Big win yesterday for our Eagles up in Stabler Arena against the Lehigh Hill Pigeons. No wins in the Patriot League are easy, and wins on the road are even harder. Yadda yadda yadda. By beating Lehigh, AU stays within one game of the Bucknell Buffalo Buffalo and sets up an epic match-up at Sojka on Wednesday night. Be sure to check out AUEagles.com's box score and recap. As for the AUHoops recap, well, awaaaaaaaaaay we go!
- First half of yesterday's game was absolutely a defensive battle. The teams shot almost identically (AU 9-26, Lehigh 9-25). Neither team could get into a defensive rhythm, and AU had almost no chances on the perimeter because of Lehigh's staunch defensive pressure.
- The second half was much faster paced, but there were still almost no runs. The largest lead of the game was AU by 9, but that lead was erased almost instantaneously when CJ McCollum scored 8 points in about 27 seconds. AU was tremendously lucky on two fronts at the end of the game. First, on their final possession, with the shot clock and the game clock within one second of each other, they weren't able to get the shot they wanted. Troy was forced to throw up an off-balanced long range jumper with 4 left on the clock. Luckily, Vlad was there to get the board and draw the foul. After only making one of two (intentionally?), the refs failed to see Lehigh's bench calling for the timeout with 2.2 left on the clock. CJ McCollum (who inexplicably didn't call timeout) raced up the sideline and heaved a shot that wasn't close. Poor end of game management by Lehigh's good Dr. Reed. He should've told the refs "on a miss, I want a timeout" and let his players know that, too. Sure he would've only had 2.2 seconds left, but they could've tried to draw something up. Instead they were left screaming at the refs while walking off the court.
- Troy had a big game yesterday, 17 points on 7-14 shooting, but just 2-7 from behind the arc. He also pulled down six rebounds. Troy is going to need to have a big game on Wednesday night against Bucknell for us to be able to beat the Bison. He has to take the pressure off of Vlad on the perimeter and give Bucknell a reason to stretch out their defense. If you'll remember, we shot 5-24 from 3 against Bucknell the first time around. With that kind of shooting, the Bison collapsed the lane and made life difficult for Lump and Vlad down low. Keep the shots coming, Troy!
- Vlad (6) and Hendra (7) combined for 13 assists yesterday. How's that for dishing the ball? While Hendra has been great delivering the ball to his teammates recently, he has also looked a little frenetic in the past couple of games handling the ball. He committed four turnovers yesterday (in 36 minutes of play against tough D) but there were also another few points where he almost lost the handle. Hendra has looked good as he's been taking up the point more and more from game to game. His assists have been high and his turnovers have generally been acceptable for the amount of ball handling he's done. Let's hope they stay at that level (otherwise all the commenters will be having their "I told you so!" moment at my expense).
- Tremendous rebounding effort from AU yesterday. We outrebounded Lehigh 37-28 and were led by Lumpkins' 9 boards. Interesting factoid: CJ McCollum, all 6'3" of him, was Lehigh's top rebounder with 10 yesterday. Lump continues to have a great season, and I'm not taking any part of his performance yesterday away from him, but Lehigh doesn't really have Zahir Carrington down low anymore to bother Lump. Gabe Knutson, talented as he is, doesn't have the frame to pose a real challenge to Lump, and Dave Safstrom's footwork isn't good enough to keep up with Lump's quickness. Lump will have a hell of a time Wednesday against Muscala. He sure did on the first go. Lump's season has the ability to go to a first team all-PL level if he can handle Muscala on Wednesday. Let's cross our fingers that he can.
- Hinkle hasn't really gotten the minutes that we really thought that he would. I really thought he would force his way into the starting lineup, but Hendra's level of play has been so high that he hasn't been able to do so. Hinkle does make the most of the time he gets though, and yesterday was no exception. In just 11 minutes he scored 7 points and pulled down 4 boards. He also interrupted passing lanes like crazy.
We'll be here tomorrow with the Bucknell preview for you, and we'll cover the game on Wednesday with a liveblog too. Let us know your thoughts about the Lehigh win in the comments!
Very pleased with the win. Thought AU played excellent team defense on McCollum; he just hit some really tough shots down the stretch, as great players do. Holding Lehigh to 61 at Lehigh is a strong showing. One thing we do very well is control tempo, and that's directly tied to how well we protect the ball--and that's why, B^3, I'm more troubled by the four turnovers by Nick than impressed by the seven assists. The attempted entry to Lump late was horrible and led to a fast-break bucket at the other end. Time and score, time and score. But Nick was great defensively and made a big jumper when we needed it.
ReplyDeleteWednesday, we'll obviously need Troy to score from the perimeter, and Vlad, and Nick, and Wroblicky. But this game has to be about Lump if we are to have any chance. This is a game he needs to take personally. He was embarassed by Muscala the last time, and he needs to play with controlled emotion as well as force. Go into Muscala, don't try to shoot over him. But go strong, and quickly. It is not hyperbole to say this is the biggest game of Lump's career. I don't care if he fouls out if he fouls out being aggressive and plays with passion.
I am looking forward to how Jones tries to plan the defense against Muscala after the debacle in Bender. Bucknell is always a tough place to play even when they have a mediocre team. Bucknell will be hopped up, their fans will fill the arena and be equally up for this first place game. I think and hope the AU kids will meet the challenge.
ReplyDeleteThis Lehigh win was huge ! Lose and we may be looking at 5-4 after the Bucknell game. And Lehigh might be at 5-4 also after Wednesday. With that gut check win at Lehigh AU solidifies the 2nd seed and maybe gets a # 1 seed.
JJ has thrown some zones up in the last couple of games, but that won't work against Bucknell (T12th IN THE COUNTRY in three point field goal percentage). There's not a lot we can do schematically; this is going to be about taking on the challenge of defending talented players. Move your feet; beat your guy to the spot, use your legs, not your arms, talk to one another, rotate completely, contest shots, box out and finish possessions on the glass. It is going to take a total team effort, but especially on D, to have a chance to win late.
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