Despite playing 35 of 40 minutes against Colgate on Saturday, Marek Dolezaj went to the locker room after the game having only scored two points. He made one basket and only attempted two.
But Dolezaj was seemingly happy-go-lucky in the locker room postgame in regard to his scoring. He wasn’t getting one of those arms-flailing-Jim-Boeheim lectures.
In fact, his head coach had just said “he’s one of the few players that doesn’t really have to score.”
How can that be? In Division I basketball, we are constantly looking for who is scoring more. Especially when your team is about to play multiple ranked opponents in your own conference.
But this time, Boeheim remained concerned about Dolezaj’s average 4.4 points per game this season. Instead, his focus was on value elsewhere.
“He makes plays. He makes winning plays. That’s what he does,” Boeheim said in the postgame press conference.
Against Colgate, Dolezaj had six rebounds, five assists and three steals. His contributions come in ways that give the Orange scoring opportunities rather than as scoring opportunities themselves.
After the game against Colgate, Dolezaj replied to his coach’s words, saying he is just trying to make every play he can to support his team.
Even if he won’t be atop the statistic leaderboards at the end of the day, he says he is trying to make sure his team is.
Published: David Edelstein
