Off The Boards by Jack Scheuer

December 18, 2019

The holiday season is always an excellent time to come up with a feel-good story, and here is a “Boards” contribution: Anto Keshgegian  is a 6-3  senior guard at Temple who most of you have never heard of. That’s understandable because in his two seasons with the Owls, he has played in only three games and attempted just one shot. That shot, a four-footer that he banked in against St. Joe’ on December 10, brought a huge reaction from the Temple bench, and a  pretty big ovation from the home crowd. Keshgegian is a walk-on who transferred to Temple after playing for a year at Eastern College. Like all walk-ons, he is a valuable part of the team, going to practice every day to help simulate plays, and challenge the regulars. Obviously,  there is a love of the game involved here. So a note of appreciation to all of the walk-ons out there, including Anto Keshgegian, who has never missed a shot in his Big 5 career. 

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Big time hoops at the Wells at noon on Saturday, when Villanova’s talented  young group takes on top-ranked Kansas. The Jayhawks are led by All-American probable 6-2 Devon Dotson, who averages 19 points per game (ppg), while shooting it at 50%. Nova’s biggest problem though, figures to be seven footer Udoka Azubuike, who weighs 280 lbs., and leads the nation in shooting percentage (83%) . He has made 64 of 77 shot attempts most of which are layups or dunks. Where the senior from Nigeria struggles is at the foul line, where he his hitting on only 14 of 37 attempts.


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Trivia Time:  This could be a tough one or maybe not. Who is the highest scoring father-son combo ever to play in Division One.? Hint: the son played very recently. 


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This and That: The Big 5 has always been known for it’s top-notch backcourts, and Nova’s Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore are looking like they could be  something special …..Relatively speaking:  Penn’s Jordan Dingle, whose Dad was a solid player at UMass, is the leading scorer (17 ppg) among all of the City 6 freshmen.  Buddy Boeheim  is at Syracuse playing for his Dad, while brother Jimmy plays for Cornell; Josh Howard, son of Michigan coach Juwan, is at Brown, and 7-1 Derrik Smits, son of former NBA star Rik, performs for Butler after transferring from Valpo….. Speaking of transfers, Luwane Pipkins, who scored a ton of points at UMass, is averaging  just 9 ppg with Providence, but leads the team in assists and steals….  The addition of 6-7 Jake Forrester, another transfer, (from Indiana)  looks to  be filling a need in the Temple frontcourt…Eric Paschall, probably the least heralded of the recent Villanova  powerhouse teams, is averaging 16 ppg while starting for the Golden State Warriors. ….Jimmy Butler leads the NBA in steals at 2.14 per game, just edging Ben Simmons who is at  2.12.


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Answer to Trivia Time: The Elmore duo, Jon, from Marshall, and his Dad, Gay, who played at VMI, scored 5,061 points.

And…. to everyone a Merry Christmas and a Hoopy New Year!


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