Senior fulfilling his role
Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2008 @ 2:00 am
Last year’s No. 2 man showed he could hold his own
Back in November, Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp was the only returning starter from the most decorated team in school history. He was the sublime scoring No. 2 option who came back from the brink of the NBA for a chance to be the man.
After playing his final home game at Lawlor Events Center on Saturday, an 87-57 win over Louisiana Tech, Kemp’s fulfilled that role by averaging more than 20 points per game and giving the Wolf Pack a chance at a fifth straight Western Athletic Conference championship and another NCAA Tournament appearance.
“I’m just glad I went out a winner,” Kemp said.
In the beginning, though, it was tough.
With Kemp starting alongside a freshman and two sophomores who averaged about 10 minutes per game last season, defenses hell-bent on stopping him threw multiple defenders his way in an effort to make his younger teammates try to win games.
Kemp tried to do too much in response, firing up difficult shots and seemingly trying to win games by himself.
After 14 games, Kemp, the supposed heir of Wolf Pack stardom, saw his shooting dip near 40 percent and his 3-point shooting fall below 30 percent.
Then again, nothing about Kemp’s career at Nevada has been easy.
When Kemp arrived in Reno in 2002, nobody would have imagined he’d still be around almost six years later.
But he redshirted his first year after injuring his foot, then missed the 2004-2005 season with a torn ACL.
After months of rehab and questions about whether he’d ever fulfill the promise he showed as a high school standout at Garfield High in Seattle, Kemp bounced back to help the Wolf Pack to two straight NCAA Tournaments while averaging 15 and 18 points per game, respectively.
“When I first came in I didn’t really know too much about college basketball,” Kemp said. “Being here awhile, it’s come naturally for me.”
So this season, following an embarrassing conference-opening loss to San Jose State, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that Kemp’s game picked up.
The bad shots started disappearing and the shooting percentages and assist totals started to rise.
After starting off 8-6, the Wolf Pack has gone 11-4 to sit in second place in the WAC with only Saturday’s game at Fresno State left in the regular season.
“This team, early, we were kind of helter skelter,” Kemp said. “Some of the younger players didn’t know exactly what to do. As the year went, everyone has jelled together.”
In order for the Wolf Pack to find success, Kemp had to change his game.
After spending his whole career playing the role of explosive scorer, Kemp had to diversify.
As the only experienced returning backcourt player, he had to handle the ball more. With multiple defenders bearing down on him, he had to learn to find open teammates.
So aside from averaging a career-best 20 points per game, Kemp has also put up career numbers in rebounds (5.2 per game) and assists (3.3 per game) while cutting down on his turnovers from last season.
Kemp’s versatility was on display during Senior Night when he scored nine points but grabbed eight rebounds and dished out eight assists.
After six seasons, two serious injuries and 100 wins, Kemp leaves the Wolf Pack as one of college basketball’s best players.
“He’s a complete player now,” Nevada coach Mark Fox said. “He makes the guys around him better. He rebounds the ball, he defends. He obviously can score and tonight he did a bit of everything and I’m very proud of Marcelus for his improvement and maturity.”
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© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
March 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I’m so happy Kemp gets to be sent off with four WAC conference titles on his resume since USU beat Boise St about 10 minutes ago. He really deserves it, and so does the rest of our team.