Friar Basketball
Home / Game Recaps / The Two Sides of Kris Dunn

The Two Sides of Kris Dunn

dunnperimeter

On a night in which Kris Dunn scored a career high 32 points, with 23 of those coming in the second half, it was Dunn’s defense that had Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker marveling in the wake of Providence’s 76-64 victory in Saturday’s season opener.

“I think he’s sensational and as complete as you can ask for in a backcourt player. I was very impressed with his defense to be very honest. He’s strong, he’s quick and he reads passing lanes so very well,” Amaker said.

“He’s very disruptive as a defensive player and that’s one of the aspects of his game that I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about.”

Dunn was far from sensational on the offensive end for the first 25 minutes on Saturday night, but he showed what makes him so unique — he’s a guard that can dominate the game on both ends.

While struggling to convert over the game’s first 20 minutes (3-11 from the field) the All American guard victimized a young Harvard backcourt with seven steals in the first half alone.

Only four players in program history have recorded more than seven swipes in a game, forget about approaching that number in a single half.

This is what makes Dunn so dangerous. Even as he struggled through a 4-16 shooting start, he was a key reason why Providence forced Harvard into 22 turnovers.

Dunn goes from dangerous to scary when his offense gets rolling as it did in the second half.

PC led by as many as eight points, but couldn’t shake a hot shooting Crimson team for much of the night, and when Harvard converted three layups in a row the game was tied at 37 with 15:45 remaining.

That’s when Dunn got hot.

Over the game’s next seven minutes he scored 16 points on three dunks, two layups, three free throws, and finally a three pointer, sparking a 22-9 Friar surge that blew the game open.

As if to serve a reminder of his defensive prowess in the midst of his second half explosion, Dunn’s eighth steal came when he snuck up behind Zena Edosomwan and ripped the ball out of the hands of the big man who had outmuscled PC inside for much of the game (16 rebounds).

Dunn laid the ball in for points 31 and 32 and served notice to the rest of the country: 32 points, eight steals, six rebounds, five assists and just two turnovers in 36 minutes of two-way dominance.

They Said It:

“Overall, I thought it was a really good first outing for a team that never played together in front of a crowd like that.” — Ed Cooley

“No, really I was getting the looks that I wanted to get. Guys were moving the ball around and getting me open looks. Really I just have to be better the next game.” — Kris Dunn on his early offensive struggles and if he was pressing in the first half.

“It felt great to be back out there again. It’s the best feeling in the world.” — Rodney Bullock on how it felt to return after two seasons away from the court. Bullock impressed with 20 points and three blocks in his Friar debut.

“We talked about that at halftime, we wanted to speed the tempo up. I thought we had probably four or five bad shots today. I don’t think we got enough threes up today. As we play more three point shooting is going to be part of our identity.” — Cooley on if he was pleased with his team’s pace.

“Ryan is going to be a threat and I’m really proud of Ryan. For his first game out there I thought he played really hard.” — Cooley on freshman Ryan Fazekas’ first game. Fazekas hit a pair of threes and scored 10 points.

Around Friartown:

Recap and Box Score: AP Recap: http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400827765 Box Score: http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400827765    Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

You must be logged in to post a comment Login