NEW YORK – The game may be decided by someone else, someone like UConn’s DeAndre Daniels or Iowa State Naz Long, but when this NCAA Sweet 16 game tips off in Madison Square Garden Friday night (7:27 p.m., TBS) most eyes will be on the point guard matchup.
UConn’s Shabazz Napier and Iowa State’s DeAndre Kane are very different. Napier, a senior from Roxbury, Mass., is 6-1 and 171 pounds. Kane is 6-4 and 200 pounds. But, at the same time, they are very much alike. Both do a little bit of everything to help their teams and both have received All-America honors for carrying their teams to this point.
Kane averages 17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists. Napier averages 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists.
The big decision facing UConn coach Kevin Ollie and Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg is how their point guards will guard one another – if they do at all. How each player balances his defensive responsibilities with offensive expectations can determine foul trouble and other game situations. And at this stage of the season that can determine victory or defeat.
“We’ve got to get back in transition with him,” Ollie said of Kane. “They run a lot of drags. They run a lot of [isolations] for him. That’s on the post and that’s also at the 3‑point line, where they clear the whole side for him and they just let him go one on one. So it’s just not Shabazz guarding him; my whole team has got to guard him. We’ve got to be in low position. We’ve got to be talking and pointing, and then we got to realize that we got a shooter, too. So once the ball is in the air, once we get it out of his hands, let’s fire back out to their shooters.”
Iowa State has one of the most lethal offensive attacks in the nation. Like Ollie, Hoiberg likes to run pro sets and spread the floor. Even with forward Georges Niang (16.7 ppg) sideline by his foot injury, Iowa State remains a dangerous team.
On the other side, Iowa State has to be concerned with Napier and Ryan Boatright, who some consider the best backcourt combination in college basketball. And when the Huskies are in need, as they were against Villanova last week, Napier is the guy who picks them up.
“I’m not looking at it as a one‑and‑one matchup,” Kane said. “I know a lot of people are. [Napier’s] a great player. He does a lot of things for his team. He’s a leader out there. He makes big shots when they need it. He rebounds the ball, to be as small as he is, as good a guard does in the country. He puts his team in great positions to win. But we’re going to do whatever we can to slow him down, slow him down in transition and we’ll take it from there.”
Kane was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, All-Big 12 first team and the most outstanding player in the Big 12 Championship. The transfer from Marshall plays a physical style and blended in perfectly with an explosive lineup that needed someone to trigger the offense.
Hoiberg has had tremendous success with transfers during his four seasons at Iowa State. When the Cyclones defeated UConn in the NCAA tournament two years ago, it was Minnesota transfer Royce White who dealt out the most damage.
Transfers can be risky propositions. Kane certainly has a checkered past full of trouble and tragedy. But Hoiberg says Kane has been a different person in Ames.
“The biggest thing he wanted to do was win,” Hoiberg said. “He put up big numbers at Marshall but he never made the tournament. He immediately bonded and built great chemistry here. He’s been great to coach and fun to be around. We haven’t had any issues with DeAndre. He’ll be the first to tell you he made a lot of mistakes at Marshall. It’s good he took accountability. You learn a lot in life from the mistakes you made and he’s been real good here.”
And that part about winning certainly is consistent with the drive behind Napier.
“I know Shabazz is ready,” Ollie said. “He’s been ready the whole season. He’s been ready last year when we couldn’t go to the NCAA tournament. So he’s not scared of this moment. He’s not. That’s not saying he’s going to have this great game. He’s going to do whatever it takes for us to win. If that’s rebounding, that’s getting 11 rebounds, if that’s being a facilitator getting 10 assists, that’s what he’s going to do. If that’s being on the bench cheering his teammates on when Terrence Samuel in there, that’s what he’s going to do. He’s not scared of this moment and we’re not scared of this moment.”
Said Hoiberg: “[Napier’s] just a hard‑nosed, tough kid that knows how to play. DeAndre is the same for us. When we need something to happen, we put the ball in his hands. So, yeah, two guys that probably do it a little bit differently, but at the same time have the same winning effect on their teams.”
Thursday at the Garden, Kane thanked Hoiberg for giving him a second chance.
“We did a lot of great things this year, but we’re not done yet and we still got a lot of things to accomplish,” Kane said. “Iowa State’s just been great to me. This is my second home and I’m happy to be here.”
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