Hope started Overway, Parisi, Snuggerud, Byers, Van Arendonk. Most likely this lineup was used to counter the very formidable NCC frontline. As far as minutes distribution Byers and Van Arendonk logged a few extra because of foul trouble. Parisi maybe because of defense. Billy Seiler was questionable going in, but was inserted into the rotation midway-ish through the first half, unlikely 100%. Chris Ray didn't play and is probably not ready to play in a game like this one yet.
Game Recap:
Hey guess what, its really hard to write a recap about a game you didn't see.
The bottom line about this game for both teams was this was a tough ask this early in the season. I think if you had quizzed both coaches and they were honest they'd say they would rather play this game 3 weeks from now. No question 3 months from now both teams will look quite different.
The talking point of this one probably centers around Nate Snuggerud picking up 4 first half fouls, very little doubt this impacted the game. Matt Neil gambled that his all-american candidate, Sr. forward could keep himself out of trouble when he re-inserted him midway through the first half sitting on two fouls. Unfortunately Matt lost that gamble this time, one of dozens of decisions a coach has to make on the fly during a game. It was simply incredible miss-fortune Nate picks up foul #4 with his sub at the table. In twenty plus years of watching games at his level, I bet I've seen that one other time. I imagine given the reports of the physical nature of the game, Matt felt he needed him out there, so he rolled the dice. Two things probably come out of this 1) Hope will be more careful with foul trouble in the future 2) Nate Snuggerud will learn a very good and very hard early lesson. Better now than latter.
Meanwhile what I think what might be missed is how well Hope competed without their best player for three-quarters of the game. Picture this roster without Caleb Byers and Brock Benson......now sit Snuggerud. Hope has a big problem vs North Central then, right? Caleb Byers' and Brock Bensons' value to this team showed up in its very first (real) game. Hope could start bigger to combat NCC's front line and when Snuggerud had to sit, Hope could still compete with NCC, otherwise they were probably a sitting duck.
Derek Raridon and Landon Gamble, NCC's all-american forwards, played 39 and 25 minutes, Hope's all-american Nate Snuggerud played 10.....and Hope lost by 11. It was a 5 point game with a little under 5 to play. Yeah, it mattered.
As far as the game itself, it seemed to get off to a torrid pace and then grind to a standstill. Listening to the last few minutes was like watching kids throw darts at each other, I cringed every time a shot was missed but I knew eventually someone was going to get hurt...unfortunately it was Hope when Derek Raridon hit a 3 with about 6 minutes remaining to put NCC up 8. It was as good as a dagger(dart?).
A couple concerns popped up in this one.
Between Parisi, Seiler and McMahon, Hope was 1-16 from the floor and 0-10 from triple for 8 points from the 2/3 guard spot. Yikes! One day after not worrying its hard not to. To be fair, it was an awful night for everyone shooting 3's, combined the two teams went 5-33 and a mind numbing 1-23 in the second half. Had I seen this in person, I might have desired poking my eyes out. Matt Parisi may never go 0-8 again from 3 again in his career. Inconsistency might be the norm from out there and it might cost them a game or two along the way.
Free-Throws: This is where you picture me being the zookeeper burying his head in the bushes at the 1:24 mark (awesome movie by the way, Scavenger Hunt(1979))...
The internet is one awesome place sometimes
So that was it, a tough opening night loss to what will probably be a very good CCIW team that by the end of the year will be looking at winning trophies and making March travel plans. Hardly something to be too worried about. I was hoping Hope would compete and maybe be in a position late to take the win, and really I think you can say they were. Its a tough loss but I wouldn't call it a bad loss or even one to feel bad about, only its circumstances.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
All the stats were close to even across the board. Hope was a little light on the assists, but then they were a little light on the FG's. Second half shooting for both teams was, well, atrocious.
When you shoot 18.5% for a half you really don't deserve to win, on the other hand they held a team to 26.9% at the same time. Its either knock-out defense or terrible offense, most likely a little of both.
Coltan Overway: 12 points, 7 rebounds......played 36 minutes which might be the most he's played in his career. In a foul-fest game he stayed out of that trouble.
Nate Snuggerud: 9 points......10 minutes
Caleb Byers: 8 points........33 minutes, all valuable cover for Nate's foul trouble
Nate Van Arendonk: 7 points, 7 rebounds........managed to stay out of foul trouble himself which was important as were his 31 minutes.
Efficiency:
Estimated Possessions: Hope 61 NCC 64
That's a slow grinding paced game, and considering how quickly it started, the last 30 minutes of this thing was probably played in the 50's. Hello Wisconsin!
Offensive Efficiency: 80.49
This isn't efficient, not at all. In the previous 'games' write-up I mentioned anything under 85 starts to measure offensive ineptness. Yeah, that. But North Central surely played some outstanding defense to get there.
Deffensive Efficiency: 94.01
This is pretty good vs what will likely prove to be a good team. The only bad thing is you held a good team to this number and you didn't win because you were being held to an even lower number.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 24.1% of available offensive rebounds
NCC: 33.3% of available offensive rebounds
The difference is 3 offensive rebounds for NCC on one possession which resulted in a turnover, take away those 3 and this battle was dead even. Ideally both teams would like this to be in the high 30's or better. In the end both teams probably did a good job rebounding all those misses or to put it another way, the advantage in this one didn't come from rebounding.
Moment or Play of the game:
Nate Snuggerud picking up foul #4 at the 10:25 mark of the first half. You can manage a player having 3 with 30 minutes to play but 4 is another story. That really changed everything. I also remember a long NCC possession midway through the 2nd half where they rebounded 3 or 4 misses in a row, it ended up being a long defensive possession. Also Derek Raridon's three with 6 or so to play, essentially iced the game, but not quite.
My game ball goes to:
I thought the re-cap was hard. Shot in the dark and I'll go with Caleb Byers. I heard his name a lot and he stepped in for Snuggerud's absense and apparently did very well.
Standings
Snuggerud - 1
Byers - 1
Going Forward:
Hope challenged itself right off the bat with the two-time defending CCIW champs and Sweet 16 team from a year ago on the road. They didn't win, and that's about it. I know of no other NCAA tournament team that did that. Its great competition to start the season and there will be just a ton of coachable moments from this one and compared to other teams who have yet to play schools with a pulse, they know where they are and where they have to go.
Up Next: Friday Nov 23, vs Cornerstone at DeVos Fieldhouse
Hope hosts the Hall of Fame Classic with Calvin, Aquinas and Cornerstone this year. Cornerstone will be a good test again.
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