HARRISONBURG — As James Madison approaches the mid point of the Colonial Athletic Association season, the Dukes have become increasingly more reliant on freshman point guard Deshon Parker, who moved into the starting lineup a few weeks ago.
But the youngest player on the team had functioned mostly as a facilitator in the offense, averaging 4.9 points per game. But through 20 contests he’s dished out 53 assists to just 18 turnovers with his playing time increasing throughout.
Last week, as JMU took a pair of losses at Delaware and Drexel, it appeared Parker may have been adding more of a scoring dynamic to his game and looking more for his own shot. He went 4 for 8 from the field for a career high 11 points against Delaware and followed it up with eight points on six field goal attempts at Drexel.
It marked just the fourth and fifth time all season Parker has taken six or more field goals in a game, but JMU coach Louis Rowe said there hasn’t been any concerted effort to have Parker take on a larger scoring load. It’s simply been part of his natural progression.
“He takes what’s in front of him,” Rowe said. “He’s a really smart kid. I don’t really talk to him about taking shots here or not taking shots there. I put the ball in his hands and there’s never a conversation with him about taking more shots or being more aggressive.”
PRIDE OF THE CAA
Hofstra has gained plenty of national attention this week as the new owners of Division I’s longest winning streak. The Pride (17-3, 7-0 CAA) have won 14 straight games and haven’t lost since Nov. 24 when it fell in overtime at VCU.
Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich decided there’s no sense in trying to avoid the topic everyone else is talking about, so the Pride, which puts the streak on the line Thursday at JMU, have turned it into a point of emphasis.
“We started out by not avoiding it,” Mihalich said. “We’re enjoying it. Everybody else is talking about it. This doesn’t happen much. The battle cry is if we don’t come to play it’s going to be over as quickly as that. But you kind of embrace it and enjoy it because winning one game is hard enough, let alone winning 14.”
Though the Dukes have had their struggles as of late, losing back-to-back games at Delaware and Drexel last week, JMU was able to snap another long winning streak earlier this season. College of Charleston had won 10 straight, the third-longest streak in the nation at the time, when it visited JMU on Jan. 5, a game the Dukes led from wire to wire.
COMEBACK KIDS
Drexel (10-11, 4-4), one of the surprises it the CAA thus far, tied for fourth in the league standings, was able to win two games last week after trailing by double-digits in both.
The Dragons fell 11 points behind Towson on Thursday, then rallied from an 18-point deficit against JMU on Saturday before coming out on top of both.
“We certainly had success on our home floor,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said. To be successful in the CAA you have to hold serve on your home floor. We did that, but certainly it was interesting having to play from behind in both games. You got to make plays and make shots to do that.”
Drexel, which has trailed by double digits in each of their four CAA victories, has been the opposite of the Dukes team it beat last time out.
Through seven conference games, JMU has led by at least eight points in six, but only come out on top twice. Saturday’s game at Drexel was the third time in CAA play the Dukes have given up a double-digit lead.
“We’ve absolutely given them up,” Rowe said. “I wanted to coach younger guys...but there’s an inconsistency too. Starting the game really fast and relaxing, or starting slow. We’ve been very inconsistent with our focus.”
