Friday Features: Y1K for Union men’s basketball: Three Bulldogs reach career mark
By Maurice Patton
Typically speaking, there are multiple routes to a destination.
That goes for milestones as well.
Take
Union seniors
Roy Bullock and
Marterrace Brock and junior
Ashanti Day – the men’s basketball program’s most recent 1,000-point scorers – for instance.
Bullock, a signee out of the Illinois high school ranks in 2012, reached the four-digit mark on Jan. 4 against Valdosta State after averaging a career-low 7.4 points-per-game as a junior. In his four years with the program, he’s averaged 10 ppg, with a high of 11.4 in his freshman season.
Brock, a junior college transfer, averaged 17.5 points last season and has had even more of an offensive impact this year by scoring at a 20.2-point clip. He went past 1,000 earlier this month during Union’s Feb. 6 win over West Alabama.
Day reached the milestone Feb. 18 with a 17-point performance at North Alabama – giving the Bulldogs a rare three 1,000-point scorers in the same season.
“It just goes to our recruiting philosophy,” seventh-year coach
David Niven said. “We try to find the best high school players we can, and then bring in some really good transfers when we can.
“Roy and Ashanti both came here out of high school, both pretty good players. They’ve been consistent for us, both played immediately as freshmen. Their consistency has given them the chance to score a lot of points.”
Day has averaged double digits each of his three seasons, scoring 12.5 points-per-game as a freshman and 11.5 ppg this year.
Bullock, who entered the season with 869 career points, is the fourth-leading scorer for the 17-8 Bulldogs (11-8 GSC) despite starting just four games this season. He achieved the 1,000-point mark with little or no fanfare – or knowledge.
“I wasn’t really aware that I was approaching it,” he said. “I was made aware after I reached it. One of my teammates pointed out an article to me after.
“It made me feel good. It kinda lets you know you’ve had a pretty good career.”
It’s a nice double-dip for Bullock, who also scored 1,000 career points in high school.
“That was my role in high school, being a scorer, because we didn’t have very many options,” he said. “(Collegiately) I think my game has more ‘oomph’ to it. I think I’m more of a facilitator, and I think under coach Niven, my defense has become better.”
Brock’s scoring ability doesn’t come unexpectedly.
“Any time you get a transfer, you hope they have an immediate impact,” Niven said. “Marterrace was definitely ready to go. He’s a high-level scorer and can score in a lot of ways. He creates a lot of opportunities with his defense.”
As with Bullock, Brock’s achievement went largely unnoticed on the front end.
“It’s not something we’re really looking at,” Niven said. “I’m not aware of it until after it occurs. We’re more staying in the moment, not paying a whole lot of attention to that."
“It’s probably, as much as anything, a coincidence that they’re all there at the same time. You’ve got one guy that’s played less than two years and reached it, one guy in his fourth year that’s reached it and one guy in his third year that’s reached it. You certainly don’t plan for it to happen, but it speaks to the quality of players we’ve been able to bring in in each of those classes.”
Led by those three, Union is averaging 77.2 ppg thus far.
“It says a lot for us as a team, that we’ve got three different guys that can put the ball in the hoop, not counting people that haven’t reached the 1,000-point mark yet,” Bullock said. “I think our team is very well-rounded. Any given night can be anybody’s night.”
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