Game 11: University of North Texas

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Game 11: University of North Texas

This topic contains 24 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by RichH RichH 12 years, 1 month ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #8449

    LU65
    Participant

    KenPom’s Rankings and Chance of Winning

    LU (8-2) 60th
    UNT (5-6*) 161st (for comparison purposes, Quinnipiac is today ranked 177th)
    LU wins 78-73 (66%)

    * While it’s true that the University of North Texas is 5-6 after 11 games, a closer look reveals that one of their wins came against D-II Cameron. Worse yet, one of their losses came against another D-II school, Alabama-Huntsville.

    In case you didn’t already know (sourced from Wikipedia and other services)……..

    UNT Quick Facts
    Location: Denton, Texas
    Founded: 1890
    Enrollment: 35,694*
    Nickname: Mean Green
    Colors: Green and White
    Home Arena: The Super Pit (10,500)
    Affiliation: Division I
    Conference: Sun Belt (C-USA 2013-14)**
    Head Coach: Tony Benford (1st Year)***
    Record at North Texas: 4-6, 0-1 SBC
    Overall Record: Same
    Program All-Time Record: 1,067-1,200-1

    * The University of North Texas (UNT) is one of the nation’s largest public universities and the most comprehensive in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its student body numbers 36,000. It’s a student-focused public research university with 12 colleges and schools offering 97 bachelor’s, 82 master’s and 35 doctoral degree programs, many nationally and internationally recognized. Furthermore, it has been named one of America’s 100 Best College Buys® for 17 consecutive years.

    ** UNT joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2000 and will be leaving it for Conference USA in 2013. They won their conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA’s in 2007 and 2010. Last year, you may recall it was The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky University (WKU) that went to the Big Dance only to lose to Kentucky in Round 2 after defeating Mississippi Valley in Round 1 (The First Four – better known as the Play-in Round). Sagarain ranks the Sun Belt Conference slightly ahead of the Patriot League (17th to 19th) in its ranking of 33 D-I basketball conferences.

    *** Listen to UNT Coach Benford’s comments following UNT’s 45-40 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon. It’s a game in which UNT went 0-11 from beyond the arc and shot 32.1% overall from the field. Gotta love the coach’s comment, “We are not a great shooting team….we are what we are.” Also, intrigued by his mention of “War,” a box-out exercise he runs during practice. Ummm, might be something we should be doing more of, if not already.

    http://www.meangreensports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?&db_oem_id=1800&id=1141311&DB_MENU_ID=&SPSID=9106&SPID=564&DB_OEM_ID=1800

    While we have #3, CJ McCollum, the University of North Texas has #13, Tony Mitchell. In case you haven’t heard of this guy, check out his awards, a highlight dunk and year-to-date stats below.

    > John Wooden Award
    Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Player

    > Blue Ribbon Report
    Preseason All-America (Third Team)

    > Lindy’s Sports
    No. 2 Center in the Nation

    > CBS Sports
    Preseason All-America (Second Team)
    Preseason No. 7 Ranked Player in NCAA

    > ESPN
    Preseason All-America (Second Team)

    > Basketball Times Magazine
    Featured on Oct. Issue Cover

    > Sun Belt Conference
    Preseason Player of the Year

    > LeBron James, Amar’e Stoudemire Skills Academy Standout

    > Athlon Sports
    Preseason All-America (Second Team)
    No. 3 Inside-Out Player in the Country

    > Tony Mitchell dunks against Jackson State on December 8th
    http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jsp?productId=1341_6893_131&catId=cat10049

    > Mitchell’s per game stat line entering play this Thursday night

    Minutes: 29.5
    Points: 13.6
    Rebounds: 8.6
    Blocks: 2.5
    FG%: .461
    3FG%: .286
    Personal Fouls: 3 (team high)

    On Thursday, UNT will most likely start a relatively young and small guard-oriented squad of 3 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 senior with heights ranging from 6’2″ to Mitchell’s 6’8″. First off the bench should be Hartwick, a 5’10” guard and Holmen, a 6’8″ forward. The team doesn’t shoot the “3-ball” particularly well (23.3%….340th ranked) and, at the same time, gives-up a high percentage of 3’s (37.3%….293rd ranked). This should play well into Lehigh’s hands assuming, of course, we get the looks and stay hot (presently hitting 44.0% and ranked 1st in the nation) from beyond the arc. When it comes to rebounding the ball however, UNT does a very good job – especially off their offensive board where they pull down 37.6% (49th ranked) of the chances. Here, Mitchell and senior guard, Roger Franklin, excel. They combine to average 14.7 rebounds/game. UNT will enter the game sporting an overall +3.4 rebounds/game margin. Like Lehigh, UNT safeguards the ball well, turning it over fewer than 13 times a game while getting-after-it on defense logging nearly 8 steals/game. Alzee Williams, #3, has to be one of the most efficient guards in the nation, turning the ball over an average of once every 54 minutes.

    To enjoy the game live for $10.95. Simply go to:
    https://www.nmnathletics.com/PremiumVideo.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1800

    #8452

    lehigh90
    Participant

    This on paper, looks like the classic team, that you would play zone against.  Their perimeter players shoot it very poorly, and they have a big inside presence with Mitchell at 6’8″.  Conventional wisdom would say pack it in around Mitchell.  Somehow, I doubt that is what Lehigh will do with the coach’s love of man to man defense.  But, we don’t seem to have a logical matchup for Mitchell.  I think he is far too quick for Gabe.  You would think zone would help us rebound the ball better as well.  We will see.

    #8479

    TMH
    Participant

    I was thinking exactly the same thing Lehigh90. It would also help keep our bigs out of foul trouble. I did notice that after Baltimore picked up his 2nd foul in the 1st half, he kept him in and went to zone I believe to the end of the half.

    #8484

    norcalfan
    Participant

    Let’s get it done at home LU! I am sure Mackey is pleased to go home twice in the same year. It would be nice to get a W.

    #8537

    LU65
    Participant

    Game Notes

    http://www.lehighsports.com/assets/1/workflow_staging/Sport/50720.PDF

    Mean Green Style
    http://www.meangreensports.com//pdf8/1032485.pdf

    Quick Hits

    >As of Monday, 57 NBA scouts were slat¬ed to be in attendance

    >This will be the first meeting between the two programs, and NT’s third ever match¬up with the Patriot League. NT has only faced Army (1-0) and Bucknell (0-1).

    >Scoring Inside-Out – Coach Tony Benford em¬phasizes paint touches in his offensive philosophy, and NT’s ability to score in the lane goes a long way in the final score. NT posted a season-high tying 44 points in the paint against Jackson State.

    >Ball Pressure Defense – NT played out¬standing defense in the win over SELA, holding the Lions to 40 points and 25.0 per¬cent shooting.

    >Glass Gurus – Owning the boards are an essential part of Tony Benford’s philoso¬phy, and NT isn’t disappointing. NT leads the Sun Belt in offensive rebounding (15.2 per game) and offensive rebounding per¬centage (37.4 percent).
    >Taking Care Of Business – North Texas tallied just five turnovers against Jackson State and eight versus SELA. NT ranks second in the Sun Belt and 60th in the na¬tion in turnovers with 12.4 per game.

    >CJ and Tony Mitchell meet again after competing against one another at the LeBron Jones Skills Acedamy.

    Sr. forward Jacob Holeman (6’8″) is expected to start, adding height and experience to what I had earlier assumed to be their smaller/less experience starting five. If so, the lineup will now feature 2 seniors, 1 junior, and 2 sophomores. Unless, as has been suggested in earlier posts, we go to a zone, GK and HG will undoubtedly draw Holeman and Mitchell, both 6’8, with AD/SC going up against their senior guard/forward Franklin.

    As the Mean Green website says, “2 days and 1 hour to go!”

    #8538
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    BJ in for NTexas per LoRe tweet. Suited up at St.F game maybe he’ll get some minutes.

    #8558

    LU65
    Participant

    Fully expect BJ to play tonight. While he may not start or give us his usual 12 minutes/game or hit nearly half his shots(.480FG% last year), I do expect tenacious D and leadership by example while on the court. What a great sight it’ll be.

    #8559
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    This game scares me.  It doesn’t matter how good your defense is if you can’t finish the possession and wrap up the rebound.  If we give up 15 offensive rebounds, that will likely be about 10 layups which NT will shoot a very high percentage on.  Hope that BJ can help on the boards a little, and maybe we can get Mitchell in foul trouble.  Even though we are ranked higher than NT by most metrics, I think this is an extremely difficult matchup for us as their biggest strength is our biggest weakness, and unlike 3 pt shooting and other statistical advantages LU has, rebounding is usually pretty consistent whereas shooting can always go cold.

    I wouldn’t go zone unless GK gets in foul trouble, as zones are very difficult to rebound out of and I think NT might have a field day on the boards.  I would like to see a solid 10-15 minutes of HG, GK, and CB on the floor together to try to negate the size and rebounding mismatch.  Really hope that LU pulls this out as it would be a solid road win coming off the long break.

     

    #8561

    LU06
    Participant

    CJ out tonight. Minor ankle injury

    #8562

    LU65
    Participant

    SC to start.  BJ taking warmups. UNT’s Tony Mitchell will sit initially (team infraction) but expected to play.

    First miss for CJ in hia 109 game career.

    #8563
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    We’ll learn a little more about next year,  tonight.

    #8564

    LU65
    Participant

    CJ Who?

    @ the Half: 52-33 Lehigh!

    GK putting on a show for the NBA GMs and Scouts in attendance. Has 19 on 7 of 9 with 3 of 4 coming from long distance.

    BJ hits a 3 and looking fine on D.

    MM – a bit sloppy but hits a 50-footer at the half time horn and has 10.

    CS showing why we have nothing to be concerned about after MM leaves. In fact, looking strong with MM on the point.
    Corey has 8.

    HG steady on both ends of the court with 7.

    AD with 5 but an ungly air-ball.

    LU shots 53% (19 of 36) and 8 of 16 from behond the arc.

    Tony Mitchell inserted into the game at the 2 1/2 minute mark. Must have been a minor team infraction. Has 13 at halftime.

    UNT 12 of 36 shooting.

    We outscore UNT in the paint.

    Again, we score on open looks and unselfish play.

    #8565

    TMH
    Participant

    Am I the only one unaware that CJ has been holding this team back all season……I’m kidding!!!!!
    Nice 2 to 1 Assist to TO…rebounding closer than expected especially since Gabe has none.
    Still another half to play though..it ain’t over until it’s over.

    #8567
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    I see everyone beat me to the punchlines. Very nice win. Whole team stepped up. CJ sprained ankle. CJ tweet he has never missed.game due “minor injury”. He rolled the ankle. Rest him until he’s 100%. Which I hope is VCU. If not , we’ll make do.

    #8568

    TMH
    Participant

    I wonder if the fact that 60 scouts were on hand had anything to do with holding him out. I would hate to ruin his career chances if he were less than 100%. Just a thought. I hope he’s back by Bryant. That should be a much tougher game.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.