Calm Influence: Gaudio's halftime chat paid big dividends for Aminu in victory against N.C. State

Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest is what is known as a "stat stuffer," meaning that his production shows up in all kinds of columns in the box score.

Lately, Aminu, a physically gifted 6-9 sophomore forward from Norcross, Ga., has been stuffing some of the wrong statistics.

It's safe to say that Wake Forest wouldn't have defeated N.C. State 67-59 in Sunday night's ACC opener if Aminu hadn't finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. But the Deacons could have done without his seven turnovers and three fouls -- all of them assessed in the first half.

The performance accelerated an early-season trend for Aminu, who is averaging 3.4 turnovers and 2.8 fouls a game. Many of the turnovers are on walking calls as Aminu, in his haste to beat his man off the dribble, is shuffling his pivot foot.

So when Aminu had four turnovers and three fouls by halftime against N.C. State, he and Coach Dino Gaudio had a private chat. "At halftime instead of going in our room (with) the coaches, I went in the locker room," Gaudio said. "But I didn't go where the kids were. I told one of the managers, ‘Tell Farouq to come out here.'

"I go ‘Listen, the first half is over. You've got to play the second half. Let it go.' I said, ‘Like we work in practice, take the ball and sweep it (low). You're standing up too high and that's why they're calling walks. And they are walks.'

"I just tried to be a calm influence on him and those guys, because sometimes they're trying so hard, and they're just a little tight."

Aminu scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds on Dec. 16 at UNC Wilmington, and afterward Gaudio was left to wonder how well he had played. Aminu also was assessed three turnovers -- although one independent record of the play-by-play had him with at least one more -- to go with four fouls and four missed free throws, on seven attempts.

His uneven play recently belies his nature. His personality is calm, almost placid, but he can occasionally allow his frustrations to show on his face.

"Coach is telling me I'm playing too fast," Aminu said. "I'm going to try over the break to work on just slowing down because he said, ‘You can beat people off the dribble. Just take your time. It's not like going any quicker is going to help you out or anything like that.'

"Naturally I'm pretty quick. So I'm going to slow down and make sure I do every move and follow through on everything."

There are coaches in college basketball who are philosophically opposed to leaving a player with two first-half fouls on the court -- and will do so only under the direst of circumstances. Dean Smith, the former coach at North Carolina, said more than once that a team plays the first half to get to the second.

Wake Forest led N.C. State 26-15 with 8:55 left in the half when Gaudio re-inserted Aminu despite Aminu's two fouls. Three minutes later, a whistle blew underneath the Deacons' basket and Aminu was whistled for a third foul while battling Jordan Vandenberg for a rebound.

Aminu sat the rest of the half, and managed to play all 20 minutes of the second half without picking up his fourth. But he did acknowledge the fouls curtailed his aggressiveness.

"I think in the first half I just wanted to be physical," Aminu said. "I wanted to put a stamp on our team and put a stamp on the ACC, because it would be good for the team.

"In the second half I picked my spots when I could be physical."

Sunday's game was the second time in 10 games this season that Aminu began the second half with three fouls.

"When he got his second foul and he was sitting on the bench I said, ‘Can I put you back in? Can you play with two?'" Gaudio related. "He said ‘Yeah coach.'

"And (against Gonzaga) he picked up his third like that, again 90-feet from the basket, again on the same kind of play.

For all of Aminu's flaws, there are still plays he can give a team that few others can. To see him take a lob from Ish Smith and dunk off the fast break is one of college basketball's most awe-inspiring sights.

"When he takes off on the break, wow!" Gaudio said. "His elbows are (above the rim)."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.



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