Game 21: Army

[RichHParticipant]

IDK why anyone shocked. We play 4 Gs & GK and he is not posting low.

[norcalfanParticipant]

Looks like Reed was aware of Toth. I knew he would be a handful. Great win and nice contributions from the team. Gabe is not where he needs to be. BJ is bringing the fire. Mackey is stroking the ball well and leading his team. Good job all around.

[toddcuddParticipant]

RichH – I did notice a lot of small lineup time for this game.  We don’t generally play 4 guards – I consider HG a small forward.  Was there something about this match-up that drove the 4-guard set?  If so, I guess I shouldn’t argue it; it worked.  But I still find the rebound numbers concerning.  I felt like I was seeing some promise in big lineups we were trying recently…

[LU65Participant]

Good point, B137, re: our rebounding. Yet, surprised to see BU ranked so low (#262) in offensive rebounding. Guess it something both our teams must address.

As bad as our rebounding has been, that’s how good we have been from behind the 3-point line this year – both offensively (ranked 2nd in the nation) and defensively (ranked 5th in the nation). Our performance up a West Point yesterday did nothing but reinforce those numbers going 7 for 16 (43.8%) and holding Army to 10 of 31 (32.3%).

As for yesterday, AD continues to surprise. You just don’t know what you’re going to get, except exceptional hustle and grit. One day, he’s 0 for 6 with 1 board (Bucknell), the next day he’s 6 for 10 with 10 boards – as he was yesterday. It evens out over time, as he’s averaging 6.9 ppg and 4.3 rpg in PL play. A solid 5th starter – a post he won weeks ago because of his D and that has done nothing but improve. He’s firmly entrenched now and on nights when he doesn’t have it, there’s always the hope (more like the expectation) that Stefan or Corey will be there to pick up the slack. It seems to be working just fine.

Before the game many of us in attendance were saying, “Get – and keep – Gabe in the low blocks and limit the effectiveness of Ella Ellis.” Well, except for a couple of wayward 12-18 foot Knutson heaves and two others from downtown, it worked just fine. With the makeup of this year’s team, GK needs to stay home. Someone tell him his .321 three-point FG% is 8th best on a team that plays eight.

Rebounds remain a concern – especially on the offensive boards where we were out-muscled 16 to 8 (5 of those 8 by our guards) which lead to the near 2:1 differential in 2nd chance points (Army 15 – Lehigh 8). Thankfully, we hit our three’s and raced to easy fast break points (Lehigh 13 – Army 0). Together, they more than compensated for our lack of rebounding. Regrettably, that formula won’t always work. Until then, you play the hand you were dealt – speed and deft shooting.

One final thought about Army………..Cox and Ellis will never again go a combined 4 for 18 at Christl arena this year. Glad we get them at Stabler in the season finale. Good luck to Bucknell, Holy Cross and Colgate who must visit the USMA.

[lehigh90Participant]

We know this team can’t rebound.  It is one of the shortfalls that we have.  We are not very big, and our biggest guy is just not a good rebounder.  As discussed before, rebounding comes down to quickness, desire, and a lot of intangibles other than size.  That is why a guy like MM can rebound pretty well, as can BB.  GK is a finesse player and has been his whole career.  He is not a great leaper, and if he is going to rebound it has to be through fundamental positioning and boxing out.  But, in the PL, we are fine.  There are no really big teams to face.  Bucknell probably has the biggest/best frontcourt with Muscala and Willman, and if they want to rebound, they can throw a Fitzpatrick in there, but we handled the boards pretty well against them, and we have some flexibility with JG, if we want to go big.  Holy Cross and American have a couple big players as well, but nothing overwhelming.  As also discussed a ton, we are getting virtually nothing from potentially our best rebounder, CB, but at this point, he is so far down the pecking order, I can’t see him playing any valuable minutes this season.  Was surprised Reed didn’t like his defense, because I thought that was his strength.  He certainly has no offensive game.  But, I think we are fine for the PL slate.  Where it will really show up is in the postseason tournaments, if we make one of them.  As you saw against Baylor and Pitt, a really big team will destroy us on the glass and in the paint.  It is amazing how much you can miss a guy like Manieri.  But, every team has their faults, and no team in the PL is perfect.  Bucknell is the opposite of us, in that they are short in the backcourt, especially at the PG position.  So, you go with what you got and hope for the best.  I think Reed will continue to mix and match with his bench.  Some games will dictate more JG, and some will dictate more CS and SC.

[lehigh90Participant]

Anybody know why Ellis was not a starter yesterday?  Saw they started 5 freshman.  He may be the 3rd best player in the league, although Burnatowski may have passed him.

 

 

[toddcuddParticipant]

@90:  Not sure why, but apparently they’ve been doing that recently.  I think I read that this was the 3rd straight game that they started 5 frosh.

[LU65Participant]

Right on the third straight. Last time EE was in the starting lineup was against Colgate – a game Army lost with EE scoring 5 on 1 for 10 shooting. They then won two in a row leading up to Lehigh with him coming off the bench and the plebes hitting scoring 69 of 90 and 56 of 77. Hey, maybe the coach figures his time is up – or nearly so – and he better see what his 20-man roster has to offer.

[lehigh90Participant]

There has got to be more to that story.  This is not some average player we are talking about.  He has basically carried Army for 2+ seasons.  The guy is 1st team All-PL this preseason, and was All PL first team last season.  He started every game as soph and junior except 1, and started the first 19 games this season.  He has been in double figures 19 out of 22 games this season, 6x over 20 points, 1x over 30.  He scored 20+ coming off the bench in one of the last 3 games where he didn’t start.  As a junior, he was in double figures every game except 1, and every game as a soph except 5.  Doesn’t seem like the way to take care of your senior star in his last go around.  Surprising at a place like Army, where loyalty must mean something, right?  Somebody please tell me he has an injury.  I can see building for the future, but this seems a bit out of line.  How do you spin that as a coach?  You are our best player, you have been the entire team for the last 75 games, but now I’m going to put you on the pine until Senior Day, and, by the way, you are leaving for Afghanistan after the PL tourney.

 

 

 

[LU65Participant]

Yeah, probably a disciplinary thing. We know how that goes with Mackey and others not getting a start from time to time last year. EE did come off the bench quickly in each of the last two and scored 29 vs. HC and 22 against us. Hope he and his plebe buddies play inspired ball aginst BU on Saturday.

[Bison137Participant]

May have been a minor disciplinary issue, or perhaps just an issue about his defense or not playing team ball.    It can’t be an injury since he has been playing major minutes in each of the three games since he came out of the starting lineup.

 

Game 1:  Played 23 minutes but lost minutes due to foul trouble.  Entered in 1st half after only 2:20 of time had elapsed and 2nd half after 3:28.

Game 2:  Played 29 minutes.  Entered in 1st half after 2:17 and 2nd half after 3:22.

Game 3:  Played 22 minutes but lost 6+ minutes due to major foul trouble.  Entered 1st half after 2:20.   Entered 2nd half after 1:18 – the first stoppage of play.

 

If I had to guess, I think Spiker didn’t like something about his play vs Colgate and decided to bring him off the bench to send a message to him.   Then they won the next 2 games with him as 6th man, so he just kept going with the same lineup.    I’ll be interested to see how they play it next game – although if he’s going to play 29 minutes, enter each half after 2 minutes , and be in the game down the stretch, then it doesn’t matter much.

[hawktalkerParticipant]

Bison 137 you hit the nail right on the head. Supposedly Spiker told reporters last week that
despite Ellis not starting he was getting starter’s minutes and is on the floor when the game’s
on the line (except vs Lehigh since he fouled out) so there’s no disrespect.

The five freshmen all played together at the Army prep school last year and thus are the most
cohesive unit on the team. Before yesterday, that starting line-up with Ellis coming off the
bench was 2-0. Toth was named PL rookie of the week today, the third different Army plebe so
honored (Wilson and Cox are the other two)

 

[Author]

Posts