|
|
M. Basketball. Bulldogs Dominate Rice, 74-64
A new article has been posted on www.latechsports.com:
Coming off two road victories in conference play, Louisiana Tech looks to keep the momentum going when they return home to face Rice on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
More...
Discuss it here.
Who remembers when Karl Malone got tired of that Rice guy holding him, grabbing, fouling...and Malone cut loose with an elbow, OUCH! Then I seem to remember some in the local media were asking why Malone wasn't ejected from the game, suspended for a month, and why the NCAA wasn't going to investigate the incident.
He fouled out of several games after that one. The referees came down on Malone bigtime, calling ticky-tack fouls and sending him to the bench quickly. He did cave the guy's face in though.Originally Posted by dawg80
He broke his nose, I remember that. Probably did some other damage as well.
Malone usually played about 5 mins in the 1st half, cuz by then he had picked up his second foul and Russo sat him until halftime. Fortunately, as good as he was, that Tech team was not about Karl Malone. That was a well-coached team with plenty of other talent. So, we managed to go 55-10 over that two-year span, with Malone riding the bench (with fouls) for a large part of it.
How many records would Malone still hold if he could have kept his cool better? How many more friends would he have now if not for the same characteristic?
I can't comment on the "how many more friends" part. I'm not privy to such information. Although, when he was still in Utah, he was adored by, not only Jazz fans, but the community in general. He was involved in charity work, etc...
Like Dogswin mentioned, Malone was the victim of some horrendous calls. Most of them were offensive fouls, charges, where the other guy flopped. Total BS! Sometimes he got called for the foul when he put the ball on the floor taking it to the hoop, the other guy reached in initiating the contact, i.e. a foul! but because KM was so big and strong the other guy went sprawling across the floor. The stupid zebra thought, well, that has to be a charge, look who went flying. Bogus calls.
Early on, especially in the 82-83 season, KM was a bull in a china shop. He did play "aggressive" using his girth and power. That might have been okay in high school, but wasn't going to work in college. Very early that year, we played Texas-Pan Am, Malone fouled out...with FOUR charging fouls. Only one on defense. But, Andy Russo was a great coach. Slowly, he brought KM along. Coaching him to pass the ball when he got triple teamed, which he did at times. When Malone embraced the team concept, and became okay with not having to be the leading scorer all the time, his game rocketed to another level.
Malone was a great passer. Countless times he drew the defense to him and he would slip a pass to big Willie Simmons for a thunderous dunk!! And then, other teams could no longer triple team, and often couldn't even double team him either. That's when he found the going easier, and the team hit its stride during that 83-84 campaign.
I think the Louisville Tournament was right after that. We beat a Top 10 Louisville team on their floor with Malone only playing a few minutes of the game. I agree with DogsWin that the officials had a vendetta against him following that Rice game. The older (like my age) Rice fans remember the incident well and still hold it against Malone.
Good old Memorial Gym
I think this will be a good game tonight.
We are a 5 pt favorite. Over/Under is 154ish.
If Karl did not play so aggressively, Tech would not have won the SLC Championship game at home against Lamar. On the last possession of the game, he had three offensive rebounds and finally made the putback to win the game. He literally ran OVER Lamar players going for the rebound on BOTH sides of the goal.
I may be misremembering, but I thought the Malone broken jaw guy played for North Texas.
Rice in Ruston I believe. The coach called him all kinds of bad things. Malone was way ahead of his time as a "power forward".
I remember watching KM in Denton right after that incident. Here is a description of the flying elbow:
From the Washington Post, December 6, 1984:
Rice junior center Dave Ramer will undergo reconstructive surgery Friday in Houston to repair multiple injuries suffered in what Coach Tommy Suitts says was an intentional elbowing incident in Monday’s game against Louisiana Tech. Ramer has a depressed cheekbone, fractures above and below his right eye socket and a collapsed sinus after the incident involving Louisiana Tech’s Karl Malone.
Malone had gone up for a rebound and came down swinging his elbows. Ramer was unfortunate enough to be in the same area code. The blow shattered Ramer’s cheekbone, and he went down screaming in pain. Malone just looked at him and walked away.
That's intense. I've heard about it but never read about it. Thanks for posting for us younger guys who weren't around.
I lived in Houston at the time and I was at that game. My perspective is much different than Rice's coach. Malone grabbed the rebound with his elbows out and turned his body for an outlet pass and the Rice player was basically in Malone's face. As Malone turned to make the pass his elbow hit the guy's cheek. I didn't think it was an intentional elbow at the time, and if memory serves me correctly, I don't think a foul was even called. He was not "swinging his elbows" as the article states.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
