Matthew GoldbergWhen an Emory University men’s basketball player was overheard last week as saying that his team had experienced a defensive “epiphany,” the Bears took notice.
After all, Emory has always been known for throwing unorthodox presses and defenses at opponents. Upon further investigation, the Bears found that Emory had employed a run-and-jump trap defense.
“They drop into a zone,” said guard Joel Parrott, who poured in a season-high 31 points earlier this season against Emory. “As soon as you cross half-court, they come at you-pressuring, yelling and all hyped up.”
Having employed the new defense against No. 10 Rochester and losing by a single point, Emory looks prepared to challenge Washington University’s perfect season this Friday.
Needless to say, the Bears will come ready.
“We have to be patient, keep the ball in the middle, and find open men in the corners,” Parrott said. “We need to swing the ball, find holes in the zone and get easy buckets. If the trap doesn’t work, they’ll have to change to man-to-man. When they do that, they can’t match up with us.”
Freshman guard and super-sub Scott Stone also recognizes the daunting task the Bears face in playing a team as energized as Emory.
“They’re very physical and aggressive,” he said. “Their big men aren’t as big as ours, but they draw more contact.”
If the Bears come out of Friday’s game with a win, they will face a mediocre Case Western Reserve team in an attempt to break the all-time consecutive wins record. Case Western will be looking to avenge an embarrassing 69-point loss to the Bears earlier this season.
This time around, Case Western will have their leading scorer, John Link, who missed the first match-up with ankle injury. In addition, the team runs a triangle offense. While they’re certainly not the Chicago Bulls of the 90s, the offensive set can give opposing defenses fits.
It’s easy to write off the Case Western game as a win and look down the line to next weekend’s games against formidable foes Rochester and Chicago, but the Bears know better.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” said Parrott. “Earlier this season, we almost lost to Wisconsin Lutheran who was 2-12 at the time. You need to have the same mentality going into every game.”
The Bears should be riding a wave of confidence, coming off two big conference wins over NYU and Brandeis. Additionally, the bench players have shown that they can be reliable scoring options. Just ask Stone, Barry Bryant and Mike Faherty, who all scored in double-digits last weekend.
Stone feels that getting increasing amounts of playing time has benefited him and his fellow bench mates’ confidence.
“At the beginning of the season I was shooting bad, just getting used to stuff,” said Stone. “Now that I’m getting more comfortable, my shooting percentage has gone up. Also, guys that didn’t play varsity that much last season are getting more accustomed to the level of play.”
“It’s awesome to see [the subs] out on the floor doing well,” said Parrott. “They should be really excited for next season. There will be lots of spots open for them.”
If the Bears come out of this weekend unscathed and holding the all-time record for consecutive victories, maybe the players at Emory will come to another epiphany: nobody, not even teams with a run-and-jump trap defense, can beat the Bears.