Hope started Overway, Seiler, DeMaagd, Snuggerud, Van Arendonk. Alex Eidson and Brock Benson grabbed the majority of the bench minutes. Chris Ray logged the next most from a group of 7 others that felt like a grab bag of substitutions, once again my theory is grasping for defense. Grant Neil and Steven Whittenbach both played their first minutes returning from injuries.
Game Recap:
I didn't do a preview of this weekend because until very early Thursday afternoon the idea of the Mayan Calender thingy being real and ending life on Earth was preferable to having to deal with another day or two of a severe cold. Writing anything just wasn't going to happen. Had I done a preview I would have written something about how I didn't really know what to think of Mississippi College because they are transitioning to D2, have 20 some players on their roster who've spent time at other College's or Junior Colleges, yet despite that were just 4-4 on the season against a pretty 'meh' schedule.I've had two previous experiences with Miss. College, both in the NCAA Tournament. Both times they showed some good athleticism and quickness and it would have been right to assume the same would apply to this years Miss. College team. Those two other times bigger, stronger, more physical mid-western teams were able to counter that advantage by playing good tough defense. To this point Hope has not really shown they can be that kind of defensive team and thus my main worry would have been having a difficult time stopping the Choctaws.
I hate not being able to see these games and truthfully hate even more the idea of trying to recap a game almost completely in the blind. But, for tonight, when the radio guy keeps saying athletic, people texting you saying athletic and you keep seeing 'layup good' in the livestats you start to kind of put it together that Hope was having difficulty with a more athletic team.
The first half of this thing was pretty brutal for Hope and if weren't for Alex Eidson's 13 points and 4 three's off the bench this one could have been pretty ugly. The starting 5 was nearly absent from the stat sheet and its a small miracle Hope was within 4 at the break. Early in the second, Hope turned it around somewhat and grabbed a brief 5 point lead. It was tight for a few minutes before the Choctaws rolled off 15 points in a row to seize the game. The last 6 minutes played out as set of desperate attempts to get back into a game that wasn't going to happen.
These games are tough to figure out, for all I know Mississippi College is the best team Hope's played this year, but there's little evidence to support that. We'll see how their match-up with Illinois Wesleyan goes and maybe they'll put together a good streak of wins and challenge for their conference. But this was a program that went 9-16 last year, was just 4-4 this year and was picked 3rd in their conference division or 5th overall in a 14 team league.
Small World: A conversation with my neighbor a couple weeks ago revealed she was born and raised in Mississippi and a Choctaw Indian. I didn't get into the whole D3 basketball angle on this but needless to say I was bit thrown by that revelation.
Scoring and Interesting Stats
Turnovers: This was one of the few things Hope did well on the night, just 12 in a high possession game.
Free-throw shooting: Terrible! Team FT shooting is always a product of who gets to the line but for a college team to not even stay above 50% is just pretty pathetic. Miss College is a 66% FT team and shot 65% for the game, Hope is a 66% FT team and went 6-19, shoot the avg and that's 6 more points. Six points is the difference between being down 9 with 4 minutes to play and being down 3 with 4 minutes. Its huge. Unfortunately this just isn't going to get better.
I did have to chuckle somewhat when the Choctaws were themselves just 8-17 on the day and proceeded to nail 11 of 12 in the critical last few minutes. Kind of how it goes when you lose games.
Alex Eidson 18 points........the good story continues. Kept Hope in touch at the break.
Billy Seiler 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals......I believe he had a double-digit second half.
Coltan Overway 10 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds.......take it every day of the week.
You may notice a complete lack of big-men, I'm sure Coach Neil notices as well.
Efficiency:
Estimated Number of Possessions: Hope 77 Miss. College 77
High possession game, it was noted numerous times on the radio call that Miss pushed the ball quickly up the floor. This is not usually a pace that bothers Hope teams but Hope got almost nothing in transition themselves.
Offensive Efficiency: 93.48
This is Hope's second lowest offensive number of the season, a good chunk of this is from the last desperate few minutes and a better chunk is from the first 4 or 5 minutes of the game. However most of the negative impact came from a 5 minute stretch late in the game with 9 straight missed shots. Rust from the layoff, lack of transition points, lack of interior play. Take your pick.
Defensive Efficiency: 108.11
Nearly identical to the SAU game, and also nearly identical is that's higher than Miss. College's season performance to date. Four out of Hope's 5 losses their opponent has scored better than their season average and truthfully Covenant and Aquinas probably did as well. Hope's doing a nice job making teams look good. The first half was a pretty poor 127.69.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 37.8% of available offensive rebounds
Miss. Coll: 48.1% of available offensive rebounds
On their own board that's around average, obviously it could have been a little better at the other end. A similar average for the Choctaws would have been just 3 less offensive rebounds though. The second chance points difference was +7 to Miss. College. Between this and FT shooting you're probably allowed to tear your hair out.
Moments or Plays of the Game:
Early in the second half just moments after Hope had taken their first lead Miss. College called timeout and came back with the next 6 points of the game. It was one of the moments that stopped some momentum and maybe prevented a big Hope run.about 11 minutes to 6 minutes to play Hope missed 9 straight shots while Mississippi rolled off 15 straight points to seize control of the game. Amazingly seven different guys missed shots. Ultimately this was the deciding stretch.
My game ball goes to:
Alex Eidson's first half performance was enough to keep Hope in touch otherwise this one could have turned really ugly.Standings
Overway - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Seiler - 1
Snuggerud - 1
Eidson - 1
Going Forward :
This one feels a lot like the Spring Arbor loss only this one hurts more because of the in-region aspect. Hope's now 1-3 in-region with one more non-conference in-region game to go. The margin for error was slim and got slimmer. This probably isn't a team that's getting in the NCAA's without the auto-bid and the NCAA's should be the furthest thing from Hope's mind.These games with teams from far off lands are just hard to digest. There's no comparison, no previous knowledge to go on. You can say things like athletic, quick etc. but in the end 5-4 is sometimes just 5-4 and Hope lost to one of those. Miss. College might go on and have a great season or they might just muddle around at .500 either way its a loss. The light might not shine on this one until much latter in the year.
Friday's match-up with MC/IWU might be a nice comparison and certainly Hope fans will keep an eye on it. But, Saturday will be a much different type of game. More physical, probably slower and one where the front-line needs to step up and perform. IWU in the sights coming off a game where the front-line was mostly m.i.a is not a good place to be. This is a precarious place the Dutchmen have put themselves, they'll need a big effort Saturday.
Defensively this is feeling a lot like the 2011 squad, it was about 3 games into the MIAA season before that team finally started turning the defensive screws. I'd prefer this team doesn't wait that long.
Up Next: All of Us vs The Mayan Calender
Saturday: Hope vs Illinois Wesleyan, 3pm Orlando, Florida
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