At times in the Mott Community College men’s basketball team’s home-opening 73-67 win over Kirtland Community College on November 6, coach Steve Schmidt felt the team was being “out-scrapped.”
Kirtland shot poorly but stayed in the game thanks to forcing 20 turnovers and coming up with 22 offensive rebounds. Thankfully, when more hustle plays and activity are needed, Mott has the exact antidote for that in Flint native and Carman-Ainsworth graduate R.J. Murphy.
“This was R.J.’s best game since he’s been here,” Schmidt said. “It’s the most minutes he’s played in a game in his career here with me. He’s an energy guy who always gets the most out of what he has size-wise. Last year, I had a 6-7 guy and a 6-6 guy, and there were times R.J. (who is only 6-0) out-rebounded them in limited minutes. He’s kept improving since last year.”
Against Kirtland, Murphy played 25 minutes off the bench and finished with a career-best 19 points, many of them coming at critical points in the game when Mott’s offense stalled. Many of his baskets came off of steals, deflections, or other defensive plays that his activity helped turn into quick offense.
“I’ve just worked on my game a lot, so I got the confidence to go out there and play basketball,” Murphy said. “And coach, he instilled confidence in me. He’s always just telling me keep playing and play all-around ball, play defense and the offense will come.”
Murphy also had four rebounds and four steals against a Kirtland team that was significantly bigger than Mott. His willingness to be physical and mix it up with bigger players was important in this game and will continue to be vital moving forward as the Bears will likely find themselves with size mismatches throughout the season which will require them to team-rebound and play fast to take advantage of their athleticism.
“I’ve been a smaller guy my whole life, so I’ve always just been digging and working harder than everybody (to get rebounds),” Murphy said. “I’m not the tallest, so I gotta work harder out there. I’ve always been a defense-first guy, so I want to pick up full court and the offense usually comes with that. When my team needs me down the stretch, I just gotta come through with that (energy).”
Mott is 2-1 on the season, and through those three games, Murphy has nearly doubled his scoring output from his freshman season, averaging nearly 11 points per game. He’s also improved his field goal percentage from 44 to 48 percent to start the season.
As a team, there have been plenty of positives through three games. Mott held Kirtland to just 34 percent shooting overall and 16 percent from three-point range. In a 91-79 win over Lincoln Land Community College, they held the team to 39 percent shooting and out-rebounded them 45-35. Their only loss was against nationally ranked Danville, and even in a loss Mott only trailed by four on the road at halftime and out-rebounded Danville for the game.
The Bears are also getting balanced contributions, with four players averaging in double figures, led by sophomore Mike Phillips. Phillips is averaging 19 points and 6 assists per game while shooting nearly 50 percent from three-point range.
Sophomore Tray Buford, a Saginaw native, is averaging nearly 11 points and 4 assists per game and he’s also shooting near 50 percent from three-point range. In the win over Kirtland, after Kirtland had surged ahead by three, Buford converted a 4-point play and then hit another three seconds later to put Mott in the lead for good.
Freshman Andrew Ikpekhia is averaging 13 points, 8 rebounds, and nearly two blocks per game. Against Kirtland, despite playing his fewest minutes of the season, he still led the team with three blocked shots.
Schmidt still sees opportunities for growth, though, mainly because he believes in the talent on the roster and what they’re capable of.
“We were pressing a little bit (against Kirtland),” Schmidt said. “But once we settled in, we forced them into some really tough shots. These guys want to do well so bad, and they’re going to do well. I can’t wait until we relax and just start having fun playing out there.”
Schmidt is also hoping that the leadership he sees in practice from his trio of sophomores carries over into games as they all get more comfortable playing together. Prior to the season, Schmidt praised the togetherness of the team, particularly their willingness to do extra work outside of practice. That trend has continued – Phillips was heading back into the gym to get shots up after the Kirtland game ended, and Schmidt said that Phillips and several other players continue to be early risers, coming in for extra work as early as 5 a.m. even with practice or a game that same night.
“There are times I’m thinking, ‘What if he got an hour or two extra sleep instead of coming in here at 5?’” Schmidt said. “But how can you be mad at kids who want to put in extra time? So that’s a good problem to have.”
The Bears play Delta at home on November 11, followed by a week off before their next game on the road against Owens on November 18. One advantage for the coaching staff is that the players are self-motivated and aren’t happy with just getting a win.
“That’s very fun (to win at home), we just want to put on a show for the crowd,” Murphy said. “But we’ve gotta be way better than that, that’s not Mott basketball. I don’t think we’ve reached our full potential yet, so we just gotta get back in the gym and work and that’s that.”
Schmidt hopes that a couple of additional games, followed by that extended time off, will help the team settle in and get more comfortable.
“This is gonna be a good team,” Schmidt said. “I think we move the ball well and we shoot the ball pretty well, although we didn’t at times tonight (against Kirtland). If we clean up some things, I really think this is gonna be a fun year. I’ll put it this way: It might seem like I’m not having fun, but I’m having fun right now.”
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