By: Assistant Sports Editor Jonathan Boldt
Real men wear pink.
Coach Dick Hunsaker took to the court in his light pink blazer and his squad took a stand for coaches vs. cancer in their slightly pink uniforms Saturday night.
When riding a six game win streak, sooner or later positive individual achievements are bound to surface. (Even if your team manager did wash your lucky red socks with your white home uniforms).
For senior forward Geddes Robinson, sooner arrived Saturday night against NJIT as he equaled the school record for most rebounds in a game with 18 on the Wolverines way to a 81-58 route of the Highlanders.
Seven of his boards were on the offensive glass which contributed to a dominating 22-6 advantage in second chance points.
“We had several guys get at least one offensive rebound,” Hunsaker said. “Obviously Geddes (Robinson) has got to be an inspiration to his teammates with the tenacity and consistency in the effort he gives there.”
Robinson’s 12 point, 18 rebound performance looks good on the surface but only gets better as you dig deeper. You can see his influential hard work and effort spread to the mind-set of nearly every position.
“When me and Holton (Hunsaker) are playing well together we are tough to beat,” Williams said. “When Geddes is playing like that it creates plays that can ignite us and it really gets us going.”
Williams caught fire as he scored 22 of his game high 26 points in the second half to extend a thirteen point lead into a twenty-three point blowout.
“To be honest it’s really good for me,” Williams said. “When other guys are playing well that frees me up to focus on playing good defense and just taking what comes to me. Things work out well when I try to play my game within the teams offense.”
If it weren’t for Williams lighting it up and a record setting performance by Robinson, the game-ball would have gone to Holton Hunsaker without a doubt. He filled up the stat box finishing second in scoring, knocking down five three-point shots, tallying 19 points total to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
The Wolverines relied heavily on their starters once again, Taylor Brown sank two three’s and Alfonzo Hubbard snuck in a lay-up accounting for all of the bench points. Starters notched 73 of the 81 points underscoring the Wolverines most glaring need.
Saturday nights game was much more competitive than the box score shows and was as physical of a match as they come. No matter the score on the board, the one thing coach Hunsaker loves is showcasing that competitive edge, the emotion that can spark the team to a win.
“I hope we want to compete,” Hunsaker said. “We want to enjoy these types of games. An athlete with any type of backbone enjoys competition like this and enjoys a team coming out and competing like NJIT did tonight.”
UVU travels to take on the University of Texas-Pan American on February 2nd to kick off a four game road trip which includes Houston Baptist before heading east to challenge NJIT on their home court and a visit to Chicago State.
Jonathan Boldt can be reached at jonboldt@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @jboldt24
