Taking small steps - Tulsa World (1-23-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Taking small steps

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

1/23/2006

ORU's Vealy is studying the game, contributing slowly

Marchello Vealy hasn't spent so much time on the bench since his freshman basketball season at Southeast High School in Oklahoma City.

Now, the Oral Roberts University freshman is able to do what he did then -- study the game and grow at a leisurely pace, while contributing in measured amounts.

"I'm just sitting back, cheering on my teammates, and when it's time to go out there, I try to shine, play defense and give 100 percent," Vealy said.

Vealy started as a sophomore at Southeast and developed into one of the state's top high school players, leading the Spartans to back-to-back Class 5A state titles.

He joined 2003 Memorial High star Caleb Green as the second Oklahoma Player of the Year to sign with the Eagles in three seasons.

The 6-foot-7 Vealy hasn't made the same freshman impact that Green and sharpshooting guard Ken Tutt did two years ago. But ORU coach Scott Sutton said Vealy's situation is different and can't be compared to theirs.

"It's rare that you would depend on freshmen like we did Ken and Caleb. They were special players," Sutton said.

"He's done a good job, and if this were a different year, we might be depending on him more. It just so happens that he's playing behind (Green, the 2005 Mid-Continent Conference player of the year) and a fifth-year senior (6-11 Mickey Michalec) who has played a lot of basketball," Sutton said.

"He's played well at times and struggled at others. That's what freshmen do."

ORU was not a veteran team when Green and Tutt arrived in 2004. Three senior starters had gone from the year before, and guard Luke Spencer-Gardner was lost before the start of the regular season.

That forced the freshmen to grow up quickly. It helped that ORU played a five-game exhibition tour of British Columbia. Tutt and Green established themselves as the team's leading scorers before returning from Canada.

They played two more exhibition games before the regular-season opener.

"Seven exhibition games, that's the equivalent of a quarter of your season before they played a true Division I game," Sutton said. "I wonder what 'Chello would be like if he had played five games up in Canada and gotten to play 25 or 30 minutes per game?"

ORU also played an easier schedule two years ago. The current one is the toughest in Sutton's seven years at the helm.

"It's hard for coach to play me right now because he can't afford to put me in there and have me make mistakes," Vealy said. "So I'm glad he's spotting me in and letting me play minute by minute."

Still, Vealy is third on the team with 10 blocked shots, while playing nearly 11 minutes per game. He averages 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds and has scored in double figures three times.

He almost lodged his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds against Western Illinois in Tulsa earlier this month. He also scored 11 points against St. Gregory's, seven against Tulsa and had 10 points and five rebounds in a win at Northern Colorado.

Vealy faced taller players only rarely in high school, but he's getting a steady dose by practicing daily against the 6-8 Green and Michalec.

"He has a lot of potential," Green said. "He needs to grow in practice every day, and I think playing under veteran guys is going to help him. He has a lot of growing to do, but he's going to be a heck of a player."