Sunday, November 19, 2000
Miami can point to trouble
Transfer struggles with 8 turnovers
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's tough when you return to college basketball after sitting out a year and your welcoming committee is the Xavier Musketeers, particularly if you're a point guard. But that's the situation Miami's Doug Davis was in Saturday.
Davis had one rough day in the RedHawks' 68-54 loss to Xavier. He had four assists and 10 points, but he struggled against the press, turning the ball over eight times.
“I was rusty,” Davis said. “It took me a while to settle down and find the open man.”
Davis is a transfer from Michigan State. He replaces Rob Mestas, a three-year starter. Mestas was so quick with the ball teams rarely pressed Miami last season.
“That's psychological,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “When teams can't press you, you don't worry about it. But after teams see this tape, they're going to press us.”
That means Davis will face more days like Saturday, although few teams have the ability to press like Xavier.
“Today was tough for Doug because of who he was playing against and who he's replacing,” Coles said. “Rob was so good against the press.”
Davis, a 6-foot-3 junior, also was on his own. Miami's other point guard, Matt Jameson, was serving a one-game suspension. Jameson would have received major minutes if he had been available.
“I would have had him in there in a minute,” Coles said. “I don't know how he would have done. But he would have defended like crazy, and he could have given Doug some rest. It's hard when they're running at you with (Lionel) Chalmers and (Maurice) McAfee.”
Miami's problem against the press was a group effort.
“You know when you play Xavier they're going to come at you,” forward Mike Ensminger said. “They try to force you to play their style. They cause turnovers and try to get into an up-and-down game. We need to be better prepared for the press.”
Coles thought the plan to handle the press was OK. The execution wasn't.
“We shouldn't have had that kind of trouble,” Coles said. “That's on the players. I'll take the blame for the half-court offense. But (Xavier) got a lot steals one-on-one. That shouldn't happen in college basketball. Doug had four or five where they just knocked the ball away from him.”
Xavier 68, Miami 54
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