The Amityville Horror Returns; Scruggs Seeks Memorabilia
NEW YORK - Because of a technical malfunction with a new statistics program being utilized by the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic organizers, Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs wasn't able to peruse a box score of his team's 78-66 loss to UConn on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
"That's a Godsend that we didn't have stats tonight," said the down-homey Scruggs, who was still floating a bit from his team's stunner against Kentucky last week that advanced the Runnin' Bulldogs to New York City. "This is a good night not to have stats."
Put another way, it was a great night to have these kind of stats if your name is Anthony Jordan Price: 18 points on 6 of 11 from the field (2 of 5 from 3-point land) and an undetermined (but substantial, probably eight or nine) amount of assists. (Note to teh Gazelle Group: If you really think you can run a post-season tournament, you should figure out how to get some stats printed for the in-season ones, first.)
"Price destroyed us," said Scruggs. "We couldn't do anything with him. It seemed like every match up we gave him didn't seem to work (for us). We changed match-ups, we substitued some, it didn't seem like anything seemed to work."
For UConn coach Jim Calhoun, it was a welcome reminder of the player who led Amityville High School to three straight Long Island Championships and two New York state titles.
"That's the A.J. Price I remember from Amityville," Calhoun said. "He can run the team, he has a feel for the game. He's really putting things together. That's obviously very encouraging for us."
Price, a junior, has lived a lifetime in his four seasons at UConn. What would have been his freshman year of 2004-05 was erased by a life-threatening battle with Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) that led to bleeding in his brain. His 2005-06 season - his redshirt freshman year - was wiped out when he violated the school's Code of Conduct along with a teammate. Last season as a sophomore Price was inconsistent and often found himself on the wrong end of Calhoun's fiery temper.
But in three games this season, Price has been Mr. Everything for UConn. He had nine assists in the Huskies' first win of the year over Morgan State, 24 points in the second win over Buffalo and then Thursday night's performance which was divided into Shooting AJ in the first half and Dishing AJ in the second.
"He looks different, he feels different about himself," said Calhoun. "There's no team that's going to win without having a point guard. He's a lot closer to a Troy Bell than a Kevin Ollie, that pure, pure point guard."
Whatever type of guard Price is, he's almost single-handedly helping UConn turn around what was an awful season for Husky Nation last year and starting this one off with a an important 3-0 launch.
"Last year was a very tough year for me not being able to do what I wanted and not having my legs under me," said Price. "I just feel good I'm coming out and playing hard and as I long as I do that and give 110 percent, I think I'll be fine and I think this team will be fine.
"I want that role to be forced upon me to lead this team," he said.
Even without a stat sheet to prove it, Price is quickly becoming that leader and his coach - a tough man to please if ever there was one - couldn't be happier about it.
. . . No matter which team is crowned the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Champion after Friday night's title tilt, the true champ of the two week event will be Gardner-Webb and its likable coach, Rick Scruggs.
"If you told us that witihn a week we'd be playing in Rupp Arena and Madison Square Garden, I'd have never believed it," said Scruggs, showing the face of the happiest losing coach you ever did see. "It's a coach's dream and a player's dream."
As for what Scruggs plans on taking as his memento of the trip to MSG, the coach let out a subtle warning for the myriad (and miserable) security and personnel who roam the back halls of the old arena. "Keep your eyes open," he jokes. "There'll be something that has to disappear for me beacuse I'm a memorabilia freak.
"We pratciced at the Nets place (on Wednesday) and it was all I could do to see all those game uniforms hanging up and not grab one," Scrugs said. "I was telling my kids not to take anything and I wanted them to leave so I could!
Maybe I'll stake a seat or something if I can get it back on the plane."
