The Port Arthur News
May 15, 2008 09:19 pm
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Editor’s note: The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on Jan. 16, 1980.
CHICAGO — Moral victory or not, Billy Tubbs wasn’t ready to celebrate after Lamar University nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history Tuesday night at Alumni Hall.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Tubbs admitted, following LU’s last-second, 61-59 loss to No. 1 ranked DePaul. “It’s terribly disappointing to come that close and lose. I wish we’d had another minute.”
Sophomore guard Skip Dillard, a thorn in LU’s side all night, put out the lights on a gallant comeback effort when he drilled a 15-foot jumper from the left of the foul circle with three seconds left. The Redbirds weren’t able to get off a tying field goal attempt.
“We didn’t deserve to win. We were lucky,” sighed DePaul’s visibly upset coach Ray Meyer. “Instead of No. 1, we played like No. 100. But you got to give Lamar credit. They took it to us. They’re the most physical team we’ve played. B.B. Davis and Clarence Kea intimidated us inside.”
Davis scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Kea had 16 boards to go with nine points in helping LU battle the heralded Chicago outfit to a virtual standoff. Kea and Davis were particularly dominating in the first half when they had 11 and 9 rebounds, respectively.
“It looked like they were playing volleyball on the offensive boards in the first half, fumed Meyer, whose team is now 13-0 and has won 33 straight at home. “Good rebounders have to want to get the ball, and those two obviously wanted it worse than our people. Davis is one of the best big men we’ve faced.”
As instrumental as Davis and Kea were in the near miss, the biggest factor of all was probably Tubbs’ strategical expertise. Coaching perhaps the game of his life, the LU mentor punched all the right buttons. Especially when DePaul employed questionable delay tactics with 9:30 remaining.
Leading 57-48 and seemingly on the verge of breaking the game open, the Blue Demons slowed the game to walk trying to bring Lamar out of its 2-1-2 zone. Tubbs refused to play into DePaul’s hands by switching to a man-to-man, and eventually had a 59-59 tie for a reward.
“We’d have let them hold it down to the four-minute mark,” Tubbs explained his strategy. “If we’d started gambling right away, they might have beaten us by 25. Not many teams can sit on the ball for a long period of time without making mistakes. They made a bunch.”
Lamar pulled within 57-50 at 6:04 on a 10-foot jumper by Turk Williams, got within five at 5:03 on a rebound bucket by Kea, then closed to 57-54 on a pair of free throws by Davis. Mike Olliver, who labored through a horrendous 4-of-13 night, made it 59-56 with a 22-footer from the left corner.
Olliver followed that bucket with a three-point play courtesy of Alvin Brooks’ steal for forge a tie at 59 with 0:37 on the clock.
Lamar, however, never had an opportunity to go ahead. DePaul held for the final shot and Dillard made it count.
Aside from Olliver’s frigid shooting, LU came amazingly close to executing Tubbs’ game plan to perfection. His blueprint for an upset called for Lamar to neutralize DePaul inside with a zone defense, battle the Blue Demons on even terms under the boards and control the flow of the game.
The Cardinals did all three but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 36 percent night from the field.
Mark Aguirre, frustrated inside by Kea, made only 9-of-19 and finished with a subpar 19 points. DePaul, despite a height advantage, was outrebounded 42-41. And, when it looked like the Blue Demons were about to take charge midway of the first half with an up-tempo assault, Lamar slowed things down.
“We didn’t feel like we could survive in a running game with them,” assessed Tubbs. “We ran well early, but when they made a move the crowd got pretty fired up. So we went to our spread offense and ran some time off. When we got out of the first half 34-32, I felt we were in good shape.”
Meyer kept coming back to Lamar’s physical domination. “They beat the hell out of us inside,” he said. “That Kea is a tough customer. He gets away with murder. His first move is to push off with his left hand. Our freshmen weren’t ready for him.”
Neither was the 6-6 Aguirre, who frequently had to deal with the 6-7 senior from Wilmington, N.C., when he tried to move inside.
“All Aguirre did was cry about me being on his back,” Kea said. “He’s a good player, but he’s not as strong as I thought he’d be. He didn’t show me any strength at all. Their team didn’t impress me that much, either. I’d love to play them again in the NCAA tournament.”
Davis wasn’t ready to lavish praise on the Blue Demons, either
“I don’t know if they’re No. 1,” pondered Davis. “They’re a good team, but they had to have some luck tonight. I don’t think there’s any way they compare to Michigan State’s team last year. Same way with Aguirre. He’s not in the class with Magic Johnson or Greg Kelser. Not yet, anyway.”
Had Olliver been anywhere near his normal self from the outside,” Lamar would be the toast of the college basketball world today. But, after scoring 34 and 50 points in his previous two starts, the junior sharpshooter went stone cold.
His inability to make the shots he normally swishes took on added emphasis when Davis devastated DePaul’s man-to-man defense early, sending the Blue Demons into a zone.
“We saw two films on Lamar and Olliver didn’t hit anything,” Meyer said. “I was disappointed he didn’t shoot more. As far as we we were concerned, he couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean if he was standing on the beach.”
Tubbs, naturally, saw Olliver’s problems in a different light.
“I think Mike simply put too much pressure on himself,” said the LU coach. “How do you follow up a 50-point game. Then, too, he doesn’t seem to shoot as well in games that slow down. He’s much sharper in a running game.”
In the final analysis, Lamar’s upset bid was actually chilled by the difference created by a pair of ridiculous technical fouls. DePaul picked up three points as a result of the technicals, one of which was assessed on the Davis by Southland Conference official Sonny Holmes.
“The reason for the mild-mannered Davis’ T”
“Holmes said B.B. made a face at him,” said Tubbs. “I told the other official (Jim Bain of the Big Ten) that from then on I expected a technical called everytime somebody made a face the rest of the night.”
Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest at usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Mondays at 8:05 p.m.
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