All-access at the Wooden Legacy: Day 2 Recap

Thanksgiving used to be about food/family/football, but thanks to college basketball we now have tons of tournaments on Turkey Day including 2 in the Bahamas (Battle 4 Atlantis and Baha Mar Bahamas Championship), 1 in Vegas (Las Vegas Invitational), 1 in Florida (ESPN Events Invitational), and the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim. This year’s edition of the 1 way out west includes 2 teams from California (San Diego State/USC) and 2 teams from the East Coast (Georgetown/St. Joe’s). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel was 1 of the few people in Anaheim last week who was NOT at Disneyland so that he could bring you as much basketball as possible. He concludes his coverage with a review of Friday night’s doubleheader.

Let’s tip things off:



It was not easy to get excited about the consolation game between St. Joe’s and Georgetown but (of course!) it turned out to be the most exciting game of the tourney. I am still unsure how Ejike Obinna is allowed to have his 1st name on the back of his jersey…and I am still unsure how to stop him as he kept making layup after layup against the Hoyas:



If only the guy whose name is on the back of this jersey (Iverson) was still on the Hoyas’ roster:



Jordan Hall was also solid with a pair of threes and a layup while distributing the ball to all of his shooters (finishing with a game-high 8 AST):



The star of the night was Taylor Funk who made a pair of 1st half shots from behind the arc which gave him 17 straight games dating back to last season with multiple makes from 3-PT range. He shot a respectable 35.4 3P% last year but would SIGNIFICANTLY increase that after today’s game:



Dante Harris tried to keep Georgetown close with a layup and a pair of jump shots but could not do it all by himself:



The shot of the night was courtesy of 7’2” Ryan Mutombo, who made the 1st/only 3-PT shot of his college career, besting his father Dikembe (who never attempted a single 3 during his own time with the Hoyas):



For any of you who think coaching does not matter, I refer you to Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing. His team was falling behind fast but by simply employing a full-court press midway through the 1st half he gave the Hawks FITS and was able to close the deficit enough to only be trailing 36-26 at halftime:



The 2nd half featured a pair of Nigerian big men showcasing their skills. Obinna kept posting up and getting into the lane for hook shots/alley-oop dunks but it was Georgetown 7-footer Timothy Ighoefe who set a career-high with 14 REB:



There would not ordinarily be that many missed shots available to be rebounded…but FR Aminu Mohammed followed his career-high 20-PT game on Thursday with an inexplicable 0-10 shooting night on Friday (although he did make 6-8 FTs and had 9 REB):



The other dynamic duel was between a pair of senior sharpshooters. Georgetown’s Kaiden Rice had 1 of the worst shooting nights of his life vs. American just 10 days ago when he was 0-7 from behind the arc…but made 7 threes vs. Siena on 11/19 and made ANOTHER 7 threes vs. St. Joe’s, including 1 that he banked in!



However, Funk more than held his own by making a career-high 8 threes of his own to set a Wooden Legacy record and help his team eke out a 77-74 win. He is currently top-10 in the nation in both 3PM (27) as well as 3P% (54), which is pretty funking great!



In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Ewing what his strategy is when an opposing player cannot seem to miss. He said that he told his team before the game that Funk is his opponent’s Rice and that, “He is an elite shooter and when he got shots he was able to knock them down”:



I wondered what Coach Billy Lange was feeling when Ewing called for the full-court press in the 1st half, and he responded that it was “Hoya Paranoia!” He knows all about the mystique of the Georgetown program but thought that his team handled it well after seeing it for a few possessions because once they broke the press it led to open threes that his team wanted to take:



My simple question for Funk was whether his performance (29 PTS/8-10 3PM/7 REB/4 STL) was the best of his life. His answer is that it was the best SHOOTING game of his life and that it felt fun:



The championship game featured the biggest crowd of any of the 4 games (as you would expect), most of whom were cheering for the Aztecs:



Sadly, it was also 1 of the ugliest shooting games you will ever see by a pair of good teams. Exhibit A was a long-range shot from Boogie Ellis that ended up wedged between the rim/glass:



USC big man Isaiah Mobley got off to a hot start in the 1st half with a put-back at the rim, a jumper in the lane, and even a 3:



The only good news for San Diego State was that Matt Bradley FINALLY found his jersey after having to wear a teammate’s jersey the previous night:



Perhaps the cheerleaders dropped it off, as the Aztecs were the only school who had any in the arena:



The bad news: they were down 22-15 at halftime. I missed the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half to watch the end of the Duke-Gonzaga game, which I assure you was well worth it, but when I finally walked back to the court I was able to confirm that the trophy is in the house!

Lamont Butler made 6-6 FG on Thursday but started out 0-8 from the field on Friday before flipping the script with a pair of layups, a jumper, and a 3:



Through the 1st 35 minutes the 2 teams combined to miss 17 of 22 FTs and 22 of 26 threes: I cannot include a photo that would accurately portray the craptacular level of shooting because this is a family website. On the plus side, Mobley continued making shots from all over the court, recorded his 1st double-double since February, and propelled his team to a 58-43 win en route to being named Wooden Legacy MVP:

The Trojans took the court for their official trophy photo:

…followed shortly by their unofficial trophy photo:

Coach Dutcher stated that it was a defensive struggle but I challenged him by arguing that a combined 5-22 FTM translates to a pair of teams that are just exhausted by playing on back-to-back nights. He agreed that both teams have to make their FTs, especially the trio of 1-&-1 opportunities for Nathan Mensah in the final 5 minutes of the 1st half that resulted in 3 straight misses:



I noticed that undefeated USC’s next 2 games were against undefeated conference foes Utah/Washington State so my question for Coach Andy Enfield was whether his team is ready for Pac-12 play. He smirked and said that since his team is 53-17 in its past 70 games the short answer is “yes”:



I pointed out to Mobley that between his double-double and his brother Evan’s impending return to the NBA court after spraining his right elbow earlier this month his family has a lot to be thankful for during Thanksgiving weekend. He smiled and stated that he just hopes he can help his team keep winning…and that the Cavs can have some success as well:



That is a wrap from Anaheim, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, check back next month for some action from back home in DC!