2018-19 #WCChoops Schedule | Week One #WCChoops Player of the Week
By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist
If Jahlil Tripp were an athlete in another sport, he’d be a decathlete negotiating his way through 10 events. If his skills were reduced to a tool, he’d be a Swiss Army knife with multiple blades. If he were a building contractor, he could do roofs, floors, plumbing, electricity and landscaping.
The man is versatile and multi-faceted, in other words.
It seems as if Pacific will go as far as Tripp’s basketball skills take it. A junior, the 6-foot-5 Tripp has played guard and forward for the Tigers but as the 2017-18 season went on, coach Damon Stoudamire realized this was the man he wanted running the show at point guard. As a sophomore, Tripp averaged 10.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
“That’s a testimony to the kind of player I am – filling up the stat sheet,’’ Tripp said. “That’s the best way to play. I have fun doing it.’’
And Stoudamire is sold on Tripp as his point guard. He moved Tripp to the position in mid-season a year ago and has not regretted the decision. In Pacific’s season-opening win at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (74-65), Tripp had 5 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. Swiss Army knife, indeed.
“Jahlil is going to have a great year,’’ Stoudamire said. “I believe he’s going to be a stud for us, a jack-of-all-trades. Scoring is the worst part of his game. His intangibles are just as big as his scoring. That’s big for us. When we moved him to point guard, that’s when we took off.’’
Having a head coach who played the point guard position on the highest level for many years made the transition easier for Tripp, who said, “It was really good to have a coach who played the position. He can see the game through a player’s eyes. That was a big help.’’
To improve his shooting, Tripp remained in Stockton over the summer and spent many hours in the gym hoisting 3-point shots, as many as 150 made shots a day under the watch of teammate Lafayette Dorsey.
“I shot a good percentage, close to 50 percent,’’ Tripp said, adding the sessions made him “really consistent and more confident.’’
What We Learned
- Pepperdine did the right thing -- indeed, the only thing -- when university officials decided to close the campus through Thanksgiving due to the Woolsey fire in the Malibu area. The men’s basketball game on Saturday night vs. Cal State Northridge was postponed, as was the women’s game against UC Irvine on the 16th. Both games will be rescheduled at a date yet to be determined. For more information or to contribute, please click here: https://impact.pepperdine.edu/crisisresponse
- Scoring is up in the NFL and the NBA, so why not college basketball? Based on the first week of games, WCC teams know how to give the scoreboard a workout. Gonzaga rang up 120 points against Idaho State and 104 vs. Texas Southern, Portland scored 111 vs. Multnomah, Pepperdine hit 100 vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills, San Francisco hit 93 vs. Maine and Saint Mary’s 92 against Utah Valley. Fans love scoring, whether the ball is oblate or spheroid.
- In the season’s early going, a player to watch is Saint Mary’s senior guard Jordan Ford. He would have had the Stat Line of the Week (see below) but we’re moving him up to What We Learned based on his 35 points, on 11 of 17 shooting, in the Gaels’ 92-63 win over Utah Valley. Ford, who hit on 9-of-10 shots from the free throw line, also had 4 steals, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
Separated at birth?
It has been noted that Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett and Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek bear a striking resemblance to one another, so much so that at the WCC Tip-off Event in Las Vegas in October, Sendek introduced himself as “Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s College.’’
The assembled coaches, players, reporters and officials all laughed at Sendek’s self-deprecating remark. In truth, the two coaches do look similar, from their male-pattern baldness to their relative size to the kinds of suits they wear, although the Santa Clara coach is a little taller than the Saint Mary’s coach.
“It’s been a long-standing joke,’’ Sendek said. “People have approached each of us independently and called him ‘Herb’ and me ‘Randy.’ We have fun with it. We get along great. There are similarities.’’
We are the world
Saint Mary’s leads all Division I schools with the most foreign-born players with 10, with six of those Gaels from the familiar Australian pipeline. What’s that like for Sacramento’s Ford, the point guard in charge of all these disparate personalities?
“It’s kind of refreshing being around different cultures,’’ Ford said. “Every other team I’ve been on has been all Americans. It’s cool to have people from all these cultures. It’s fun. They’re funny guys. We have a great group of guys, easy to be around. It makes it more fun on the basketball court.’’
Stat Line of the Week
While Saint Mary’s Ford had a big game (see above), the initial SLOTW of the season goes to Pepperdine freshman Kessler Edwards, who had 8 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals as the Waves overwhelmed Cal State Dominguez Hills 100-66.
Tweet of the Week
Quote of the Week
“We need to make strides on the defensive end. I’ve been preaching this to my team from the jump. This year is going to be more mental than physical. We have one of the most physical teams in the league.’’
That’s Pacific’s Stoudamire, assessing his Tigers, who opened the season with a 74-65 road win at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Follow the three dots
How about that? In its season-opener, USF would have defeated UC Davis 46-42 if it had not scored a single point in the second half. As it was, the Dons won by 76-42 over the Aggies. … Asked what he misses most about his native England, Portland perimeter-shooting forward Josh McSwiggan said, “Fish and chips. It’s not quite the same over here.’’