Feb 19 / Rob

Cabarkapa Sparks Dukes Past Drexel


JMU used some hot second half shooting to hold off Drexel in the Convo last night. Drexel hit four three pointers in a row in the closing minutes to make it close, but the Dukes held on for an 82-78 victory. The win clinched a regular season sweep of the Dragons and moved JMU to 17-11 overall and 10-5 in the CAA. Drexel dropped to 10-16 and 8-7 in league play. Ron Curry paced the Dukes with 25 points, but the real story was the balanced scoring. Four JMU players scored in double figures, including Dimitri Cabarkapa. Known simply as “The Serb”, he came off the bench to score a career high 12 points. Tom Vodonavich poured in 18 and YoYo managed 10 points, despite only attempting 4 field goals. Winston Grays only scored 4 points, but he pulled down a career best 8 boards. It was a solid game overall. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.

Cabarkapa Stepping Up

We have no idea where this guy’s game came from. After being virtually glued to the bench for much of his JMU career, Cabarkapa has gotten some minutes the past few weeks. And man has he made the most of them. Last night he played with confidence and hit a number of big shots, including two threes. Ron Curry has gotten much of the press during the Dukes’ recent hot streak. That’s completely justified, but the real story might be the role players like Cabarkapa who’ve elevated their games.

Is Ron Curry Elite?

Yes, we’re stealing the dumbest NFL-QB cliche question and applying to Curry to make a point. The truth is though that Curry has elevated his game and probably exceeding the expectations most JMU fans had for him. He’s shooting the ball incredibly well from both the field and the charity stripe. Last night he attempted only 9 field goals, but still managed 25 points thanks to knocking down 12 of 14 from the line. His great play is throwing him into the All CAA discussion.

There’s Hot Shooting, and Then There’s What We Saw in the Second Half

Much like we’ve seen with baseball, advanced stats have crept into the world of basketball. Concepts like offensive efficiency and tempo adjusted stats have changed the way we look at the game. But some nights the good old fashioned stats do the job. Like last night, when JMU went a ridiculous 15 for 18 from the field in the second half. That’s good for 83.3% if you do the math. And that is quite simply amazing. Sure it’s unsustainable and the Dukes aren’t going to shoot like that every night. But they’ve been shooting the ball much better. They’ve been better than 40% from long range during every game of the 4 game win streak and in 7 of their last 9. We can’t expect 83% shooting from the field, but we can expect the Dukes to shoot with decent accuracy from here on out.

9 Comments

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  1. Xerk / Feb 19 2015

    I’ve been a Caparkapa fan since I saw him get some minutes several games ago and I’m glad to see him working more in the post instead of just shooting threes. Same for Kent with driving in the lane to get a shot. It was nice to see him do that a couple times.

    What the Madizone announcers totally missed was the fact that the reason Lee was quiet for much of the second half because Brady switched to a box and one defense with either McLean or Kent covering him. I’ve been a big Brady critic at times so I’d like to acknowledge that he did an excellent coaching job in making some adjustments at the half.

  2. OuterBanksDuke83 / Feb 19 2015

    Don’t look now, but the Dukes are a UNCW loss tonight away from being tied for first in the CAA. I would love to see the Dukes beat one of those three other teams, but you gotta admit not many of us saw the Dukes here at this point of the season.
    They really seem to be playing with passion and having fun out there (ok, winning really helps the fun part). But, they really do look like they enjoy playing together. That is awesome.
    Almost time for the band-wagoners to come out of the woodwork….
    Go Dukes!

  3. RIPASBY / Feb 19 2015

    Where is the love for women’s basketball? 22-2 and Ranked #21 in USA Today Coaches Poll and #23 in AP

  4. jmuparent / Feb 19 2015

    This!

  5. Rob / Feb 19 2015

    Folks we have a ton of respect for Kenny Brooks and the women’s hoops program. It’s just not something we cover. It’s a huge time commitment to keep up with and write about men’s hoops and football. We’ve got families, jobs, & other interests and we just don’t have time to write about everything. We’re definitely supporters and cheer for the team though.

  6. Bhagavan / Feb 20 2015

    This blog gives better info than JMU’s sports marketing team.

  7. OuterBanksDuke83 / Feb 20 2015

    February 20 and JMU tied for first in the CAA. You have to love it. Who knows how long it will last, but with what this team has been through this year, you have to be proud of these guys. Let’s hope they can keep it rolling against Charleston tomorrow.
    Go Dukes!

  8. OuterBanksDuke83 / Feb 22 2015

    What am I missing? The Dukes are tied for first in the CAA and the stands are empty. I know these aren’t the days of Lou, but have we turned into a football only school?
    Go Dukes?

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