Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Lafayette – Game 8
This topic contains 14 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by toddcudd 9 years, 11 months ago.
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January 23, 2015 at 6:39 pm #17812
Game Notes
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LU’s
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LC’s
We awaite
KenPom
LU (9-9, 3-4) ranked 219th
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LC (11-7, 3-4) ranked 181st
LC wins 76-70 (73% chance)Before giving this one to Pomeroy (after all, he did hit 4 of 5 games on Wednesday, nailing Army’s one point win over Colgate), let’s look at the numbers and remember this is game could – and has gone – either way in the past.
Here’s a brief look at 7-game PL Stats
• First, it’s true that LC has the League’s top rated scoring offense @ 72.4 ppg. It’s also true that the Leopards have the 10th ranked scoring defense in the PL @ 72.1 ppg.
• FG%: LC @.453 and ranked 5th vs. LU @.426 and ranked 8th
• FG% Defense: LC @ .473 and ranked 9th vs. LU @.402 and ranked 1st
• 3FG%: LC @.419 and ranked 3rd vs. LU @ .324 and ranked 8th
• 3FG% Defense: LC @.396 and ranked 8th vs. LU @ .372 and ranked 3rdI’m pinning my hopes for victory on:
(1) Lehigh’s “D”. With all the talk of Tim, Kahron, Austin, and Brandon’s success on offensive, I believe we have lost sight of our team’s play on defense. It’s been stellar. So good that it ranks first in the PL in FG% D @ .402. That’s for conference games only. It’s slightly better @ .400 and first again when you consider all games played. On the other side of the ball, Lafayette ranks 9th in PL games and 6th in all games played. Limiting the Leopards’ success from where they have hurt so many, i.e., beyond the arc, will go a long way in determining tomorrow’s winner. Holding them to 5 or fewer made 3’s might do the trick. That’s the equivalent 9 or more points off their normal mark of 8 made 3’s per game. I grant you, their weapons from long range – especially Sr. Joey Ptasinski who seems to never miss (.526) – are superior to what we’ve seen, but we did hold HC and Navy to a combined 13 for 56 (.232) over our last two outings. I can’t wait to see who draws the Ptasinski defensive assignment. He can be stopped it seems as AU held him to 7 pts on 1 for 8 shooting (1 for 6 from deep) last Saturday.
(2) Our ability to out-rebound the Leopards and score more 2nd chance points. Neither of which will be easy as the senior duo of Hinrichs and Trist combine for 12.5rpg and seldom miss from inside. Hinrichs makes 64.2% of his 2’s and Trist 55.9% of his interior shots. While we pulled off wins over Navy and Holy Cross averaging just 4 second chance points, that won’t be good enough against Lafayette.It’s a game not to be misses. Too bad the weather could spoil it for many.
January 23, 2015 at 7:09 pm #17813Right with you, across the board 65! A very interesting match-up. Statically, pards are a top-notch PL offense, as is our defense. On the other end of the court, our O hasn’t been good on a consistent basis, and pard defense is (as usual) their big question mark.
I also agree that Ptasinski may be the key. Going over results, when he has a big game, pards win. I hope to see somebody inside his jersey all day long. I’m hopeful that our interior D is good enough to keep Hinrichs and Trist from deciding the outcome.
I’d have to expect them to focus on stopping TK. How we respond to that is likely to decide the outcome, I think. Of course, all of this could be moot if they just shoot the lights out – which we seem to bring out in opponents on some nights. Yes, I’m still bitter about ‘gate. Loyola, and BU. All 3 shot 50% or better from 3 against us.
I hope we put some Lehigh butts in seats over there too. Never hurts…January 24, 2015 at 12:37 am #1781578-70 us, on their court. They like fast pace too. And I’m betting my prediction rights for the rest of this season…
January 24, 2015 at 1:27 am #17818Not optimistic. If we play better perimeter D,and we improve our own outside shootin,we can get the W. Warned W that I am watching
January 24, 2015 at 4:09 am #17822The tears are already there for the taking. Can’t wait to see the meltdown should we win tomorrow…
January 24, 2015 at 9:21 pm #17825Well that felt great. Let’s hope the women follow suit. It may let me forget about the Bronx debacle.
January 24, 2015 at 10:08 pm #17826A team win. Fun until PL decided game over. Thank God for Fallon. Too many TOs but we played D and shot spectacularly.
January 24, 2015 at 10:28 pm #17827Great win and a fun one to watch! It shows, when the team attacks the basketball and doesnt settle for jump shots, they win! The big men played great, and great defense!
January 24, 2015 at 10:37 pm #17828If this team stays committed to playing tough D they will go far!
January 24, 2015 at 10:42 pm #17829We play like we should, we can beat anyone in the patriot league
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This reply was modified 9 years, 12 months ago by
LU15.
January 25, 2015 at 1:52 am #17831Great win in their house. Looked like good ball movement and a lot “team” emphasis. Diving for balls. Passion. This team goes as far as it WANTS to go.
January 25, 2015 at 3:05 am #17832Huge win (dah?). And we still did not play our best game. 14 turnovers and several unnecessary fouls. But wow the effort! Particularly on the boards. And on the defensive end. Fortunately in the Lehigh Valley we get Lafayette’s broadcast locally so I got to tape the game and watch w/o commercials after work. The box score tells a really accurate team story. But if you didn’t see the game, a couple of things the box won’t tell you; a) MS is invaluable as the back up point. KR and others in early foul trouble. Miles was just as steady on the handle and his decision making continues to improve. JC also good minutes off the bench when Goldie got 3rd foul. And BA is just scratching the surface of his offensive potential. He still doesn’t pick his spots very well, but when he does, he’s almost unstoppable at this level. In my opinion if he puts in the work with the right attitude he could be a monster. Offensively and on the boards.
All that said, Bucknell is next up. Up there. And this team this season has proven they are capable of laying an ugly duckling egg at anytime. After the Navy win BA got his first career post game radio interview. He mentioned the athleticism of the three big OC opponents, but that the Patriot league has much better shooters. He also implied that they may have taken some league opponents lightly following the OC success. And that they now realize what it takes to have a chance to “winning this thing.” Probably too candid for a freshman, but very interesting to hear. Game time change Wednesday to 8pm if you’re going. Hopefully after three straight great efforts, they are onto something.
January 25, 2015 at 4:27 am #17834So much has already been said, but allow me to add:
Great team win with 9 players in the scoring column and 9 players with one or more rebounds. Everyone had a hand in this one. Good feelings all around.
15 for 15 from the free throw line. This after going 17 of 31 and 8 of 12 in prior two games. Brett probably kept his promise of added time on the line in practice following two dreaful performances. It worked.
Unshakeable Kahron – especially in stepping to the line and sinking 5 for 5 – the last three with the game in doubt. Just think, he’s ours for the next 100 + games.
Goldie’s continued rise on offens – 13 of 16 in his last three. The more minutes he gets, the better he plays. He now lays claim to highest FG% on team @ .559. Well, almost. Tyler Jenkins’ 3 for 5 (.600) is tops.
Corey Schaefer. Not his early 3 that put us ahead 10-7, but his smothering 28 minutes of “D.” Never more than 18” off his man, he shut down Joey Ptasinski (team’s 3rd highest scorer who sports a .551FG%) on 0 for 8 shooting. At times it looked like the two were hitched together in a 3-legged race.
January 25, 2015 at 4:34 am #17835I said it on Twitter, but I’ll say it here too: this team really grew up today. The energy and the effort was awesome to see, but what impressed me was how they really hit the boards so effectively, limiting Lafayette VERY often to one-and-dones on their offensive possessions. And down the stretch, icing those free throws… AP and Ross with those giant gets under pressure in their place. Wow. Almost lost in that was TK’s first 3 of the year, one that came, too at a really important moment!
It doesn’t get any easier at Bucknell, but I’m going to savor this one for the rest of the evening after a great day in Lehigh sports today. This was a good one.
At 4-4 in the conference, we’re 2 behind Bucknell and Colgate (6-2), but only 1 game out of a last-placed tie (3-5). When PL tournament time comes around, better dust off the calculators.
January 25, 2015 at 3:02 pm #17839Great, great win – agree with everything here. In particular, I don’t want to lose CS’s defensive effort in the shuffle. We talked here about the importance of Ptasinski, and Corey dogged him all day and shut him down. He never got the open looks that make him a killer.
Our friends over at CoBL put up 2 nice articles after this game. In this one, they’re assigning a lot of credit for our progress to JG’s improvement.
Now let’s get wins over Cornell and the ‘pard women to wrap up a GREAT weekend!
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