With so many inexperienced players on McNeese State’s roster, the Cowboys have gone through enough growing pains this season to name Alan Thicke head coach.
In other words, no one on the team is old enough to understand that reference.
Until Saturday afternoon, the public only had access to the pain rather than the growth.
Even though coach Dave Simmons — not under any actual threat of being replaced by a Canadian 1980s TV star — sounded optimistic heading into McNeese’s game against Sam Houston State, it was hard to buy in.
However, Simmons’ vision for McNeese’s future finally showed itself in the present with a brilliant performance by freshman shooting guard James Harvey, who came off the bench for 23 points to lead the Cowboys to a 72-68 win over the Bearkats.
It was a huge game in a number of ways, with the Cowboys (3-11, 1-3 Southland) picking up their first win over a Division I opponent this season and snapping a four-game losing streak being at the forefront.
As point guard Jamaya Burr said last week, “All it takes is one game. You win the next one and the one after that, and you’ve got momentum.”
The “how” of Harvey’s performance was also important as he went 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Opposing defenses are comfortable allowing McNeese to be a jump-shooting team because they’re comfortable they won’t get burned.
The Cowboys entered the game with the worst shooting percentage in the Southland. A few more performances like Harvey’s will open things up for the rest of the offense. It already did in the case of small forward Tevin Jackson, who cashed in with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
For Harvey in particular to be the player who finally stepped up for the Cowboy offense is also significant.
Burr logs in too many minutes for a player who is asked to do all the things he is expected to, particularly when you throw the mental strain of being the primary leader for a young team on top of it. He has been on the floor for 83.4 percent of McNeese’s available minutes this season, which only trails Incarnate Word’s Kyle Hittle in the Southland.
Simmons has had to play Burr that much out of necessity.
But if Harvey’s showing on Saturday was the sign of things to come, it allows the coach to give more minutes to Jarren Greenwood as a backup point guard rather than at shooting guard. Burr may actually get a few more chances to catch his breath and be fresh when you need your point guard the most — at the end of games, particularly when you’re clucthing onto a tight lead and he’s most likely to go to the free-throw line.
We likely won’t be seeing Harvey pour in 23 every night, but the fact he is capable is a promising sign. That promise is most likely to manifest itself in two years, when the Cowboys will suddenly have a pretty experienced roster in addition to the energy of opening a new on-campus arena.
But these young Cowboys won’t know how to win when they become veterans without getting some first-hand experience like they did on Saturday.
There will be more painful moments ahead, to be certain. Even Kentucky’s McDonald’s All-American freshman studs go through them. But at least the Cowboys are finally demonstrating this season may also plant the seeds of a promising future.
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