Ricky Taylor’s eyes begin to open a little wider when he notices his defender try to help prevent Keegan Bell from dribbling to the basket.
Taylor gets his shoulders squared to the rim. He gets his feet behind the 3-point line but doesn’t anchor there in case he can drive. He gets his hands ready to accept a pass from Bell and shoot a 3-pointer without an opponent near him.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga shooting guard relishes those moments when Bell puts a defense in a split-second sticky situation.
“I know it’s going to come to me or Keegan is going to make a special play to the big man,” Taylor said. “I love when he does that because it reminds me of shooting with [an automatic ball-return machine], because the ball comes right to my hands.
“He gives me the ball right where I want so I can shoot it easy.”
As UTC’s point guard, Bell has created a lot of opportunities for Taylor, Omar Wattad, Chris Early and the rest of the Mocs to score so far this season.
Heading into Monday’s games, Bell was No. 7 in NCAA Division I in assists per game with an average of 6.7. He was ranked 27th with a 2.95 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“I’ve always been a pass-first guy and I love dishing. I love getting people involved, and that’s fun to me,” said Bell, who is averaging 8.2 points per game but shooting just 33.8 percent. “When I pass it and somebody scores, it’s like I’m scoring too.”
Thanks in part to Bell’s ability to drive and dish, along with reacting to basic pick-and-rolls, the Mocs have started the Southern Conference season 2-0 and 4-5 overall. In UTC’s four wins, Bell has 32 assists and just four turnovers.
“He is such a difference-maker,” said Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter, whose team lost 67-65 to UTC on Saturday and also has faced Clemson, DePaul and Bradley.
“I told our guys that he’s the best passer we’ve faced this year. Whether it’s in transition or coming off screens, he gets the ball to the right guy.”
Bell had six assists and one turnover against WCU, which followed a 13-assist game against Appalachian State on Thursday.
No other player has had 13 assists in a conference game since Wofford’s Byron Fields did so in February of 2006 against The Citadel. Davidson’s Stephen Curry had 13 assists in a nonconference game against Winthrop in November of 2008.
“He’s evolved into the role,” UTC coach John Shulman said of Bell. “He started getting more comfortable at the end of last year, and he knows this offense now and it’s just flowed. He wants to be a gunslinger, but in our offense if you’ll just make the right reads, it goes so much easier because you can dink and dunk, which will keep turnovers down.
“He’s made the right reads – simple and easy reads.”
Bell is the son of a longtime high school and college basketball coach. He spent his freshman year at Vanderbilt, transferred to UTC and sat out a season per NCAA rules, then started at the point last year as a sophomore and averaged 4.8 assists per game.
“This year, Coach Shulman and I have a good understanding of what we want in time and place, whether that’s to push or hold up, to try a basic play then pull it out and start another,” Bell said. “I learned a lot from last year about what he wants and it works.”
Bell wouldn’t have 62 assists if his teammates didn’t hit shots when he passed the ball to them. But he also wouldn’t have the numbers if he couldn’t get into the lane by himself or play pick-and-rolls with precision.
“I’m playing with talented guys, and I feel comfortable with the guys that when I drive – whether it’s Omar or Chris or [Josh Odem] or Ricky and everybody else – I feel that’s it’s a good shot because it’s going to go in.
“My stats are just as much, or maybe even more, because of them.”