players and we can’t wait to have them both back at full strength next season.”
Losing two valuable players and coming off a blowout loss, the Tigers had everything going against them when they entered their match up at UC Davis. Davis was coming off two big league wins against UCSB and Cal State Northridge. The Tigers also learned that starting point guard Steffan Johnson would not be able to play because of a knee injury, so junior Solomon HorseChief would have to fill his shoes and become the floor leader that the Tigers would need in order to win. From the very start of the game, the Davis crowd was into it.
Unlike Pacific fans that would rather watch Youtube videos of World of Warcraft or sit at their Drake apartments than support their basketball team, Davis’s fans came out and had a roaring student section that controlled the momentum early in the game. After starting the game down 11-2, the Tigers gained their composure and took a 20 point lead in the second half and ended up finishing the Aggies off thanks to a clutch three pointer by Reggie Vezia. “Once Reggie hit that three I knew that was the dagger,” Garrett stated. “He’s been hitting big shots in practice so we all have confidence in him taking those shots.” Solomon HorseChief was the ex-factor in the win over Davis. Many wondered if he could step up with Johnson out, and HorseChief did just that. He scored a career high of 18 points and also dished out 6 assists in a nice road win for the Tigers. What was also impressive about HorseChief’s performance was how clutch he was from the free throw line down the stretch, shooting 9-10 from the line.
The Tigers have two very important home games coming up on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday night’s match up is against Cal Poly who is a young team like Pacific, and has many solid players. Steffan Johnson is questionable for the game on Thursday night but hopes to be fully ready by Saturday. If he is still not able to play against Cal Poly, look for HorseChief to have another strong performance. Cal Poly is also a guard oriented team and does not have the low post presence to guard either Mike White or Anthony Brown. Both big men should be able to have big games scoring- and rebounding- wise. This is the point in the season where the Tigers need their fan support the most. They are two and a half games back of the first place team and can easily gain ground with two victories at home this weekend. Youtube’s not going. Views: 485
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