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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2012 > January > 27
Friday, January 27, 2012
“We were all yellin’ at each other. “
FAIRBORN - Sometimes it’s not what a coach says in the huddle as much as what a player says.
In the case of the Wright State Raiders, it was what a few players, especially junior guard Julian Mays, were saying — NO, make that yelling - during a time out with 15:49 left in the second half Friday night and Loyola up by four points, 25-21.
Let’s let Mays describe it since he was in the thick of it.
“Their point guard was driving and I stripped the ball and everybody just stood there as it was bouncing around. They picked it up and got an easy lay-up and that’s when Coach Donlon called a time out.”
As Donlon described it later: “That was the only play all night where we didn’t show any effort or intensity. The only one. Five guys stood around out there and watched…I called time and Mays and a couple of guys got combative with each other and it really lit a fire under them.”
Here’s how Mays remembered the time out:
“We were all yellin’ at each other. I was telling them, ‘This is bull. This can’t happen. We go after 50-50 balls.’ We were all calling each other out. Me and Johann (Mpondo) went at it pretty good in the huddle and Coach let it go for a minute or so and then stopped it and made us focus.
“I was still mad when we went back on the court. We all were, but we knew we couldn’t go at each other so we took it out on Loyola.”
Although Loyola would score again to go up 27-21, within five minutes Wright State had the lead for good and would go on to win, 47-41.
“That bad play actually helped us,” said Donlon. ‘In its own ways, this is kind of a fight out there. It gets combative. And every once in a while families have fights. Usually from my experience when a family has a fight, things get better. Everybody opens up. People look in the mirror and then they patch things up.”
“I let the guys go a little bit and then I put a stop to it. I said, ‘It’s all our fault. Five guys watched out there. We’re all in this together.’…And sure enough that little fight led to positivity for us.”
Mays - who finished with a game-high 16 points - agreed with his coach:
“Johann and I laughed about it afterward. We were mad at each other at the time, but then we went out and turned those feelings on them and we played better. And when you do that…and when you win…everything is fine.”
Xxxxx
My column in Saturday’s newspaper is also about Mays, who is basketball’s version of a wounded warrior. He averages 34.5 minutes a game in his 10 Horizon League games this season. That’s the fourth highest in the conference.
He played 39 minutes against Loyola, but only because he had four sessions - three before the game and one after — in the Raiders training room, Friday, with WSU trainer Jason Franklin.
“Jason is my main man,” Mays said. “I spend more time with him than Coach (Billy) Donlon and the team….I’m with him more than I am my girlfriend (Terah), too. She understands…I guess.”
Donlon certainly gets it:
“You want a guy like Julius Mays on the floor. I’ve coached and been on teams with good players who were on the court 38 or 39 minutes a game.
“When Duke beat Butler in the national championship game, Michigan State was in the Final Four, too And I remember all three of those teams played their starters 33 minutes or more every night, every game.
“We need Julius Mays playing - not only for what he does himself, but what he does for the other guys. He gives them confidence when he’s out there.”
Friday night Mays gave them more than that.
He also gave them an earful.
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