Goooooooooooood morning AU Eagles fans! What a marvelous day to be a fan, no? Sure, sure, you all want me to say that every day is a beautiful day to be an AU Eagles fan. Well, it's just not true. Some days are merely pretty, other days simply gorgeous. Today, my friends, is the latter. In case you couldn't tell from the previous post (which, if that's the case, reading comprehension primer, STAT), our AU Eagles beat the DePaul Blue Demons last night 62-57 in a game that included 17 lead changes and 8 tie scores. A back and forth battle, to be sure! Here's the coverage for the game, and then we'll get into the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY!
AUEagles recap, AU Eagles box score, WeAreDePaul.com's recap (please note the title!)
Marvelous. Alright, off we go for the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY!
THE GOOD
VLAD "THE IMPALER" MOLDOVEANU - The Impaler arrived last night in full force and exceeded I think even the optimistic expectations of your faithful bloggers on this site. If there was noticeable rust from not playing since FIBA, it certainly didn't show last night. Here's the line: 26 points on 8-15 from the field (5-10 from long range), with 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 turnovers in 28 minutes. The DePaul announcers last night kept asking "Will anyone stop Vlad?" No, and God willing, soon enough they'll be saying, "No one can stop Vlad." He played a phenomenal inside-outside game last night. Came up big on defense when the Blue Demons were driving inside. This looked like a completely different team with Vlad on the court, and the fact that we just beat a Big East team shows that we ARE a completely different team now (I hope)
Nick Hendra, oh hell, let's go for NICK HENDRA - After shaking off some early season rust and even coming (from what we hear) pretty close to losing his starter status for a game or two, Hendra sure has looked phenomenal in his past two games against Georgetown and DePaul. Last night he went for a career high 17 on 6-10 shooting and 3-7 from behind the arc. He also played great defense last night and showed the great decision-making that Jeff Jones knew he was going to need out of Nick in order for the Eagles to be successful this year.
Stephen Lumpkins's defense and rebounding total - Lumpkins was a defensive force in the paint last night. Keeping his frame in between the Blue Demons and the basket, moving quickly. Very solid defense. He also pulled down 10 defensive rebounds (to along with 4 on the offensive end). Very very good.
Our turnover-to-assist ratio: 16 assists, 12 turnovers. For the first time this year (I think, I'll have to verify this) we had more assists than turnovers in the game.
The number of fouls committed - Only 12 personal fouls for the whole game? (Thanks refs!) but that also shows discipline and patience on the part of the Eagles. The Blue Demons only got to shoot 8 free throws all game, and with a margin of victory of only 5, you know that helped a lot.
Our shooting percentages - When you shoot 42.9% from the field and from 3, good things can happen (and they did last night). Isn't it nice when you have the ability to shoot from 3 and can keep teams honest playing perimeter defense? Bersch didn't play at all last night, but he represents a legitimate third threat from long range along with Vlad and Hendra. Balance is coming, y'all, ya hear?
Team defense: Holding the Blue Demons 4-15 from behind the arc kept them from building any kind of meaningful lead. We kept constant pressure on DePaul and held them under 60 points. Good effort all around here.
THE BAD
DePaul's arena announcer - Sure makes you appreciate the folks we have in Bender. This guy sounded absolutely miserable. Listen, I know your team is losing, friend, but there's no reason to make the All-State Arena sound like a funeral parlor.
Lumpkins's shooting from the field - I feel bad for putting this here, but I think I need to. Lumpkins's woes finishing continue. I don't honestly know what he could do to improve finishing his shots, but hopefully someone who does know will tell him. 3-10 from the field (for a total of 8 points) is still not good. It's great that we have Vlad now, but we need Lumpkins to stay somewhere near the level he was playing at at the beginning of the season for this team to do some damage in the Patriot League.
THE UGLY
Anyone who says "but DePaul isn't a GOOD Big East team" - Be that as it may (they went 0-18 last season in the Big East), they're still a Big East team, with Big East recruits and players. Last year we SHOULD have beaten this team, this year, it's great that we DID beat this team. Let's be honest, this was a great game for this team. They've got to be kind of miserable after starting out 1-8, this could be the shot in the arm they need to instill some confidence. They've got to know Penn State and Florida are going to be very tough, but they can look back on this win and say, "Yes, we did that!"
Well that's it for right now folks, I may add some additional coverage and quotes later today about the game that I want to document. Hope you all enjoyed the game last night!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
I've gotta ask what you think this means for our patriot league chances? I know its early but when you look at our team now, along with the struggles of other patriot league teams, do you think we have a chance to finish at least in the top half of the league?
ReplyDeleteI think with Vlad coming in he makes everyone else better. Hendra actually looks like a solid number 2 scoring option and Lumpkins can focus rebounding and defense instead of having to pick up alot of the scoring load. It also allows guys like Simon and Luptak to do the little things they do so well without needing to worry about scoring. This is also a tremendous break for our freshman point guards who can focus on protecting the ball instead of pressing to try and score, which often led to turnovers.
I think this instantly makes us competitive with anyone in the league, including Army (though our match-ups with them will be excruciatingly difficult because of the level of defense they play). I think at least a 4th place finish in PL is a good goal to shoot for.
ReplyDeleteSomething I'd like to note:
ReplyDeleteFor a two-and-a-quarter minute span in the second half: Lumpkins, Grafft, and Moldoveanu were on the court together. AU went on a 7-0 run to put AU in control of the endgame. Wow. Great results.