Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › LAFAYETTE – Game 12 (Sunday, February 20, 2011)
This topic contains 8 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by LU65 13 years, 12 months ago.
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February 18, 2011 at 11:26 pm #3289
LU (14 – 12….5 – 6) vs. LC (9 – 16….5 – 6)
Sagarin Rankings and Resulting LinesRankings (345 D-I schools)
Lehigh / Lafayette
Sagarin Predictor: 191 / 262
RPI: 215 / 253
Pomeroy: 193 / 252Resulting Line and Chance of Winning
Sagarin: Lehigh – 8 1/2
Pomeroy: Lehigh wins 79 – 70 (79% Chance)Game Notes
From LU: await release
From LC: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/laf … eNotes.pdfFebruary 19, 2011 at 2:53 am #3293LU Game Notes:
http://www.lehighsports.com/assets/1/wo … /42688.PDF
February 19, 2011 at 10:48 pm #3301What can we expect out of Lehigh tomorrow?
1. A pre-game salute to their seniors (always a fan favorite) followed by a senior-laden starting lineup consisting of:
Safstrom. This will be David’s 5th career start – all in his senior year. The others came against non-PL opponents: Yale, USC, Quinnipiac, and Fordham
Small. This will be Prentice’s 6th career start – 5th in his senior year. The others this season included games against: Army, Navy, NJIT, and American.
Keefer. This will be Rob’s 55th career start but only his 3rd this year. The others this season included games against two out-of-conference opponents: Wagner (10 points in 21 minutes) and Monmouth (0 points in 9 minutes).
Ojo. This will be Michael’s 26th career start; all but two occurring in this his senior year.The 5th starter? My money is on CJ.
2. CJ at his best
CJ has taken well to the big stage. He’s 3 up and 1 down against the Leopards and has averaged 23.5 ppg on .483FG% shooting while pulling down an average of 9.25 rpg. With his parents on hand today – as they were on Nov. 26th – could we see a repeat of his 42 point/7 rebound performance that came that day against Kent State? Would be nice, but don’t bet on it. Hey, an never know……the TV cameras will be turned-on and anything is possible, I guess.
3. A large crowd will be on hand ….. for a change!
It’s been tough to take, as an avid fan and supporter of Lehigh basketball , seeing so few show up to cheer-on the Mountain Hawks. To date, we’ve play 12 home dates and averaged just 815 persons/game. What a shame. Last year, the season-long average was 1,285. Of course, that took into account 2 games against Lafayette and two other home playoff games. Still, there’s no way we’ll come close to matching that number from last year. It would take a crown of 3,220 tomorrow just to get our season-long average up to 1,000/game. Only Colgate draws fewer fans to their home games. Here are the 2010-11 season number to date:
Bucknell 2,950
Navy 1,947
American 1,856
Holy Cross 1,780
Lafayette 1,562
Army 1,245
Lehigh 815
Colgate 5774. A strong defensive start by Lehigh (no doubt Lafayette, as well). Reed need only point to (a) their last game against Lafayette – a big win for the Mountain Hawks – in which they limited the Leopards to 8 first half field goals on 8 for 28 (28.6%) shooting and (b) the hole they dug for themselves against Colgate in Wednesday’s game – never able to recover from being down by 10 at the half.
5. A rebound performance – in terms of scoring – by #42, Gabe Knutson. Our big guy went 2 for 9 from the field on Wednesday against Colgate missing some chip-shots along the way.
6. Sharing the ball. I think it’s beginning to sink in. After recording just 9 assists in the their loss to Bucknell a month ago, the team has averaged 17 assists in their three Wins since and just 12 assists in their two losses. Viable scoring options to CJ do exist among the starting guards (Ojo and Mackey each sport better season-long FG% and 3FG% numbers) and must be used when – as is most often the case – our #3 is doubled and triple-teamed.
February 20, 2011 at 4:43 am #3303Come on LU! Where is the chatter? This is the biggest game of the year and this board is quiet. Where’s the excitement? The seniors are trying to go out big. Families, friends, alums are there, let’s do this! I do hope to see people on television in mass tomorrow. There are a few fans from the west coast cheering you on. Of course there are a few alums on the west coast too. I am not sure if they read the board. Let’s go Lehigh! Let me see what LC has to say on their board.
February 20, 2011 at 10:02 pm #3306Wow, one heck of a game , as predicted. Nice to sweep Pards out of 3rd. If only we were a tad more consistent. Ah, well we are better than I thught we would be this year.
February 21, 2011 at 12:37 am #3307You would think there would be more chatter after a win like today. What is up with LU? Surely the LU vs LC should cause some interest. The players must have a difficult time getting fired up for a game. It was an ugly game, the defense was bad, yes bad, but they pulled it off. Good for the seniors. Going forward, they need some more fire power and defense. Poor CJ took another bad shot and Knutsen got a lucky break.
Back to high school, the fans are louder! I just don’t get the number of fans and the low level of enthusiasm until the 2nd quarter and even then it was not that great. Come on LU fans or should I say students, it’s Sunday evening and the game was tight the whole time. Get some spirit!
February 21, 2011 at 1:27 am #3308I was there, and even though it was a big crowd there was a distinct lack of energy at times – from both the Lehigh and Lafayette sides. I think part of the problem was that the game was a "mudder" – not much momentum getting generated by either side, thanks to turnovers in the first half (Lehigh) and missed shots in the second (Lafayette). There was not much to crow about on either side – neither team looked like they were on the verge of being able to beat Bucknell or American (or maybe even Holy Cross or Navy), and it showed.
Having said that – what a finish. I’ll take an ugly win over Lafayette instead of a pretty loss any day, ever. And Coach Reed alluded to it after the game, but this team appeared to grow up in significant ways this game. Knutson seemed to challenge the team to get him the ball, and in the first half he did to get a crucial basket before halftime. Greiner has been so very impressive in a lot of games, but none more impressive than his double-double today – a guy who clearly relished the spotlight. And that last 14 seconds – won by every single guy on that court. Good defense to force the timeout, good defense to force the turnover, CJ’s drive, Greiner’s tip to keep the ball alive, and Knutson’s finish.
While I needed a heart monitor in those last four seconds – how on Earth did he get a clean look after going the length of the court in 4 seconds? – the key was that Lehigh won the damn game. Ugly, gritty, whatever, it was one to remember.
February 21, 2011 at 2:46 am #3309Play like that and they are done in the first round. Must get a win against BU or HC or they can fall in the rankings. Defense helps win games.
February 21, 2011 at 4:01 am #3310I was there, as well, and walked away relieved and happy to have 3rd place to ourselves. It was not pretty. Far from it. But, you learn to take the bad with the good and after dropping 3 one-point games this year (Monmouth, American, and Colgate), it was fun winning one by one. Being it came against Lafayette just made it all that much better.
I got to watch the DVR again to see just how we pulled it off.The "BAD"
(1) we couldn’t contain the Leopard shooters and it showed in the comparative FG stats (LC 45.6% to LU’s 39.3%)
(2) CJ had another one of his "off" nights and sank only 4 of 17 field goals – and was not close on a couple for long range – hitting just 1 of 5. Still trying to do too much but still the guy you want out there for countless other reasons (see GOOD below).
(3) our normally reliable PGs (MM and PS) would go 1 for 7 and score a combined 4 points while turning the ball over 6 times
(4) our best 3-point shooter, MO, went 0-3, committed a turnover and generally looked "out of it" in his 15 minutes of time on the court…………later learned we "ill.’
(5) plodding and ineffective half-court offense – especially in the first half – when you might have expected something far different from a more athletic Mountain Hawk team. It looked like a Colgate replay at times during the early going and glad the deficit was just 3 at the half and not 10 as with Colgate.
The "GOOD"
(1) 2007-08 ROY Keefer was reincarnated. The senior got this start on "Senior Day" and didn’t disappoint showing range and touch in scoring 10 in his 10 minutes of well-deserved time on the court. Just what we needed with Ojo feeling under weather. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him first off the bench for Ojo in the remaining two games and given more time to shine.
(2) The "other 4’s" Hamilton and Greiner. Both continued their upward spiral of play with perhaps their career bests coming just when we needed them most. Together they went 7 for 12 scoring 23 with 20 boards. Not a bad compliment to Gabe who had the winning put-back bucket with 4 seconds to go on pure strength and determination. Sitting next to his Dad made the evening that much more enjoyable.
(3) Up Tempo Offense. While it wasn’t present to the extend I believe we’re capable of playing, it was there enough to show our dominance. Fast Break Points: LU 12…..LC 6.
(4) The "other" parts of CJ’s game that are present even on nights when the shots are not dropping. Tonight it was present in his solid "D," near-flawless free-throw shooting (7 for 8), steals (4), and hustle out-racing others to the ball and, equally important, to the spot. The best example I can give was the final play of the game when CJ was seen racing up court (and at a perfectly planned angle) to get a piece of the Leopard’s last desperation shot from 30 feet. Films show he didn’t deflect it but may have caught the eye of the shooter. Who knows. It was hustle and it was appreciated by teammates and fans, alike.
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