Our basketball team pulled off the seemingly improbable Saturday at Memorial Coliseum defeating the Florida Gators, 79-78, on Graduates Day. One of our stellar seniors, Tyrin Lawrence, was spectacular once again. After freshman JaQualon “JQ” Roberts clutchly converted two free throws to cut the lead to 78-77, the great Tyrin stole the inbounds pass with 23 seconds left and passed it to graduate point guard Erza Manjon, who immediately passed it back to Lawrence, who then drove to the left side of the bucket and put up a highly contested lay-up that caromed off the backboard and fell through the net with 15 seconds left. Our guys still had to play defense and stop Florida in the last 15 seconds of the game but did so as sophomore Ven-Allen Lubin stole the ball with a second left and the Dores captured a “Magical” 79-78 victory in front of 6,442 in attendance. We moved to 9-22 overall and 4-14 in the SEC. Florida dropped to 21-10 and 11-7.

It was a monumental effort by the team and Stack. Just hustle play after hustle play. We won it with grittiness and heart.

Ven-Allen finished the regular season tremendously pouring in 25 points and pulling down 11 boards. Tyrin, who’s been such a terrific player for us the last two years and has a very bright future in the game, added 14 and 7. Ezra and graduate Tasos Kamatoris added 8. Tasos was 2 for 2 from trifecta. If we can get some production out of Tasos and some others going forward, we’ve got a shot to win games in the tournament because Tyrin, Ezra and Ven-Allen will definitely show up. “JQ” was also phenomenal with 7 points and hugely important 7 rebounds. “JQ” was five for six from the line added a massive dunk to go along with his 7 points that kept our momentum alive in the second half. We were 19 of 20 from the charity stripe. Ven-Allen was 7 for 7, Tyrin was 3 for 3 and Isaiah West, who also connected on a crucial three in the second half, was 2 for 2. We also out-rebounded them, 41-35. That’ll win you a lot of basketball games if you’re good enough from trifecta and you defend. They shot 52% from the field, which we’ll need to improve on, but they were only 5-for-17 from triple, 29%. We had struggled guarding the three before Florida, but Stack and the coaches obviously made that a priority going into the game. We were only 36% from the field and 6-for-16 from three, but we sank some key threes. And, another key stat, we forced 16 turnovers and gave it up only 8 times ourselves.

Just superb victory for Stack and the team. Loved what I saw out of the guys on Saturday.

We now continue on our March quest as the 13th seed in the SEC Tournament. We play no.12 Arkansas Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with a 6 PM tip on the SEC Network. We have already gone over to Fayetteville this season and defeated the Hogs. That was on Tuesday, Feb. 27th, when we emerged victorious, 85-82. But we’ll need to put our hard hats on as Arkansas has been playing a lot better lately. They are 15-16, and 6-12 in the conference. They are coming off a tough overtime loss @ Alabama, 92-88, in a game which they looked like they had won in regulation, but the Crimson Tide battled back to send it into OT where they outlasted the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks defeated LSU at home, 94-83, last Wednesday and gave Kentucky a pretty good game prior to that before losing that 111-102 on the road. Kentucky is the hottest team in the SEC right now. Six foot six guard Tramon Mark is leading them as he is averaging 16.7 points per game and has 52 assists and 35 steals on the season. Six-five guard Khalif Battle is averaging 14.3 per game and is 46-of-127 from trifecta, 36%. Mark is 34-of-92, 37%. They made a run at us in Bud Walton Arena back on 2/27 as they started draining trifecta after trifecta to cut the lead to 83-82, but we sank a couple of free throws at the end and they barely missed a trifecta as the buzzer sounded. We’ll have to guard behind the arc for sure. Six foot 10 power forward Trevon Brazile is averaging 8.4 points, and leads the team in rebounds averaging 5.8. They shoot 45% from inside the arc, 32% from deep and 75% from the line. They average 35 rebounds per game and 77 points per game and are giving up 79 per game. We need to lockdown on D for sure.

Ezra leads us in scoring at 14.2 and has 109 assists on the season, 3.7 per game. Ezra is shooting 44% from the field and is 83% from the stripe. Tyrin is averaging 14.1 and has pulled down 5 boards per game. Ven-Allen adds 12 points and 6.2 boards. He has brought it lately. Tyrin has 37 steals this season, Ezra has 34, and freshman Jason Rivera-Torres has 27 this year. We’ve got a good nucleus of younger players to go along with our veterans. I like what Evan Taylor, Paul Lewis, Isaiah , and Malik Presley are doing to contribute lately.

We’re shooting 39% from the field, 28% from three and 71% from the line. We average 34 rebounds per game, and our opponents are at 37. We average 67 points per game and give up 75.

But all that, except for what our leaders have done, should be thrown out the window as it’s a new season for the team, and we’ve got a new opportunity. I’m not going to project how far we can go because, like Stack and the Boys, I want us to win it. But we’ve got to take care of business with Arkansas Wednesday. It’ll take as good if not a better effort as we put forth against Florida on Saturday. I think the guys can do it. I’ll keep you posted. What a win Saturday. It was something that we can build off of going forward.

Baseball playing Terrifically

Our No.9 Commodores (are you kiddin’ me? Not ranked higher? more fuel for this motivated group) swept Illinois State over the weekend at the Hawk, winning 14-9 Friday, 7-2 Saturday and 4-0 Sunday behind stellar starting pitching, excellent defense and timely and, at times, explosive offense. We are now 14-3.

On Friday, our stud junior Carter Holton proved that he is back from his injury struggles from a year ago. Carter went five, gave up only four hits, 0 runs, with 3 walks and 11 K’s. Our relief pitching wasn’t at its best, though I sill trust those guys. But our bats were. Alan Espinal, Troy LaNeve and Matthew Polk all went deep. It was Alan’s third of the season, Troy’s second and Matthew’s second. These guys have been stellar hitters for us all season. Espinal was 3 for 5 with 2 Ribeyes, Matthew was 2 for 5 with two Ribbies and Troy was 3 for 4 with 6 Ribeyes. Wow. Troy also had a double, his seventh of the season, and his second triple of the season. He was a single away from hitting for the cycle. So awesome night from the great Holton and those three big guns for us at the plate.

On Saturday, another super junior for us, right hander Bryce Cunningham, from Headland, Alabama, pitched a gem. Bryce went 8, gave up 4 hits, 2 runs with one of them unearned, 0 walks and 11 K’s. in a 7-2 Commodores victory. it was a phenomenal performance from Bryce, who looks like he’s hitting his stride in his junior season. Just a remarkable performance. Junior Ryan Ginther, who could be our closer going forward, came in for the 9th and closed it out with us converting a 6-4-3 double play to secure the victory. Our great now-first baseman RJ Austin had a hit and two Ribeyes. RJ has really found a home at first. Awesome move by Corbs to put him there. RJ is outstanding on the first base bag.

On Sunday, another junior, Devin Futrell, who does nothing but throw strikes, pitched a beauty. Devin pitched a complete game shutout, allowing 5 hits, 0 runs, with 0 walks and 7 K’s in our 4-0 victory. Matthew and RJ each had two hits each and RJ drove in a pair of runs, and Troy, a junior as well, hit a solo shot, probably over 400 feet, to right central in the bottom of the 8th for an insurance run.

Three things stood out to me: 1. our starting pitching was extraordinary and can lead us to several victories in the SEC if we can help in the field and at the plate. Coach Scott Brown has groomed a stellar staff. 2. Our defense was spectacular. Only one error all weekend and several web gems. Maybe the best was centerfielder Calvin Hewitt’s grab of a sinking line drive into shallow center. Calvin is superb on defense. Calvin was hit by a pitch on the helmet and close to his face on Saturday and didn’t play yesterday. He should be back soon though. 3. The bats came through again. Friday, we exploded and Saturday and Sunday got the hits when we needed them.

Right now freshman Camden Kozeal still leads us in hitting at .344. RJ is hitting .343 and is 13 of 16 on stolen bases and playing elite defense at first. Our sophomore is a sparkplug for this team along with Polk, Espinal, Holton, Cunningham, Futrell and LaNeve. They are all tremendous competitors. Espinal is hitting .339 with 3 homers and 14 RBIs and LaNeve is hitting .317 with 3 homers and 19 Ribbies. I like our power and run driving in ability a lot. We’ve got some power guys in our lineup. Freshman second baseman Jayden Davis is hitting .302 with a homer and 14 Ribbies. We are hitting .314 as a team, and our opponents are hitting .224.

Holton is 2-0 with a 5 ERA, but that’ll keep coming down. He’s too good and I love him on Friday Nights in the SEC coming up. Cunningham is 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA. Futrell, who was just named SEC pitcher of the week, is 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA. JD Thompson has solidified his role as our fourth starter during the midweek and is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA. JD could be crucial for us when and if the postseason comes around.

What I love the most about our pitchers, besides their great competitiveness, is their strike throwing ability. Carter has walked 7 and K’d 30, Bryce is 9 and 31, Devin is 2 and 18, and JD is 2 and 22. That’s strong to say the least.

Would like to see our ‘pen do a little better, but we have the arms to do that. Our defense has gotten better and better and was superb over the weekend. We are now fielding at a .987 percentage. Our opponents are at .968. We have stolen 43 of 48 bases and that’s a weapon. Besides RJ, Calvin is 11-of-12 swiping bags and extremely fast junior Jacob Humphrey is 7-of-7. We are 7th in stolen bases nationally.

Ginther is looking like a Tyler Brown-type closer for us. Tyler was our closer on our 2019 National Championship team who continually closed out games for us and was instrumental in us winning it all. Ginther can be that guy. Need some of our younger bullpen arms to keep developing and for guys like senior Sam Hloboki to pitch well and be a leader out there. There is a lot of talent out there for sure.

Arkansas is No.1 in the D-1 Baseball.com rankings. LSU is No.2, Oregon State is 3, A&M is 4, Tennessee is 5 (Don’t care much for Vitello and that team), Duke is 6, Wake Forest is 7, Florida is 8, we’re 9 and Clemson is 10. Auburn is 18 and South Carolina is 20.

Big week ahead for us. Indiana, which is 9-6, comes to the Hawk tomorrow, Tuesday, for a 6 PM CT first pitch. Friday-Sunday, the No.18 Auburn Tigers come to Nashville for a weekend set. Friday’s game is at 6 PM CT, Saturday’s contest is at 2 PM CT, and Sunday first pitch is at 1 PM CT. All four games will be broadcast by SEC Network+. Auburn is 12-3

Huge week for the team. Love where we’re at. Gotta “Keep on truckin” as Eddie Kendricks said.

Van Paris Excels on the PGA Tour

Our junior from Pinehurst, N.C., Jackson Van Paris, shot an 8 under 64 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 10th place at the 2024 Puerto Rico Open. Jackson’s 64 was the lowest score posted yesterday. What a job by Van Paris. I know Coach Limbaugh and his teammates are proud of him. Now it’s time to get him back as our team heads to the Pauma Valley Inivitational in Pauma Valley, CA., close to San Diego, to compete in an event next Monday, 3/18, and next Tuesday, 3/19. I may have been a little hard on the guys last week after the Cabo Collegiate because the bar is so high for our team this year. They are so talented that you unfairly expect them to win every tournament. That’s not realistic. We finished fourth out of 15 teams at the Cabo Collegiate, as Arizona State won it. But this team will be back. If you shoot for perfection, as a friend of mine quoted Vince Lombardi, you can achieve excellence. They’re an awesome group of guys and Coach Limbaugh is as good as it gets. Our expectations are high because we are an elite team nationally. We are currently No.3 behind No.1 Auburn and No.2 UNC. We’ve just got to take the next step and that’s at Pauma Valley next Monday and Tuesday.

Will keep you apprised on our basketball, baseball and golf teams. Great stuff going on with our athletes and our teams.