KU freshman David McCormack scores 16 points, rips six rebounds in 114-71 victory
Kansas freshman David McCormack scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in Global Sports Academy Select Team’s 114-71 rout of the WBB Giants on Wednesday night in Belgium.
The 6-foot-10, 265-pound power forward out of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., was one of nine players to score in double figures for Global Sports.
The team, directed by former Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating, improved to 5-0 heading into Thursday’s final game of a week-long tour of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
McCormack, a McDonald’s All-American who was ranked No. 35 in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com, has averaged 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds a game for the U.S. collegiate all-star team.
“He has to slow himself down in the paint and realize his size and space,” Global Sports coach Keating said after Wednesday’s game. “Reps will be key for him and (going) against Doke (Udoka Azubuike) will only benefit him in seeing how getting his body connected and establishing a base will help him.
“He has misguided power right now since he’s so big, but even a guard can neutralize him right now because he is so sped up,” Keating added of McCormack. “Inside 3-feet, he needs to realize that a dribble isn’t always necessary.”
Keating added that he is “impressed with David’s ability to run the floor, especially given that he just lost a lot of weight. He has screened off the ball well and especially in our double-stagger actions. He’s definitely working at it.”
McCormack lost 30 to 40 pounds his junior season at Oak Hill and has kept the weight off ever since.
“He has been a good teammate and along with the other nine (players) has done a good job supporting the rest, and as you can see, sharing the ball with the spread-out scoring we had tonight,” Keating said Wednesday.
Team members include McCormack, plus Nicholas Muszynski, Grayson Murphy, Belmont; Dylan Painter, Jermaine Samuels, Villanova; Makhtar Gueye, UAB; Tyere Marshall, Steven Jordan, Rider; William Douglas, Ethan Chargois, SMU and Frank Rokins, West Chester University.
“Guys shared it and defended early and gave a good effort to play the right way,” Keating said of players in Wednesday’s contest.
Bauman named interim assistant at Wake
Justin Bauman, the lead manager on Bill Self’s KU basketball staff from 2003 to 2006, has been named interim assistant coach on Danny Manning’s Wake Forest coaching staff, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal has reported.
Bauman, who is starting his fifth year at Wake Forest, is the program’s director of basketball operations. He is immediately taking over assistant duties from Jamill Jones, who recently pleaded not guilty to an assault charge. That followed an incident in New York in which Jones allegedly punched a man who fell and died.
The death has been ruled a homicide. The New York Daily News reports that charges against Jones could be upgraded during his next court appearance in October.
Bauman also worked two years for former KU forward Manning at Tulsa as director of basketball operations. He also has served as director of basketball operations at University of San Francisco and Florida Atlantic, in both cases working for former KU guard Rex Walters. He was also an assistant coach at San Francisco.