[BasketballAlum] Needed to make one more play

[gary holquist]

Bulldog Basketball Alumni and Friends:

You would have been proud of your Bulldog Basketball team last night at 
#1 Winona State University.  They did not do anything special, just 
battled and competed as you did over your years at UMD.  With 25 
seconds left we were up 62-61 and made a great defensive play, Jordan 
Nuness (6-3, 210 lbs, Sr-Eden Prairie, MN) came up with the loose ball 
and was immediately bear hugged and fouled from behind by Winona. 
However, for some reason that will never make any sense to us, the 
referees called a jump ball and possession belonged to WSU.  We had 
great shot pressure on the shooter on an out of bounds series, but the 
shot went in.  The Dogs still had 15 seconds left, ran a great set, but 
missed the power lay in to end the game losing 63-62.  It was a great 
college basketball game played in front of a large crowd.  We came up 
one play short-but, as I told the team in the locker room following the 
game-we deserved to win, but we have to learn to make luck for 
ourselves and not count on somebody to hand it to us.  That is when we 
will become championship caliber.  This young group showed me something 
again last evening.  I liked the way we played in all aspects of the 
game and if we keep improving fundamentally in our play, we will be a 
good team.  We will make a move toward champion caliber play.  We will 
continue to have our ups and downs as the year progresses but the 
characteristics that are emerging are indicators of resembling past 
championship UMD teams.  This will become a good team and tough out 
this season.  Currently our record is 6 wins-3 losses.

Our game plan was effective and we followed the keys I laid out to you 
through our last email.  WSU was averaging 94 points per game.  We 
needed to turn this into a half court contest.  It was a "March 
Tournament" atmosphere, but played in early December.  The lessons 
learned through this contest will be valuable for us in February.  We 
played exactly to the blue print we laid out for the team: stopped WSU 
spurts (held them to 40% field goal percentage-they were averaging 55% 
per game), got solid lane scores, handled their defensive pressure, got 
deep into our own shot clock on offense, and for the most part limited 
WSU offensive rebounding.  Brian Sykora (6-7, 210 lbs, So- Bloomington, 
MN) continues to perform at a high level for us; he had 22 points-12 
rebounds in 38 minutes of play.  Nuness finished with 18 points-5 
assists in 35 minutes of play.  Spud Schade (5-9, 175 lbs, So-Oshkosh, 
WI) played a solid floor game with over 33 minutes having 6 assists and 
only 1 turnover against constant full court pressure.  WSU tried to 
escalate the tempo of play through full court pressure, but we handled 
it effectively.  Steve Duncan (6-5, 220 lbs, So-Hopkins, MN) played 
well off the bench, scoring 7 points and having 8 rebounds in 33 
minutes of play.  Nevertheless, championship teams find ways to win at 
the end-we are not there yet-but we are making progress.  I like this 
team......

Next week the Dogs go to the University of Minnesota Crookston and 
Moorhead State University.  Talk to you after that.

Go Bulldogs!


Gary W. Holquist
University of Minnesota Duluth
Head Men's Basketball Coach
218-726-6185