Occidental’s Anderson Finally Coming of Age

Brian Newhall now admits he was overreacting. At the time, however, the question Newhall posed to the Occidental College JV basketball team at halftime of a game against Whittier seemed appropriate.

“Who here will ever pass the ball to Chris Anderson again?” demanded Newhall, who was infuriated by the uninspired play of his 6-foot, 9-inch freshman center.

No one answered. Teammates had grown accustomed to seeing Anderson tiptoe through the key with the bravado of a ballerina.

“He’d get this face when he got hit,” Newhall said. “He’d drop his lip, put both hands on his hips and look at the ref. It’s kind of demoralizing when your center does that.”

Though Anderson had the build and agility of a star Division III player, he had the competitive fire of a couch potato.

But Anderson has matured. A junior, Anderson has become the type of player Newhall, now the varsity coach, sought. He is averaging 17 points a game and has helped Occidental (5-1) to its best start in 10 years.

“Chris used to be more interested in not making mistakes, but now he says ‘I’m going to get the next basket for us,’ ” said assistant Jim Kerman, who says Anderson plays like a 7-footer because of his enormous wingspan. “He approaches a game with the thought that he can absolutely alter its outcome.”

And he can. In a recent game at Menlo, Anderson scored 18 points, had 14 rebounds and 10 blocks. The Tigers won, 79-75.

Endurance and flexibility have never been problems for Anderson--he became an avid runner after his parents opened a jogging-apparel store in Seal Beach. He says his new-found commitment to lifting weights has a lot to do with his about-face on the hardwood. Though he still weighs 195 pounds, he is considerably stronger than he was 2 years ago.

“I’ll never be a big guy,” Anderson said. “I’ll always be Michael Cooper-like. I surprise a lot of people.”

But he has not surprised Newhall, who says Anderson’s potential always has been readily apparent.

“Just seeing him walking you can immediately tell he’s coordinated,” Newhall said. “There aren’t a lot of big guys like him around.”

Louis Brown, a 6-9, 250-pound patron of the Occidental gym, is one of them. In pickup games last summer, Brown, who had a 10-day stint with the Portland Trailblazers in 1986, taught Anderson to adapt his game to stronger opponents.

“There’s nothing I could do. It was frustrating as anything,” Anderson said of playing against Brown. “My only offense on him was outside.”

Newhall says playing against hulks such as Brown also helped Anderson learn to move without the ball. “He gets away from bruisers,” Newhall said. “It’s like Muhammad Ali fighting Joe Frazier.”

If things get rowdy, however, he’s not bashful about throwing a few bony elbows.

“If I hit somebody now and again, such is life,” Anderson said.

Anderson has developed a remarkably sweet touch on shots from about 12 feet. And, he says, he has no qualms about firing from farther out.

“I’d rather be inside, but I’d sit there and shoot set shots all night if they’d let me,” he said. “Against Menlo I got 18 points and I only posted up once or twice. If they had given me the ball 15 more times, I could have scored 40.”

Still, Newhall says, Anderson has miles to go if he plans to play at a higher level.

“He’s got to get better at creating his own shots,” he said. “Right now the offense creates shots for him. He also has to work on defending smaller, quicker players.”

But Anderson is already a seasoned pro at dealing with referees.

“I’ve found that if you get the refs on your side you get the call,” he said. “If they know you and how you act toward them it can help the whole team.”

And Newhall has noticed the new maturity. “The refs are going to pick on a baby--particularly a big man,” he said. “If they see a big man who whines they’re going to give him a hard time.

“Now Chris discusses things with the refs. He even smiles sometimes.”