Colgate -Game 14 (PL 1st)

[LU65Participant]

Game Notes

http://www.lehighsports.com/custompages/Game%20Notes/Men's%20Basketball/2013-14/14%20-%20Colgate.pdf

KenPom Rankings and Chance of Winning

LU (7-6) 198th
@
CU (7-5) 175th
CU win 70-66 (79% chance)

In other PL games…
Bucknell over American (76% chance)
Lafayette over Army (80% chance)
Loyola over Navy (79% chance)
Boston U. over Holy Cross (69% chance)

So it all starts tomorrow night up in Hamilton…..18 games followed by a single-elimination tournament leading to what everyone assumes will be a single invite to play in the season-ending NCAA Tournament. For kicks, let’s hear from everyone with a guess as to what our PL Record will be going into the conference tournament. I’ll start it off at 11-7 with the lofty goal of playing at Stabler on March 5th, i.e., a top 4 finish in the regular season.

[LUHoops00Participant]

Worth noting Murphy and pat Moore didn’t play last game for gate, not sure what status is but worth noting.

[LU65Participant]

Gate’s coach Matt Langel takes credit for his team’s OT loss to Colombia and simply mentions injuries to his star senior players Burnatowksi (14.0ppg) and Moore (8.2ppg) in this postgame interview.

http://gocolgateraiders.com/news/2013/12/30/MBB_1230131123.aspx?path=mbball

[lehigh90Participant]

I’m not that high on the team going into conference play. I don’t really see a team with a set rotation and all guys knowing their roles moving forward. Young team, not always ready to play on both ends. I have to give them a .500 record in conference, or 9-9. League is weak this year, but not sure this team can take advantage.

[StablerBumParticipant]

I’d agree with most of what ’90 said. I’m going to go even more conservative at 8-10. Still solid for such a young team.

[LU65Participant]

It’s not only the weather that scare me about tonight’s game, it’s an array of STATS that seemingly all favor the home team. Sure, the opponents were different in OOC play but by most accounts not that different when it comes to Strength of Schedule (CU @ 221 while LU @ 207). Some numbers to dwell on prior to and during the contest tonight:

Compared to other PL Teams, CU is:
#1 in Scoring Offense 75.2ppg
#1 in Scoring Margin +6.5ppg
#1 in FG% .496
#1 in 3FG% .433 *
#1 in Made 3 pt. FG/Game 10.9 (LU with 6.2)

* Also #1 in the nation. While LU is #76 at defending the “3” allowing just 31.1% to go in, this clash should take center stage tonight.

Other thoughts/worries

> 6’11” jr. ctr. Jacobs’ outside game. He comes in shooting 23 or 49 (.469) from beyond the arc and averages 11.2ppg and 4.2rpg. And, that’s playing just 21 mpg. The two-year Ohio U. vet is finding Hamilton to his liking.

> CU’s rebounding margin while negative (-1.6) is still vastly superior to ours (-6.8)

[TMHParticipant]

Does anyone know for certain what score is correct..the video or the stat sheet?
The first has it 40-40 and the latter is at 41-40 LU

[jimk72Participant]

Wow. See ya’ll Sunday!

[TMHParticipant]

I will try to make it to the game on Sunday…anyone else?

[LUHoops00Participant]

Great win, gutty effort, nice road win for young team in first PL game. TK, what can you say folks, he has a shot to dominate this league right away. We got him the ball in the post in better spots then Bryant game and he went to work, and he saw doubles much better tonight…efficient outing for TK, loved it loved it loved it. JC and CS had really nice games, JC hit some clutch corner pocket 3 balls. MM numbers end up okay, but he did not play well, to many sloppy passes and turnovers(6) and bad shooting, but he did shoot Fts well down the stretch. He has to be better if we want to contend at all this year.

We won the rebounding battle and forced 17 turnovers, that’s a really good sign. Little from bench tonight, but there will be good and bad nights on that end. Huge getting first win, I’d have hated to go out to ‘gate and lose in 2OT and come back to LU with BostonU waiting for us on Sunday.

Big Win, any way it happened I’ll take it!

1-0

[vanParticipant]

SW needs to sit until he gets some confidence in his shot, he was pretty much unguarded and no help at all on O. When does AD return?

[RichHParticipant]

Good point van. He appeared very tentative taking open shots. Still very active on D. He’ll be OK. Langeol did a great job rebuilding a roster. Tillotson very good. Gate front line plays no D.

[LU65Participant]

Colgate Afterthoughts

Mackey: Shooting woes continue (2 for 7 from in close and 1 for 3 from afar). Patented drives to the basket not falling as they did early in the year and earlier in his career. Caught myself yelling “dish it off” too often. Seven assists while good could have been even higher. Absent-minded play resulted in 6 TOs. Seemed frustrated the entire night. Thank goodness he is solid from 15 feet @.767. Eleven of his 18 pts came from the line (many in mop-up duties). Hey, one bad night does not make a season. Can’t help but think he’ll return to form on Sunday.

Kempton: Solid 11 for 17 resulting in a quiet – if that possible – 25 pts. Back to back 13 board games. I can get used to that. Comfort level growing with each game. 3 ½ years to go. Lucky us.

Schaefer: Back to his usual self – maybe a bit better than usual – in his 6 for 12 shooting, 3A/1TO, after failing to connect from the field last time out. He remains our top guard shooter @ .422. Pleasant surprise this year with court demeanor and point output. He’s now averaging 9.8 ppg after 4.6 as a soph. and 2.8 as a frosh.

Chuku: 18 pts in 45 minutes (season high I believe in each). Key 3’s to keep us close in see-saw game. No fear in this guy’s play.

Price: While only 1 for 6 from field, active on the boards with six. Also comforting to note his FT work. In fact, with MM, CS and AP all on the court at game’s end, there’s not many foul-outlets for the other team, e.g, CS (.767), MM (.766), and AP (.759). Worth keeping an eye on.

Whitfield: Too hesitant in his play. Commit and go! Need to help on boards more than he is. Too often last night you’d see 3 to 4 gray shirts (Colgate) under and around the board on missed shots with only 1 brown shirt (Lehigh) in sight. Seldom was it worn by Shane.

Baltimore & Goldsborough: MIAs in a combined 15 minutes. All the more reason/need for Whitfield to step it up.

Colgate: Ran out of gas at just the right time for us after back to back double overtime games. Five starters played 200 minutes and all hit for double-digit scores. Burnatowski (15.1ppg average with 26 last night) is a monster player. When Moore returns to the lineup, this team will be extremely dangerous and trouble for the rest of the PL. The Bison – surprise losers to AU last night – are up next and surely took note of CU’s performance last night.

[lehigh90Participant]

Great win. I had it penciled in as a loss. This conference is so soft this season, that we will jump into early driver’s seat with a win vs. BU on Sunday. Lafayette goes down at home last night, as does Bucknell (they are really playing poorly). BU wins at home as does Loyola.

Did anybody check out the PL attendance figures last night? I realize it was bad weather across the PL territory, but funny how bad the numbers were outside of Bucknell. Here they are for those who missed them.

Colgate 486
Lafayette 534
Loyola 536
Bucknell 2,367

and the big winner,

BU 153

To be fair, I guess not a lot of students on campus.

[StablerBumParticipant]

Agree with all the comments above. This is a nice win, and the conference appears to be extremely open. I think this team can beat BU at home, and if they do, as 90 points out they will then be in the driver’s seat.

As for the attendance #’s, in addition to no students being on campus, some of the start times were moved up at the last minute to the middle of the workday. Even the most diehard fan is probably not leaving work on a Thursday to check out HC at BU even if they wanted to. Lafayette also ended up playing in the middle of the workday, which I’m sure took a lot of alums and families out of the picture.

I do agree though, the raw numbers are bleak to say the least.

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