Editor’s note: This is one of 12 team capsules breaking down the men’s basketball teams in the Big Sky Conference. League play opens on Thursday, December 29.
Injuries hit Northern Arizona hard injuries last season. Now NAU will work to find a way to integrate new faces with some familiar ones ready to get back onto the court. A large freshmen class that has to some degree been besieged by injuries will be meshed with the likes of Mike Green, Ako Kaluna and Marcus DeBerry. Jelani Neely and Jordyn Martin are both now healthy after suffering season-ending injuries before Big Sky Conference play began last season.
Thus far, the results have been very similar to last season when the Lumberjacks struggled through a 5-25 campaign, losing in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament in Reno. With conference play on the horizon, NAU is just 3-10, but there are some recent signs of hope. The ’Jacks went to UTEP and handed the Miners a 76-74 defeat and then traveled to Chicago and hung with a tough Illinois-Chicago group.
In his fifth year in Flagstaff, Jack Murphy’s work will be cut out for him if he is to get the ’Jacks back to the 20-win mark. But Murphy is confident in the depth that has been created over the past 18 months.
“[The freshmen] were put in a position they weren’t ready for and weren’t recruited for,” Murphy said, referencing the line-up juggling he performed last season. “They are now sophomores and they have starting game experience. We have eight players on our roster with starting experience, which is more than we had last year.”
NAU hosts Southern Utah on New Year’s Eve as the two teams with only one league game on the opening weekend.
QUICK HITS
Current record — 3-10
2015-2016 record: 3-15 in Big Sky play, 5-25 overall.
Big Sky Tournament finish: The Lumberjacks earned the No. 11 seed in the conference tournament and lost out in Round 1 after a Eastern Washington defeated NAU 74-52.
NAU head coach Jack Murphy/ by Brooks Nuanez
Head Coach: Jack Murphy enters his fifth season in Flagstaff, where he had accumulated a 54-78 mark heading into the 2016-17 season. A former assistant to Josh Pastner at Memphis, Murphy had also worked as an advanced scout for the Denver Nuggets and director of operations for eight seasons under legendary coach Lute Olsen at Arizona. Murphy guided the Lumberjacks to 23 wins and a second-place finish in the 2015 CIT, the best postseason run in program history.
Murphy on the upcoming conference campaign: “In years past, I’ve begged (former Big Sky director of communications) Jon Kasper to make sure we are 12th. It’s exciting because being picked low allows us to focus on what we want to focus on: ourselves. We have to trust our own process and believe what we are doing in our gym.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jordyn Martin — The Las Vegas native missed most of last season with a knee injury after he was named the Big Sky’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15. In his return to the lineup, Martin’s scoring has been inconsistent, but he did net a season-high 26 points against Alabama State. Through 13 games, Martin is NAU’s leading scorer (10.9) and rebounder (8.1).
Mike Green — Forced into action as a freshman by the rash of injuries NAU had to deal with last season, Green averaged 7.9 points and shot nearly 36 percent from the 3-point arc. The 5-10 guard has increased his scoring average to 10.8 per game this year while his outside shooting percentage has remained static. Green will be counted on in the backcourt this season without former All-Big Sky guard Kris Yanku, who left the program before the Big Sky Tournament last season.
Ak0 Kaluna — One of three seniors on the roster along with Martin and Jaleni Neely, Kaluna is a versatile post who can bang on the block or slide outside and display his soft shooting touch. He started 29 games last season and averaged 12.4 points and 7.9 rebounds. Both those totals have dipped as the ’Jacks have added some depth, but Kaluna is still a threat.
Northern Arizona sophomore Marcus DeBerry, pictured here at the Big Sky Tournament last spring/ by Brooks Nuanez
Marcus DeBerry — A lanky 6-5 wing, DeBerry started 23 games during his freshman season. Again in a starring role as a sophomore, DeBerry is scoring almost 10 points a game and isn’t afraid to launch from the outside, shooting more than six 3-pointers per game.
Jelani Neely — Another of the many ’Jacks who return to the court after missing considerable time last season with injuries, Neely’s impact has already been felt. Neely, a 6-0 guard, scored an average of 19 points per game during NAU’s first three games before cooling off. Currently, he’s fifth on the team with an 8.7 points per game average.
KEY LOSSES
Kris Yanku — A former first-team All-Big Sky guard and a prodigious free throw shooter, Yanku disappeared from sight just prior to last season’s Big Sky Conference Tournament. He was leading the Lumberjacks in scoring (14.4) and was a respected outside shooter (37 percent during conference play last year), Yanku’s absence opens an opportunity for Green.
Torry Johnson — Another freshman forced into action last season, Johnson went down with an injury during the 2016-17 preseason and hasn’t returned. A 6-3 guard, Johnson averaged almost 10 points and shot nearly 40 percent from the arc during conference play last season. He scored in double figures 14 times as a freshman.
KEY ADDITIONS
JoJo Anderson — A 6-3 guard from 22ft Academy in Houston, Anderson helped his high school team to back-to-back state championships before becoming one of eight freshmen the Lumberjacks welcomed to campus this fall. In his first season, Anderson is averaging just a shade over five points in his 22 minutes per game. With six starts to his name, Anderson is dishing out 2.9 assists per outing while limiting his turnovers to a 1.7 average.
Brooks Debisschop — A 6-8 forward who can stretch the floor, Debisschop is hitting 45 percent of his outside shots and scoring 5.9 per night. Debisschop was an all-state selection out of West Linn, Oregon. He scored a career-high 11 in a loss to Little Rock and has twice gone into double figures scoring.
Preseason polls finish: Northern Arizona was picked to finish 11th by the media and coached.
Senior Aku Kaluna on this season: “We take (the preseason polls) as motivation to prove everybody wrong. It’s us against the world.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
