Goooood evening AU Hoops fans. Hope you're all having a good night. I have to say I'm just catching my breath from that loss. I feel like I didn't breathe very well during tonight's second half. I guess you could say I was breathing about as well as our Eagles were playing. All's well that ends well, I guess, and since Cleveland Richard's desperation 3-point heave at the end of the game rimmed out, all is well. Still, I can't help but think that we should have never let it get as close as we did in the second half. Anyway, the night isn't getting any younger. Meet me after the jump for our normal post-game ritual.
THE GOOD
Vlad "the Impaler" Moldoveanu - I've noticed that Vlad sometimes jumps out to big games (as he did tonight where he had 12 at the ten minute mark in the first half) and then disappears for quite a while. In the first half he was 5-9 and 2-4 for 12 points. In the second half, just 2-3 for 6 points. I'd level heavier criticism, but the fact is the guy is putting it on his back, and one of his 3's in the second half broke the 48-48 tie and gave us the final push we needed to put the game away. Vlad's other numbers tonight weren't that great, just 4 rebounds and an assist to go with 4 fouls and 5 turnovers. Being the game-high scorer is still good enough to get him here though. Welcome back to your usual perch, Mr. Impaler.
Stephen Lumpkins - The Unstumpable Lump recorded his fifth double-double of the season and his second consecutive one tonight. He put up 11 points and rebounds. My only gripe is that he was only 50% from the FT line, but it didn't end up costing us, so I'll let it slide. Another great game from our inside force. Please have a sitdown with Riley and try to get him back to the form he was in at the beginning of the season?
Nick Hendra - Hendra makes it to the Good column tonight solely because of the 4 free throws he sank in the last 1:23 of the game. Aside from that he had a ho-hum game. 2-3 from the field (both 3-pointers), 3 rebounds and 2 assists against 3 fouls and 3 turnovers. The refs are really in Hendra's head. He keeps getting called for these ticky-tacky fouls. Tonight was while he was going after a loose ball and two players crashed into each other while going for the ball and it was apparently his fault. He was also the beneficiary of one of the weakest charges I've ever seen called, even in a PL game. After the loose ball foul, Hendra complained to the refs and was rewarded with some good long minutes on the bench (though admittedly it was probably because he had two fouls in the first half and not because of the complaining)
Simon McCormack - Before I tell you what Simon did right, let me tell you what Simon did wrong. I commend Simon for driving into the lane tonight and taking the bucket to the basket, but when the Army defense collapsed on him he wasn't really able to do too much from there. Still, he had a pretty good game. 6 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds against only 1 foul and 3 turnovers.
Danny Munoz - Danny's performance tonight wasn't that great. He and Hendra were both trying to force a lot of passes. No, Danny makes it here tonight solely on the basis of a play he made with 1:35 left in the second half. Cleveland Richard intercepted a Hendra->Vlad pass. Danny streaked down the court and got enough pressure on the veteran Richard to make him miss the layup. This was huge because it meant that the score stayed at 51-48. That extra two points would've really changed the last 90 seconds. Nice hustle, Danny.
Joe Hill - So, Joe Hill broke his nose last game. How do I know? Well, he's playing with a plastic facemask, and when I got a glimpse of him without said mask, he looked like Washington's beloved Butterstick. I know, I shouldn't joke, and I'm not actually, because it looks pretty badass. Also badass were the 12 points Joe put up. It was on 4-10 shooting from long range, and I could complain about him taking that many shots, but at least the guy isn't afraid to shoot. He also hustled really hard tonight, more than I usually notice. He moved the ball well, too. A great game, Joe. Maybe that's a lucky broken nose?
Rebounds - 35-21 rebounding edge helped us keep Army to a lot of one-and-done possessions. Of course, their poor shooting also contributed to that.
Defense on Cleveland Richard - Holding that guy to 4-15 from the floor isn't an easy feat. I mean, it's easier than doing that to Chris Harris, but that's commendable defense.
THE BAD
AU's second half defense - We took a 12 point lead into halftime. In the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half we let it dissipate and then spent the second half biting and clawing all the way with Army. True they made some adjustments that resulted in marked improvement, but we made it too easy.
17 turnovers - Just too many, even against a good defensive team like Army. We tried to force the ball, got sloppy with passing at times. Not good. We'd been better recently about turnovers, so let's hope it wasn't a fluke.
We only got to the line for 11 shots? - I realize we can't make the refs blow the whistle (and these guys tonight, don't get me started) but we could've gotten to the line more I think. The fact that Army had 4 blocks and 8 steals, however, means that a lot of the time when we went up with the ball, we didn't actually shoot it because it had been blocked or stripped.
THE UGLY
Three things:
Army's shooting - Shooting drills, guys. In the words of Tiger Woods: "Huge. Quickly. Bye."
Chris Walker's head bouncing off the Bender floor - Lumpkins went up for a layup (I think it was Lump at least), and Chris Walker came down very wrong. Hit the deck very hard. He was down for a couple of minutes, and when he got up he was wobbling, a lot. Looked not good. I sincerely hope they get the guy a CT scan and that he recovers quickly from what looked like a probable concussion.
Jeremy Hence throwing a punch - Guy loses the ball, so he decides it'd be okay to punch our guy. I'm not sure if it was Simon or Luptak, but the guy literally close fisted swung at our player. No call, no technical, no foul, no warning. Listen, I'm okay with letting some stuff go, but that's uncalled for. Army in general is a physical team, and they get away with a lot of rough stuff underneath, but that punch needed to be reprimanded somehow.
Thoughts on the game tonight? Overall I'm happy for the win and to be solely in control of 5th place, but I wish it hadn't been such an ugly second half.
I also know I owe you guys a new poll, but I'm exhausted, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
We played a very focused, determined game until about 12 minutes left. Very nice adjustment from the team. We worked hard to get open shots and take the ball into the lane when the opportunity presented itself. McCormack made some very good decisions. Sure, we made mistakes like Joe Hill's over-the-top pass that sailed out of bounds when Army was fronting Vlad. Or Simon dribbling the ball off his foot going baseline. But we already know our execution is not always there. It was solid effort I'm looing for.
ReplyDeleteAbout 12 minutes to go and we started rushing 3s. The worst was one Joe Hill made with nine minutes left. I wished it dodn't go in; the type of shot that will lure us into taking too many bad ones. His miss from the corner with 12 minutes left and his miss with 5 minuteds left were also ugly shots. Our entire offense began forcing.
One new play we used that I don't think is useful: getting the ball to Vlad on the baseline and having Joe Hill come towad Vlad's corner. It brings another defender over to double team Vlad, and if he gets the ball to Joe Hill then the defender is right there anyway to harrass his shot.
A win's a win, but theres really nothing encouraging to take from this game going forward. Good to know we can beat the worst team in the Patriot League.
ReplyDeleteAlso, AU really can't afford to get Joe Hill a better mask? I'm pretty convinced I could've made a mask of that quality sitting here in my apartment. On the bright side, Joe looked pretty good tonight, maybe he'll go Rip Hamilton and stick with the mask going forward.
http://www.indianabrace.com/facemask.html
ReplyDeletelook at that, just over 200 dollars. Once again, step your game up AU
It may be a tall order, but if American could split of its next two road games the regular-season finale against Lafayette could be for a home game in the 1st round of the PL tournament.
ReplyDeleteA win is a win but certainly an ugly one. Two teams without much in scoring punch as the score indicated. What stuck out is just how slow our kids are. Physically none of them excepting Munoz have better than average speed. Thus no steals, no fast breaks, no quickness to the basket, and all the things that speed delivers during a game. The Army kids were running circles around our kids, but did not have much in talent to score baskets.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to see Jones move Vlad around the court on offense. Most of his points came from 3 pt range. when he goes down low in the post then 2 or 3 guys collapse on him. That figures to continue for the rest of the season until someone else can score regularly. this is good if our then open guys can hit a jumper, but we are so inconsistent. Penetrate and dish is not something we do. But how nice to see McCormack drive to the basket ! It was an unusual scoring play for AU.
The games against Holy Cross and Navy on the road figure to be big losses for us on their home courts. Devin Brown the HC sophomore from Baltimore (did we recruit him?)figures to burn us. How about him NJJ-still not good enough ? I certainly hope we can pull an upset but on paper both HC and Navy are playing better than us. what we need in order to win are big games from ALL our kids on offense and solid play on defense. zero points from Munoz and only 6 from McCormack will not do it on the road.
One thing further. Did you notice how JJ sends in Wilson on defense with a minute left- to replace Vlad with 4 fouls- to do an offense-defense move ? He commits a stupid 3 point foul at the most crucial point in the game.? I believe this is not the first time this season he has done that. So will our Coach sit him down for the rest of the season like he has Jolivette and Bersch for not knowing what to do on the court? How stupid must one be on the court to warrant benching? Or is that only for a freshman?
"Did you notice how JJ sends in Wilson on defense with a minute left- to replace Vlad with 4 fouls- to do an offense-defense move ? He commits a stupid 3 point foul at the most crucial point in the game?"
ReplyDeleteOne of the worst plays in the game last night. Unbelievable error from Matt Wilson who looked incredulous about being called for what was a pretty obvious foul. I was as disappointed in his shock that he was called for the foul and his moping about it as I was in the foul itself.
up at Colgate Jeff got in Matt Wilsons face like I have never seen EVEN JEFF do before for that same thing BB,, moping and blaming someone else. It was right after he shot an airball from five feet and JEFF let him have it. Three inches face to face..
ReplyDeleteLast night, I know I predicted Army more or less beating us based on the match up and mostly on the quickness. Army had 8 steals but they are absolutely horrendous at shooting or the game goes the other way. I still don't like playing Army because our guys are so slow. We looked like we had the right plan and execution in the first half,, blocking out on the defensive board there was not an Army guy around. We killed them in rebounding but Army killed us in quickness, steals and breakaway baskets. Going to Holy Cross and hoping for two out of three down the stretch here to finish league play. Lafayette hasn't beaten us in over ten games but with this team we got that could end in a hurry. I saw last night for the first time that the assistants were actively talking to the kids and coaching them. Kieran and Eddie both were constantly pulling kids aside. What took so long? Anyone heading to Holy Cross?
i will be up at Holy Cross as well as the at Navy game. I am missing Senior Night, but praying we host one game.
ReplyDeleteViddy, if possible send us some pictures from Worcester! Must say I'm somewhat jealous, I'd love to see the Eagles play on the road more.
ReplyDeleteNot worth arguing with you LB. No matter what we do, you're going to find fault with something Jones did. Now he should have recruited every local kid that winds up doing well in the PL. And it's his fault Wilson commits a bonehead foul. Amazing. If he had left Vlad in and Vlad had committed his fifth foul, you would have killed him for leaving our only offensive player in. He can't win. Your obsession with this truly is incredible.
ReplyDeleteVlad was also able to move around because Army plays four guards, and our guards, for once, were able to penetrate and dish, as we did during the three-point barrage in the first half. Part coaching, but part opponent. Nice to see Simon be aggressive, no matter the reason.
Matt Wilson should really >only< be in the game in that specific situation. I'm sure he's a great team player, but he simply doesn't have the skills to play the minutes we're forced to give him. But with one possession remaining, keeping Vlad out of foul trouble is the smartest thing to do, and the move makes nothing but sense.
ReplyDeleteWilson clearly plays hard and is doing his best out there, but the minutes JJ has given him so far are only there because there really isn't anyone else better to step into them. Bersch is way more a defensive liability.
I'll start by saying that a win is a win. It was HUGE for us to beat the team that made us look silly earlier in the year and it sounds like we played really well. But there are still a few BAD and UGLY aspects to comment on.
ReplyDeleteWe had four guys in double figures - great, good stuff. But we also had four guys (Danny, Riley, Matt, and Steve) that played a combined 54 minutes and tallied ZERO POINTS. What's even more important to note is that this group took a combined 5 shots. I'd go on a rant here about how JJ's system doesn't allow for more than a handful of people to score, but I think we've all had plenty of that discussion over the past week.
Vlad Moldoveanu: 7-12 from the floor and 4-6 from three. But he didn't even ATTEMPT a FT. When you're the 6'9" leading scorer on a struggling offensive team, you drive to the rim and get to the free throw line. Absolutely unacceptable from Vlad on this one.
NJJ- i was not criticizing Coach for substituting Wilson. That was smart. Wilson's play i was criticizing. BTW- There was no penetrate and dish in the first half, as these were in virtually all cases- shots resulting from perimeter passes. Watch the game on All-Access if you don't believe it.
ReplyDeleteA few comments:
ReplyDelete1. The rotation won't change.Win or lose the coaches are going with what they are throwing out there. Luptak, Simon, Riley, Matt all combined over the past 5 games have scored 60 points total keep throwing them out there. Matt with a bad foul keep going with him. Be a freshman and make mistakes, you'll never see the floor again. The freshman on the other PL leage teams are developing, getting better because they are playing.
2. Bersch is not a defensive liability and provides more offense than most of the others based on what I saw versus Manhattan, FAU and a few of the other games he played in. I think it makes more sense at this point to play freshmen than a senior.
3. Taking it to the hoop is no good unless you can finish or dish to the open man. As stated above, no one is able to do that.
"3. Taking it to the hoop is no good unless you can finish or dish to the open man. As stated above, no one is able to do that."
ReplyDeleteSorry but I have to disagree with that. Like I've said before, a missed shot can sometimes be the best pass in college b-ball. I've seen countless games between a goliath and a minnow (pardon the mixed metaphor), in which the biggest difference boils down to one thing: second chance points.
I think Army played great D the entire game. I do not agree with the idea that this was a poorly played game. Army's offense was anemic in the first half, but they picked it up very well in the second with Cleveland Richard immediately taking two perimeter shots to open after halftime and help turn around their offense.
Except for Lehigh, no PL team is much better than the other, so it doesn't surprise me the score wound up close, especially once we rushed things on offense.
Bravo, Steve. Indeed, we did penetrate in the first half, which led to more than a couple of "hockey assists" on Hendra/Vlad threes. But Army picked up both its offense and D in the second half and we did start rushing things. We have to be efficient on EVERY possession; our guards don't have the ballhandling skills to just put their heads down and drive without purpose, or make lazy, careless entry passes.
ReplyDeleteOn EVERY posession, we must:
1) Reverse the ball.
2) Set solid elbow/wing screens.
3) Get strong seals from Vlad/Lump in the post, because we have trouble getting them the ball in any kind of traffic.
4) Look for weakside driving lanes.
I know I now appreciate just how good Derrick Mercer was with the ball.
Thanks for spelling out that list. It really gets to the heart of the matter. It also helps you take shots withing the rhythm of the offense so that even when you miss, your teammates are in position to rebound.
ReplyDeleteSo what's with the name "Not Juan Jones?"? How many AU fans out there go back that far? I covered the team for The Eagle when Gary Williams coached. Probably my last article was the Toledo game in the NIT.