Playing on Jokic’s home court? “Awesome, Amazing”
Even as a 14 seed, UC Santa Barbara wasn’t “just happy to be here.” Al though f reshman guard Matija Belic admitted to being more than just happy to be at Ball Arena — the Serbian counts Nuggets All- Star Nikola Jokic as one of his hoops heroes.
“(It’s) awesome,” Belic told The Denver Post. “(It’s) amazing. I dreamed about it, to be able to play where (Jokic) performed every night.”
The 6-foot-7 Belic, who scored four points in six minutes off the bench Friday for the losing Gauchos, said he and his family often would wake up to watch Nuggets games in the middle of the night in order to catch the NBA’S two-time MVP.
“I love the way how he sees the game, how he reads the play, how he’s able to — even though he’s maybe not the best athlete on the court, even though he maybe (can’t) jump the highest, he way he reads the game, it’s unbelievable.”
FORMER NUGGET’S SON OK>>
Creighton forward Mason Miller, son of former Nuggets guard Mike Miller, left the Bluejays’ 72-63 win over North Carolina State about two minutes before halftime with an apparent ankle injury.
The 6-foot-9 freshman couldn’t put weight on his injured leg and had to be helped back to the Creighton locker room. Coach Greg Mcdermott said after the game that he was told it was a sprained ankle, but that the Jays wouldn’t be clear on its severity until Saturday morning.
GAUNCHOS COACH ON MOVE?>>
After UCSB unraveled in the second half of the No. 14 Gauchos’ 7456 loss to No. 3 Baylor on Friday, coach Joe Pasternack was asked about his candidacy for a Power 5 job. Most notably, Pasternack has been linked to the job at Cal, which recently fired head coach Mark Fox.
Pasternack reiterated his loyalty to UCSB, where the Gauchos have developed into a Big West power by winning the conference title two of the last three seasons. But he also left the door open by not outright saying that he wasn’t leaving.
“I love UC Santa Barbara, the community and everybody else (in the Gauchos’ program),” Pasternack said. “And I’m going recruiting tonight.”
GOTTA BE THE SHOES>>
McDermott’s March Madness game-day outfit was five months in the making.
Part of it, anyway. McDermott wore green Nike sneakers on the sidelines during the Blue Jays’ 7263 win over North Carolina State.
Mcdermott said team administrative specialist John Mckew ordered the shoes five months ago, “thinking we had a 50/50 chance if we made the NCAA Tournament to play on St. Pat’s Day.” Once Creighton landed in the back half of the firstround schedule, the new shoes were ready to go.
“Out of respect for ( Mckew), and because Mcdermott’s a pretty Irish name, we went with the green today,” Mcdermott said. “… Pretty good St. Pat’s Day for our Irish fans that followed us over here from Omaha. So I think they’re going to have a little fun tomorrow.”