Mark Gottfried met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference and discussed the upcoming matchup with Virginia Tech, Cat Barber's recent play, as well as the Pack's NCAA tournament prospects. Sorry, did I say Cat Barber? I meant the Cad Daddy.
Do you call him Cat or Anthony? What do you call him?
Cat Daddy. I call him the Cat Daddy, and I want him to play like the Cat Daddy.I think there's been times where he's tried so hard to run a team and get our team into the offense that he hasn't utilized that great speed and quickness that he has.
Lately my message to him has been to turn it loose... cut it loose, let's go. He's gaining confidence. Hopefully he'll continue that.
Barber has scored 83 points over the last four games on 30-61 shooting. That includes a 9-17 effort from beyond the arc, which gives him an eFG% of 56.6 over that span. In that time he's also dished out 17 assists while committing only three turnovers.
His run started against Georgia Tech in late January, when he hit four three-pointers; prior to that, he hadn't hit multiple threes in a game since the season-opener. He scored a total of 37 points over the first seven conference games (5.3 PPG) before breaking out for 23 against the Jackets and he hasn't really looked back.
That's a crazy turnaround for a player who hadn't been much of a factor offensively for the better part of a month. Carry on, Cat Daddy!