Listen to all of the explanations floating around out there for the Long Beach State 49ers’ surprising 5-0 start to conference play.  You’ve probably read most of them in the pages of this very website: depth, versatility, athleticism.

Last season, any chance of victory hinged on the play of two-guard Donovan Morris.  But as this season’s squad has been injected with four high-octane freshmen and other scorers, Morris’ numbers have dipped and his role (while important) is arguably not as vital as it once was.  It’s been a common point of debate around the halls of LBPOSTSports.com as to whether the 49ers depend more on their All-Conference scorer, or the wizardry of freshman point guard Casper Ware.

Ware has shined bright in his first season, posting numbers of 9.5 ppg and 4.3 apg, committing just over two turnovers per game.  He’s also carried the team on his back on at least two occasions; notably with 21 points against UCSB, and 15 points with eight dimes against Pepperdine.  The team is 6-2 when Ware scores in double-figures, and 4-5 when he doesn’t.  They’re also 8-3 when he records more assists than turnovers.  So certainly, the case could be made that the 49ers chances of victory are best when their starting point guard is at the top of his game.

As a scorer, Casper is learning quickly to take advantage of what the defense gives him – which is a lot, since many teams have taken a chance on leaving Ware open to focus on Long Beach’s bigger shooters.  But Ware and the 49ers’ other scoring options are still tributaries to the Mighty Mississip’ that is Donovan Morris.

It may be a blessing that the 49ers no longer need such heavy reliance on Morris in order to stay competitive, but he is still Long Beach State’s best shooter and top scoring option.  Some fans have gone into mild shock watching the Big West’s leading scorer fall into a tie for eighth place in the conference, but I imagine that the highly competitive D-Mo would rather be averaging 17.0ppg on a winner than 21.2ppg on a loser.

Still, Morris’ noticeable drop in scoring production has been enough to raise eyebrows in the Walter Pyramid.  First of all, he’s playing 32.4 minutes per game as opposed to the inhumane 37.4 he logged last season, so his points have gone down – but then, so have his turnovers.  And, as previously mentioned, Morris is averaging 4.2 fewer points per game than he did last year.

So he hasn’t put up some of the gaudy numbers he did last year, and yes, he’s laid at least a few stinkers so far this season.  But he’s also playing far fewer minutes per game, and must share the off-guard position with at least two other players that weren’t available last year in Larry Anderson and Steph Gilling.

With more scoring options available, Dan Monson’s screen-down flex offense is a more equal-opportunity attack than last year’s – which set Morris up for open jumpers with a series of stagger screens.  As a result of not being the center of the offense, Morris hasn’t gotten the same separation on the catch and has had to create for himself with his dribble.
His specialty, the mid-range pull-up fallaway, does not earn many trips to the free-throw line, where Morris is among the nation’s best.  So he’s gotten to the stripe with less frequency, which also negatively affects his scoring average.

Still, for all the reasons to believe that this team no longer lives and dies with his every shot, Morris has put the 49ers on his back time and time again this season.  Through seventeen games so far, he’s failed to score in double digits just five times – and in those five games, the 49ers have a 1-4 record (9-3 when Morris reaches ten or more).  They may have more weapons, but Morris is still the Manhattan Project.  It was he who sparked a limp 49er team to victory at UC Davis with 27 points.  It was he who was a model of efficiency with 23 points on 7-13 shooting in an upset win against Temple.  And on the flipside, it was he who took just seven shots off the bench in an embarrassing home loss to Montana State.  Yes, Long Beach State lives and dies with their leading scorer more than ever.

One telling sign of Morris’ importance is in his shooting efficiency.  It would seem that he has lost a little touch as a shooter, thanks to a decrease in field goal percentage from 46.1% last year to 43.9% this year.  But more likely, it’s that Morris has learned that it’s sometimes ok to stop shooting on a bad night.  

Consider: in three games last season, Morris scored fewer points than attempted shots.  An example would be the home opener in which he took 15 attempts and scored just two points.  The 49ers lost all three of those games by an average of 26.0 points per game.  

This year, it’s already happened an alarming five times.  The 49ers are still a dismal 1-4 in those games, but Morris has shown restraint on off-nights by attempting fewer shots.  He scored 4 in seven shots during a win over Cal Poly, 6 on seven shots in the Montana State loss, 5 on fifteen shots at Syracuse, 12 on seventeen shots at Wisconsin, and 13 on fourteen shots in a loss at BYU.  They’ve scored an average of 8.4 fewer points than their opponents in those five games.

So even when D-Mo has bad nights, he’s easing back on the throttle in order to let other players take the controls.  The result may be more inefficient points-per-shot games, but also a better chance at winning when Morris is off.  Remember, Morris would often keep jacking up shots until some of them started to (inevitably) fall last year, which kept his scoring average up even when the game was out of reach.  This season, he’s refrained from shooting until his arms fall off and it’s given the 49ers a better chance to win.  The team hasn’t quite figured out how to win despite Morris’ struggles, but improvement is evident.

Long Beach State still very much depends on D-Mo’s shooting to get them through tough games, as proven by a 9-3 record when he scores in double figures.  But his acceptance of taking a backseat when necessary has proven just as important.

No doubt, Morris must – and should be able to – do three things to become a more complete scorer this season: get to the line more often than the 4.94 attempts per game he’s averaging, shoot more efficiently than his current 43.9%, and make more than 30.1% of his three-point attempts.  These are difficult things to improve upon for a scorer who is used to having an entire game to find his rhythm.  But the 49ers are a deeper team now and Morris needs to adjust in order to maximize his time on the floor.

Because as we can see, Long Beach State depends on that time more than ever.