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McDaniel is ULM’s Gutsy Gunner

McDaniel is ULM’s Gutsy Gunner

Men's Basketball Feb 14
By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

Bouncing balls, squeaking shoes on the hardwood and the swish of nets make beautiful music for a coach in the offseason.

Those familiar echoes usually mean that a player is putting in extra work. It's a trait ULM's Keith Richard treasures, and he never forgets the guys that he's seen and heard honing their game on their own.

Famously, former Warhawk Majok Deng showed up three times a day and would be lathered up launching shots at 6:30 a.m., when Richard arrived at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
 
"Players like Majok Deng, Nick Coppola, Tyler Ongwae and Justin Roberson lived in the gym," Richard said admiringly of his former ULM stars.

Last offseason, Richard took notice of his latest gym rat – Sam McDaniel.
 
"Sam got in here a week after the season and was almost Majok Deng-like," Richard said. "He was in this gym all spring, all summer."

ULM's radio play-by-play announcer Nick White tracked the trend too as he arrived at his office each day.

"Sam Mac worked his tail off this summer in the gym," White said. "There wasn't a day that went by when I would come into Fant-Ewing that he wasn't working on his game."

On the heels of his solo sessions, it's no accident that McDaniel has emerged as one of ULM's go-to gunners in his senior season. He leads the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor. Through 23 games, McDaniel has dropped 54-of 121 3-pointers, hitting 44.6 percent outside the arc to pace ULM's perimeter attack.

"I just wanted to get better," McDaniel said. "I didn't have the junior season that I wanted, probably because I'd just come off surgery. Last year, I only got back two or three weeks before the season started. It was hard for me to get my legs under me and do what I wanted to do my junior season.

"My senior season, the offseason, I was in here every day," McDaniel added. "I'm one of those guys, I get confidence in a game from what I do before the game in my preparation."

The product of Morphettville, Australia arrived at ULM via Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa. Billed as an outside shooter with a sweet stroke, McDaniel showed flashes of his shooting prowess through his junior season but saw his production wane as the year progressed. He shot just 27 percent from behind the 3-point arc in Sun Belt games in 2016-17.

"He lost confidence," Richard said. "We beat Arkansas State in the conference tournament and he only played 13 minutes. He was shooting wide open 3s but struggling."

Now, McDaniel is coming up with clutch buckets time and time again. On an impressive two-game road sweep of Sun Belt standouts Georgia Southern and Georgia State, McDaniel averaged 23 points, 10.5 rebounds and made 11 3-pointers in 21 attempts (52.4 percent).
 
"To see what he's shooting now based on what he shot last year and knowing the work he put in, it wasn't just by us. It was his own deal. It's pretty neat," Richard said. "As a coach, you appreciate that."

"I think the biggest thing going for Sam is, I've seen his confidence rise on the court," White said. "He knows that Coach Richard is putting him and his teammates in the right position to win games. He believes that he can be the guy to take the big shot when it is needed."

"The whole season, coach has never told me 'That's a bad shot,'" McDaniel said. "He never tells us to turn down an open shot. He wants me to be one of the aggressive guys when it comes to taking shots. It helps when your coach and teammates support you taking a shot."

ULM (11-12, 5-7 Sun Belt) is 4-1 in its last five games, thanks in part to McDaniel's fearless shooting touch. 

"To everyone else, it may seem different that we're shooting well and playing well and it's a surge because we just won," McDaniel said. "But a lot of our games, even last year, were close games that could have gone either way. I think every day we put in work and eventually knew that it would start to pay off. It's starting to pay off for us. It's always nice when you're hitting shots and winning games."

In those close games though, sometimes the outcome depends on a series of plays or timely shots. And McDaniel was clutch during the two Georgia overtime duels.

"We really just try to get the best shot," McDaniel said. "I just want the team to win and for us to get the best shot coming out of the offense. If that's me taking the shot, I'll take it. If that's me driving and kicking to someone who is open, then I'll do that as well. I trust my teammates and my teammates trust me. That's the way we want to play."

In the 66-64 overtime win over Georgia Southern, McDaniel's 3-pointer from the left wing with 11 seconds left in overtime gave ULM the lead for good. McDaniel scored 23 points with nine rebounds and made 6-of-11 shots from 3-point range.

Two days later, McDaniel scored 23 points with 12 rebounds in a 90-82 overtime win at Georgia State. His 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining in regulation slowed Georgia State's late surge and helped the Warhawks survive in OT.

"He stroked that 3 in OT at Georgia Southern without any hesitation, like he knew it would go in," White said. "He hit a huge jumper against Georgia State when ULM was in a four-plus minute scoring drought in the second half. Once again, he rose up without hesitation. Those were huge moments for him. Last year at this time, I don't know if he would have felt comfortable taking those shots."

ULM's coaching staff helped the shooters get better looks lately by utilizing a smaller, quicker lineup.

"Playing five guards like we have allows us to have five guys on the perimeter, which can space the defense," McDaniel said. "Bigger guys have to come out and guard the perimeter instead of just sitting in the lane. It definitely helps. I'm a guy who is going to take what the defense gives me. If they put a big guy on me, I can drive around him. If they sag off, I can shoot a 3. I've been trying to take what the defense gives me."

While his performance has improved at ULM, McDaniel has enjoyed cultural growth too while living in Louisiana.

"I definitely like the weather here way more than I did in Iowa," McDaniel said. "It was a bit cold for me in Iowa with all the snow and stuff. I really like it here. I like the coaches, I like the fans and I like the school. It's been a really good two years for me."

Although he's never tried crawfish, McDaniel said he developed a taste for another Louisiana favorite. "I do like gumbo," McDaniel said.

With McDaniel heating up like a bowl of good gumbo, ULM is gaining momentum heading toward the postseason.

"We take a lot of confidence from what we did over the weekend and over the last five games," McDaniel said. "At the same time, coach likes us to keep a level head and not get too high or too low. Just keep working at it and keep moving forward."

ULM's next game is at home Thursday against UT Arlington (7 p.m.), the preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt title this year. ULM then plays host to Texas State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"We just proved this weekend that we can do a lot of good things in this league," McDaniel said. "We definitely need a lot of support this weekend at home. Hopefully, we can keep it going and finish out the season right. We've got four of the last six games at home and we want to finish strong."


 
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