Even though guard Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 was held scoreless in the second half of last Friday night's 80-59 win over Lasell College in the first round of the NCAA tournament, he still made his presence felt offensively.Graves-Fulgham dished out assists on nine of Brandeis' 15 field goals and finished with 14 assists overall, representing half of the Judges' 28 on the night and breaking the school's career assist record previously held by Stanley House '89 in the process. The 14 assists also represent a career-high for Graves-Fulgham.

"[Lasell's] tough pressure allowed me to move more in the paint and kick it out, and I guess it just opened up lanes for people," Graves-Fulgham said.

His highlight play came with 10 minutes left in regulation against Lasell. The 5-foot-10-inch Graves-Fulgham went head-to-head with 6-foot-9-inch Lasers' senior forward Jose Guitian for a loose ball, and despite the 11-inch disadvantage in height, Graves-Fulgham made the steal and quickly fired a pass to guard Florian Rexhepi '08 for an uncontested layup that gave Brandeis a 62-47 lead.

"Often times [Graves-Fulgham is] a guy that gets overlooked. How can you overlook a guy who just broke the school record in assists?" head coach Brian Meehan asked reporters after the game. "He's quiet about [his performance], he's unselfish,... and he just does his job."

Graves-Fulgham characterizes himself as a pass-first player, and as a result, he paced the team with 111 assists, good for 4.1 per game. In fact, Graves-Fulgham recorded just 17 more shot attempts than assists this season. He also leads the team with 42 steals and logs the second-most minutes per game with 28.1.

"[I'm trying to] push the ball up [the court] every time and look for open shooters," Graves-Fulgham said. "Everyone stepped up [Friday night]; everyone was hitting their shots.