ODU duo hope spark they got vs. Hoyas will re-ignite them

NORFOLK

Frank Hassell's choice of postgame footwear would have made sense had it been a summer-league game.

But there was a foot-and-half of freshly fallen snow on the ground when Hassell stepped out of Georgetown's McDonough Arena Saturday night - in flip-flops.

Not the best choice for warmth, the flip-flop. But as a symbol of no-worries relaxation, it does say a certain something about its wearer. And a relaxed, stress-free mindset is precisely what Hassell is striving for these days, following an uptight early season.

A relaxed Hassell is a productive Hassell, as he demonstrated with a 10-point, seven-rebound, three-steal performance in ODU's 61-57 win over the No. 11 Hoyas.

"When Frank is having fun, he's got a calmness in his mind that allows him to be a competitor and a believer in his abilities," ODU coach Blaine Taylor said.

Hassell was not the only player to break out of the doldrums Saturday. Ben Finney, who had been in a self-described "shooting funk," made 3 of 4 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. He also contributed six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

A single game does not a turnaround make, but a re-emergence of Hassell and Finney, both juniors, would be a major plus for ODU, which plays Charlotte (9-1) tonight at the Constant Center.

Hassell played as well as any Monarch late last year, averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds over the final 10 games and earning MVP honors in the Collegeinsider.com tournament.

The 6-5 Finney was often the glue that held everything together, leading the team in rebounding, finishing second in scoring and guarding a range of players, from power forwards to point guards.

Yet, 10 games into the season, Hassell was out of the starting lineup. Finney averaged just three points in the four games before Saturday.

"Both of them had been hoping to play good," Taylor said. "They weren't playing as good as I think they're capable. What I encouraged them to do was get... more aggressive defensively, and make things happen that add up on the stat sheet in a different way."

Hassell had been his own worst enemy, he said. Consecutive losses to Missouri, Mississippi State and Richmond had shaken his confidence. He was stressing over missed shots. Stressing over bad plays. Holding the ball too long, instead of making quick moves.

Hassell's solution: get back to having fun, to playing the way he did late last season, when, "I cared, but I played without a care, if that makes sense," he said.

It does, for Hassell, who was coming off a one-point, one-rebound performance in the Dec. 11 loss to Dayton. Inserted back into the starting lineup to counter Georgetown's size, the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder turned in his finest game since a 13-point, 12 rebound performance against Marshall a month ago.

"I told myself, 'Whatever happens happens. If I miss a shot, oh well. If I mess up, oh well. I'm just going to ball.' "

Finney had been staying after practice taking extra shots. He canned a pair of 3-pointers to close Friday's practice and felt good at Saturday's shootaround.

"I hit my first 3-pointer and I felt hot," he said. "So I took another as a heat check."

It also fell. Finney and the Monarchs (7-4) were on their way to their biggest win in three years.

It's no guarantee of future success, particularly with a hot Charlotte team in town tonight. But for a pair of veteran players who had been struggling, it was a step in the right direction.

A step taken in the snow, for one, in a pair of flip-flops.

Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com