Coaching Career of Rodney Williams

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Coach Williams Works Hard for His first Collegiate Victory

Nov 14, 2007 - TSU at UTEP
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Texas Southern Tigers (0-1)	24	30	54
UTA Mavericks (0-1)	23	22	45

Houston Chronicle – The Texas Southern Tigers went into hostile territory when they played the Texas as Arlington Mavericks. Coach Williams was able to rebound and earn his first victory in his career. “I am very excited to earn my first win and also start what I hope will be the beginning of many more. The team today was able to play our brand of ball and in the end, we came out with the victory. We were able to contain majority of the team to below double digits. We allowed 2 players to break the mark which is acceptable in our style of ball and managed to get every one on our team to score except Bobby Jones. Now we have to come back to reality and prepare for a talented UTEP team.” Coach Williams said to reporters after the game. The Tigers improve to 1-1 record on the season and move towards playing the UTEP Miners with a record of 1-2. Hopefully Coach Williams and the Tigers can earn victory number 2.

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The Tigers come back down to reality

Nov 18, 2007 - TSU at UTEP
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Texas Southern Tigers (1-1)	23	21	44
UTEP Miners (1-2)	28	19	47

UTEP MVP: M. Kilgore – 11pts
TSU MVP: M. Bell – 9 pts, 6 reb

Houston Chronicle – The Tigers were hoping to add on to their winning streak by beating the UTEP Miners in El Paso. That dream will have to be put on hold as the Tigers were derailed in the final minutes and suffered a heartbreaking defeat. “These type of games will be expected if we manage to play our form of ball. We like to hold the ball and limit the number of possessions for the other team. The problem with that is we also limit our own possessions and limit our late game opportunities just like we did in this game.,” Coach Williams said with a disgruntled look on his face, “This game should have been ours. We managed to hold all the [Miners] players below double digits except Kilgore. We managed to create more turnovers and have more rebounds. But when shots were need we failed to create results. It also didn’t help that we had lost Matthew Bell for rest of the game due to a sprained ankle. He will be prepared to return against Houston in an attempt to squeeze out an upset. We now have to put what we learned from this game into our training and prepare for a tough 3 game stretch we are about to endure and try to squeeze out 1 win amongst these teams in order to boost our own team morale and prepare ourselves for the conference schedule and also gain some NCAA experience.” Coach Williams was also asked about the play of slumping Sollie Norwood, he responded by saying, “Norwood’s play is being monitored and as of now will remain our starter. But right now the off guard position is being run by committee and should he continue to fail and hinder the team, he will lose his position and be forced to earn his minutes back”. The next game for the Texas Southern Tigers will be In-City Rival Houston Cougars. The Tigers will try to rebound from a tough loss and possibly gain a win against a tough foe.

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Tigers embarrassed in front of practically home crowd

Nov 21, 2007 - TSU at HOU
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Texas Southern Tigers (1-2)	32	21	53
Houston Cougars (1-3)	29	45	74

Houston MVP:R. Mckiver – 40 pts , 14-24 from floor, 10-16 from 3
TSU MVP: J. Jones – 10 pts, 6 reb

Houston Chronicle – In the battle for Houston, two teams hoped fight for the crown of a talented basketball city. Texas Southern and Houston ended halftime only separating the teams by 3 points, appearing as a great game between 2 teams. The second half was a different story as the Tigers were outscored by the Cougars 45-21. Rob Mckiver for the Cougars went off for 40 points and an outstanding 10-16 from behind the arc. Coach Williams was asked about the play of Mckiver at the post game conference, “There was nothing we could do out there. The flaw of the 2-3 is against a good 3pt shooting team. That is what we played today. Mckiver lit us up from behind the arc obtaining 30 of his 40 from there. He was finding the holes in our zone and shooting us up. Here was a game I was hoping we could steal and boost the team’s morale before heading up to Lexington. Now we will just have to try our best to try some new looks in Rupp Arena and try to move forward with our season and develop game experience with the players.” Coach Williams was also asked about the play of Norwood again. “Norwood has unfortunately lost his starting role as the off guard. He one of two players for us today to gain double digits in points but it was on a terrible shooting night by him. He went 2-13 from the floor, 1-11 from 3 alone. We, as a team cant afford these types of nights is we hope to make a run deep in march. So I will be starting David Burrell in his place in an attempt to fill the position with consistent play. I also as a coach will be changing my tactics a little. In the AAU ranks, moving slow and resetting on offense worked. Here in the college ranks, all players play composed and don’t get rattled. So I think i'm going to allow my guards a little more control of the tempo. Within these first 4 games, all guards no how to play a slow tempo game and milk the shot clock. Now I will give them the green light and see if we can have some different results. If the guards at the top of the 2-3 force a turnover and feel they can beat the one man, then they can take it. If they don’t think they can, they are able to reset and run a play. Hopefully this new style change and roster change can lead to some victories for the team.” The Tigers will be headed to Lexington for a game on Saturday with the Wildcats. With the Tiger record now sitting at 1-3 they are going to need the luck of Gods in order to upset a top 25 ranked Wildcats team loaded with All-Americans.

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Sportscenter isn’t wrong, this did just happen

Nov 24, 2007 - TSU at UK
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Texas Southern Tigers (1-3)	24	29	53
#9 Kentucky Wildcats (5-0)	21	25	46

Kentucky MVP: J. Meeks – 26 pts, 4-8 from 3
TSU MVP: D. White – 11 pts, 4 stl, 5-12 from floor


Houston Chronicle – “3, 2, 1, and its over. The Tigers did the unthinkable and upset the Wildcats at Rupp Arena. It’s upset time already and we are no where near March.” Gus Johnson said while commentating the basketball game. The Tigers were headed to Lexington looking to just gain game experience and try to keep composure in a hostile crowd. The Tigers kept their composure and were able to upset the hometown fans by a pretty decent margin. Coach Williams was asked how he felt about this victory during the post game conference. “This victory means a lot to me as a coach but a lot more for the team. I knew this was a tough 3 games the AD scheduled for us and I saw the Cougars one as the one we could steal from the series. It never crossed my mind that we would steal this one. Maybe the roster change was for the good as my starting backcourt accounted for 22 of our 53 total points, and Burrell even managed to knock in 2 threes for the game. This new guard oriented attack led to Bobbie Jones, off the bench, to lead our team in scoring. Overall, I feel it was a good move and hope we can get another upset against the Texas Longhorns next week.” . As Coach Williams stated, they will play the Longhorns next Wednesday night in Austin, Texas. It will be a key game for the Tigers, because with a victory they will push their record to 3-3 and be on the longest streak of the season so far with 2 victories straight.

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Tigers get brought back down to earth

Nov 28, 2007 - TSU at TEX
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Texas Southern Tigers (2-3)	32	30	62
#17 Texas Longhorns (3-1)	33	38	71

Tex. MVP: A. Abrams – 28 pts, 8-12 from 3
TSU MVP: B. Jones (Bench) – 19 pts, 6-8 from floor, 4-4 ft

Houston Chronicle – The Texas Southern Tigers headed to Austin looking to upset a consecutive top 25 ranked team. That goal was unsuccessful as the Tigers were at one point down by 23 to the Longhorns. “The final score doesn’t show the disparity in the talent of the 2 teams on the court today. AJ Abrams watched game film of what Mckiver did to us on the offensive end and simply mimicked him going off for 28 points and gaining 24 of his points from behind the arc. He simply exploited or zone again and hopefully we as a team can sure up this fault if we intend on being successful this season. Towards the end of the game and gaining garbage minutes, we were able to see which players accept the challenge and which players would fold under pressure. Bobbie Jones stock has risen in my eyes and moved himself into the second off guard spot. If he continues to give this type of consistent play, he may find himself listening to the PA announcer say his name in the starting lineup. We have to put this loss behind us as a team and use the experience gained towards finding a way to climb out of this whole and finish over 500 for our nonconference schedule and looking prepared as we head into conference play.” Coach Williams said at the post game conference. With 5 scheduled games and the Blackjack tournament remaining for the Tigers Non-conference schedule, the tide may be turning and looking into the favor of the tigers.

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November recap

Record: 2-4
Longest W Streak: 1
Longest L Streak: 2
Weeks in AP Poll: 0
Weeks in Mid-Major Poll: 0
Next 5 Games: @ TCU, vs. Sam Houston St. , @ Purdue, @ Iowa St., @ Wofford(Blackjack Tourney Game 1)

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Early Signing Period Update

Hi, I’m Jim Hicks with RCS Sports and I’m here to update all of you fans out there about your teams attempt to better itself for the next season. Lets start out with Texas……..

Now We get to Texas Southern and they are on my biggest dissapointment list of teams during the Early Signing period. The Tigers started the Early Scholorship Offer period with 6 players they were targeting and all the players with an available scholorship for a full ride to play ball. Now 4 weeks later, only 2 of the players I spoke of in my special remain on their target list and it is the 2 centers Obrzut and Howell. The PG Osborne was stolen away from Mcneese State even though his 1st priority was to stay close to home, he felt a 4 hour drive was closer that a 20 minute one. None the less, Coach Williams failed to obtain an early signee to his first recruiting class and will strive to get some immediate signings with the next available signing period for recruits. …..

Well that’s all for now, the next time you will hear from me will be to recap the Nation’s recruiting classes and also go through all Texas Schools and see what direction they will be headed towards for the next season. I’m Jim Hicks for RCS Sports signing out.

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Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

I use to always start out my legacies with TSU back in the day with the orgnial roster set, so this is going to bring back some sweet memories. You got some sweet 3pt shooters. I love Sollie Norwood, that kid was money in the bank for me.

I'm not sure if it is the sliders or he just doesnt like me but he isnt performing for me. Right now through 6 games his total stats are 37 pts(5th on team), 9-42 from entire floor, 21%(worst of eligible player). 19% from 3. IDK what is wrong but he got benched as you have already read and i gave him a pep talk before i turned off the xbox. Maybe tomorrow he will play better for me, because if he could have just made two of the 5 layups he missed in that UTEP Game I would 3-3 right now and feeling a bit better than how I feel now.