Curry to Nation Alley-oop Wins it for the Dukes

The Dukes saved the best highlight for last tonight. With just 2.3 seconds remaining in a tie ball game, Andre Nation slammed home an alley-oop off a perfect pass from Ron Curry. The bucket gave JMU a 63-61 win over the Campbell Camels. The victory gets JMU to 5-2 on the season. The Camels fall to 1-5. In his 2014 home debut, Andre Nation led JMU with 15 points off the bench. JMU shot a solid 51% overall from the field and a respectable 38% from behind the arc. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.

Closer Than We Would Have Liked, But

JMU is a better team than Campbell. There’s  a reason the Camels are only 1-5. Unfortunately, JMU played rather sloppy ball coming out of the gates, before Nation came off the bench to spark a run and propel his team to a lead. Despite finding themselves down by as many as 11 points, the Dukes took a 30-22 into the half. They appeared to be ready to cruise home to a comfortable win. Instead, the sloppy play returned after the break and Campbell stormed back. JMU couldn’t break free and the game came down to the wire.
From a glass half-full perspective, this might have been a blessing in disguise. instead of coasting, JMU had to battle to the end. And maybe rallying to close out a close win in the games’ final seconds will pay dividends down the road. At the very least, an alley-oop dunk to win in the closing seconds is exciting for the fans, right?

Team Basketball

Andre Nation is a very exciting basketball player. We know this. Like any other fan, I love the alley-oop slams and seeing Curry and Nation break guys down with their athleticism. This JMU team also displays a number of qualities that grumpier old basketball fans will love. And I say that as one of those grumpier old basketball fans. The team wasn’t flashy tonight, but was very balanced. Along with Nation, Ron Curry, Yohanny Dalembert, Jackson Kent, and Winston Grays all scored in double-figures. They played very deliberately and showed a lot of patience working for good shots. They still need to cut down on the turnovers, but they assisted on 17 of 23 field goals tonight. And with the game on the line in the closing minutes, they attacked the rim and tried to draw fouls. That’s all very encouraging.

Upside, High Ceilings, and Other Cliches

Campbell isn’t a great team and most of the Dukes’ wins haven’t come against stellar competition. But the Dukes are gaining confidence and improving. We all knew that Curry and Nation would be the leaders of this team and talented enough to compete with any players in the CAA. We’re now seeing signs that some of the young players could be vastly improved from last year. In particular, Jackson Kent and Yohanny Dalembert seem to have taken some big steps forward.

Kent didn’t have his best night shooting the ball, hitting only 3 of 11 shots. He’s got a high basketball IQ and has added some muscle to his frame though. He had a number of strong moves to the hoop tonight, but couldn’t the buckets to fall. We’ll need to wait and see what he does in CAA play, but he’s got the look of a guy who could easily have a season or two averaging in the mid-teens scoring wise during his time at JMU.

Readers of the blog probably already know that I’m a charter member of the Yohanny Dalembert bandwagon. In limited action last year, he showed real flashes of potential. He’s incredibly raw, but has taken big steps to improve his game. He’s starting to develop better post moves and had a few beautiful dishes tonight. His efforts resulted in his first double-double of the season. While last year, I thought he might develop into a serviceable big body down low, I’m not starting to believe his ceiling is much higher. He’s only a sophomore, but seeing him eventually become a consistent double-digit scorer pulling down 8+ boards doesn’t seem unreasonable.