Game 19: Lafayette

[LU65Participant]

First the positives

1. Attendance: 3279 today. See PL Season stats far below.
2. Mackey – While going 4 for 11 is nothing special, there’s no quit in this guy. Skied for 4 boards and dished out 6 assists with 0 turnovers. Are we looking at next year’s PL Player of the Year? Understand he spoke to players after the game and did what he could to refocus and energize the team. Good sign.
3. BJ – Solid throughout scoring 12 on 5 for 10 shooting. Although, knowing him, he’ll bring up his 3 TOs.

Now the negatives

1. Energy/Passion – none. Dead men walking. Where was the party last night?
2. Rebounding – we were out-rebounded by the worse rebounding team in the league 34-39. Leopards had averaged 30.3/game. They got 39 this afternoon. Somehow, everyone who played for Lehigh, except CB with one minute of court time, got a rebound. Hinrichs with 11 out-rebounded both Gabe and Holden together.
3. Poor shooting – 8 for 32 in the first half (25%) and lucky to be down by only 8 at the half. Came out flat in 2nd half. How, after laying an egg in the first twenty minutes, is that possible? Could never close the gap on mediocre 13 for 30 shooting. Hesitant (Gabe often) and aimless play by nearly everyone. Had to wonder at times if the players forgot the play that had been called. Sorry, but 21 made FGs in 40 minutes! Ya see more in rec games. Painful to watch. Hope the 400+ students who spent their $5 will be back. High ball screens that came up empty all afternoon. Leopards had us well scouted and defended well. Sorry Staggers and Goodman didn’t get a chance to play. Plenty of opportunity.
4. The deadly 3. We got a taste of our own medicine. Lafayette poured in 10 three-pointers – many while we scrambled to get defend. Every time – and I mean every time – we got a 2, they piled-on with a 3 in the second half.
6. Was it two or three “backdoor” cuts for baskets we gave up? Maybe it was four.
7. AD – Went 1 for 5 and now 1 for 11 in his last two games (combined 38 minutes). Trouble finding his man yet somehow ended up has high-rebounder with 5. More by chance than design.
8. HG – O for 8 in first half and 1 board. Did pick it up (3 for 6) in second half but certainly not himself.
9. Lafayette took us out of “our” game of up-tempo play. They built a double-digit lead and bleed the clock. We loss three key battle we normally win: one, thefts (LC 6 steals to our 4), two, fast break points (LC 10 to our 5), and three, getting points off turnovers (LC 10 to our 6).
10. With the loss, we fall back into a tie with Bucknell. Remember, however, BU beat Lafayette in their first encounter. Today’s loss could be costly.

On to Navy where a win is a must.

More Attendance Info

Season / # Games / Overall / PG Avg. / Our PL Record

2012-13 / 8 / 12,607 / 1,576 / 7-2 (at least 5 more)
2011-12 / 13 / 17,320 / 1,332 / 11-3 (PL Champs)
2010-11 / 14 / 13,029 / 931 / 6-8

Average Home Attendance thru games played on Sunday, January 27th:

Bucknell 3,280
Holy Cross 1,849
Lehigh 1,765
Navy 1,421
Army 1,390
Lafayette 1,165
American 1,052
Colgate 293

.

[gohawks63Participant]

Lehigh is clearly not going to win many games getting no production from the two, four and five positions.  The question is – was this game the “outlier” or was it the Bucknell game (where we shot a surreal percentage of 3 pointers)?

It seems to me we are in in the throes of “CJ-itis”.  The team is struggling to find out who is going to replace CJ as the reliable, point-producer and big shot man. So Gabe, instead of shooting from his usual 12-15 foot range, is suddenly Kevin Garnett – trying to knock down 3 pointers.  HG, instead of waiting for shots within the flow of the offense is now trying to dribble through double and triple teams to create a shot.  CJ – as one of the premier players in the country – does pretty well dribbling through a double team.  Holden – whose handle is up somewhere near his ribcage – is not so successful in that situation.

I’m not even going to address the AD situation at the 2 – except to say – can we get Corey Schaeffer some more minutes please?  He is a great ball handler, aggressive to the basket and a consistent shooter.  SC has not made an impact for several games now.

It is pretty clear that BJB is not going to go 4 for 4 from the 3 every game, although he is a nice shooter.  He is unselfish to a fault.  I just wish Gabe and Holden could learn to be a little more patient and unselfish and stop trying to do what CJ can do ..

[LU65Participant]

I’m with you, 63, on CS. You and I have been calling for his minutes for a long time now. As for AD, I’ll give him this: He can jump. He certainly plays taller than his published 6’2″ height. Great early block today. Thought I saw another later but not credited with it. Probably has one of the highest verticle leaps on the team. Shooting (production and style) leaves a lot to be disired.

As for BJ, he’s back and just in time! It took patience on both Reed and the player’s part through OOC play this year, but he seems to have regained his confidence and strock. Both couldn’t have come at a better time. His shot is true and deserves CJ-type minutes. Here’s a rundown of his 3-point production over the last 10 games:

2012 PL Playoffs
Colgate: 2 for 3
American: 2 for 3
Bucknell: 2 for 2

NCAAs
Duke: 0 for 1
Xavier: 0 for 1

This year
HC: 2 for 2
AU: 0 for 1
CU: 1 for 3
BU: 4 for 4
LC: 2 for 3

Overall: 15 for 23 (.652)

[LU65Participant]

Just reread the post. Never won a spelling bee as you could probably tell. And, when I referred to BJ’s last 10 games, I guess I should have said “meaningful” 10 games (PL or NCAA Tournament affairs).

[StablerBumParticipant]

Someone mentioned it earlier, and for whatever reason it’s true (and frustating).  This team and program needs periodic wake up calls.  It seems like whenever they win a few in a row, or come off a big win, they lay an absolute stinker.  Luckily, it seems like they rebound pretty well from these efforts and come back strong, but it is maddening as a fan.

I don’t think Holden and others can be blamed for occassionally trying to do too much.  In HG’s case, he has a pretty defined roll for 3.5 seasons, and now he is being asked to do more.  So of course he is occassionally going to choose the wrong moment to try to “do more.”

I think we might have gotten a bit carried away with our expectations after the BU win, which was a great one.  I would still be VERY happy with 10 PL wins with this group.

[lehigh90Participant]

I didn’t make it to Stabler, and didn’t catch game on TV as I was driving home.  I checked my phone halfway through the first, and saw us down 8, checked later it was 9 near the half.  I was upbeat still, then shocked to see us down 20 in the second half.  What a debacle.  This is a game we should have won by 20.  I haven’t seen Lafayette this season, but from what I recall of their roster, it is pretty lean.  They are solid at the PG with Tony Johnson, Geise can shoot it a bit from the outside, and they have the big Australian kid (all 3 looked to have big games from the box), but they lost a lot from last year (Mower and Delany) and we handled them easily twice last year.  I just can’t imagine how we could have gotten blown out by this team.  I am still in shock.  This team is puzzling.  You have to chalk this up to lack of focus and effort, not from the coaching staff, but from the players who were supremely overconfident after Bucknell win.  We should never give up 70+ to Lafayette at home, or in any venue.  Defense and rebounding take effort, and apparently there was none yesterday. 

Now 3 on the road, and this team needs to show us something.

 

[lehigh90Participant]

Gabe needs to elevate his game.  Period.  He is a low box, back to the basket, scorer.  That is what he has been for 3 seasons, and that is what he still is.  He needs to park his butt on the low box and call for the basketball and finish.  If he has nothing, he needs to kick it to a shooter, preferably not with a first name of Anthony.  I am sick of his “new” game facing the basket.  He does not have a good game off the dribble from the wing, he is a mediocre 15-18 foot shooter, and he is a poor 3 point shooter.  Somebody needs to remind him of this.  The team needs to pound the ball into the paint, and let him go to work.  He needs to go strong and draw fouls.  He needs to go to his bread and butter moves like the drop step and finishing with the baby hook off of both sides.  He has been trying to do too much since the CJ injury.

Holden needs to let the game come to him a little more.  He is forcing a lot of tough shots.  He has a nice all around game, and can do a little of everything, but he is not a take over the game type of player.  He excels in playing in the offense, and letting his offense come through the team offensive concept.

If these two put up standard numbers with MM, BJB can pick up the slack from CJ, along with minor help from CS, SC, AD and JG.  We don’t need Gabe or Holden to be 20 point scorers to be successful.

[LU65Participant]

Reed’s postgame audio
http://news.hooptimeonline.com/post/41630435575/postgame-audio-lehigh-coach-dr-brett-reed-on-the

CJ’s postgame twitter
“Tough loss today but our team will bounce back. Times like this will show what kind of men we have on this team. We will be fine.”

Gabe’s postgame twitter
“Thanks to all our fans. Poor performance. It won’t happen again.”

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