Wells Shoots JMU to the Win

Julius Wells hit 9 of 11 from behind the arc and scored 28 points to help the Dukes avoid an ugly loss to Northeastern. The Dukes narrowly defeated the Huskies 75-69. JMU looked sluggish for much of the game and had to come from behind again. Wells hot shooting and some clutch play from Denzel Bowles and Devon Moore down the stretch, got the Dukes over the hump and back to .500 at 1-1 in CAA play.

Here’s our quick take on some of the highs and lows of the win.

Thumbs Up

Julius Wells: We’ve been tough on Julius for his shot selection in the past. At times, he’s seemed to be a guy who earned the label of “shooter” purely because he took a lot of shots, and not because he made a lot. Tonight he was brilliant however. Again, he hit 9 of 11 from downtown. He was 21 of 71 from 3 point range for the season heading into this game. He also had some big boards and played tough D down the stretch. Just a great game from a guy who’s done a pretty good job lately adjusting to his role on this year’s team. It’s nice to see him step up and shoulder the scoring load on a night when his team needed him to. I vote no on the “Ju Ju” nickname however.

Denzel and Devon: I’m lumping these two together, because Brady relied on them to close out the win. Devon handled the ball down the stretch, and Denzel hit a clutch shot to help seal it. Moore plays like a veteran despite the fact that he’s technically only a sophomore. Some nights he’s a scorer and other nights he just facilitates things. Tonight Devon let Julius shoot the lights out, got Denzel the ball when he had to, and calmly finished with 12 assists. Denzel is clearly the Dukes best weapon and it’s comforting to know that he can step up to hit the big shot, even when he isn’t at his best for much of a game. On Julius’s big night, Denzel got fewer looks, but still managed to score 19 points. He also grabbed 5 offensive rebounds.

Grinding: This game was much closer than I expected, especially considering that Northeastern was without leading scorer Chaisson Allen. It’s kind of cliche to say good teams find ways to win when they don’t have their “A-game”, but it’s true. It’s also exactly what JMU did tonight.

Thumbs Down

Slow Start…Again, Sluggish Play, etc: Let’s just go ahead and lump all the bad stuff together. I love the fact that JMU has been able to consistently recover from poor starts and win come from behind games. I do not like the fact that they continue to have these poor starts. Luckily Julius got hot tonight and the Dukes crawled their way back into the game. The game stayed tight right until the end though. And this was a depleted Huskies team playing without its best player. The CAA is a tough league and JMU can’t afford to lose focus or playing sluggish basketball against most teams. Just ask the ODU Monarchs, who got beat by Towson earlier this evening. My bad. Lots of close CAA games tonight, but ODU won. VCU got upset by GA State though. 

No need to dwell on the negative though. The Dukes are 11-3 overall, 1-1 in the CAA, and for the first time in ages look they could really contend.