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There is a heated battle going on for the starting point guard spot in Sacramento right now between Greivis Vasquez and Isaiah Thomas and it doesn't look like that's going to end anytime soon. In fact, both guards are playing 27 minutes per game, leaving little time for rookie Ray McCallum to strut his stuff. For that reason, the D-League is the place he'll likely call home this season and he'll get loads of burn and the green light to take pretty well any shot he wants. You know, just want you want out of your rookie.
But on Friday night, that looked like a good thing.
In similar fashion to how Seth Curry's debut went, McCallum struggled in the opening quarter and was sent to the bench early after scoring two points on 1-for-3 shooting. Then, he scored nine points in the second quarter. Then another eight in the third. Then eight more in the fourth. At the sound of the final buzzer, McCallum had totalled a team-high 28 points and seven rebounds on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor and 3-for-4 shooting from three. He also dished out three assists, but committed four turnovers, which was the only downside to his night.
Thanks in large part to McCallum's scoring outburst, the Bighorns came close to overcoming the hole they dug themselves into in the first quarter - a 14 point deficit - but their inability to secure a defensive rebound in the closing seconds stripped them of a final opportunity to win the game.
The Bighorns will look to bounce back from their 86-85 loss on Saturday night when the host the Skyforce.