Box Score
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Byers, Benson. Bench minutes were pretty equal at around 10 minutes between Ray, Gardner, Snuggerud, Holwerda, Wittenbach, Neil, VanArendonk. Really isn't much more to say is there.
Game Recap:
Somewhere on this blog thingy when talking about MIAA predictions I mentioned something about maybe seeing a little history made. This was not what I had in mind.
Hope got punked last night in a way I'm not sure I've ever seen, this was Hope's worst loss to Calvin since 1990. That day it was Steve Honderd, Bill Sall and bits and pieces of a future National Championship team a couple years away destroying all Hope (I kill me) 95-68 in an NCAA game. I was there and it was as much fun as it looks. The 49 points was the fewest Hope's scored against Calvin since 1952, that's 61 years. My mom was 7. Also the first year Queen Elizabeth of England was actually a Queen.
Calvin had a laser like focus tonight you usually don't see until the post-season. It began on the defensive end where Calvin stoned Hope for the first 6 1/2 minutes with zero fg's. Colton Overway finally hit one to make it 14-5, 40 seconds later Nate Snuggerud hit a 3 to cut the lead to 9, that was the last time it was under double-digits with 12 minutes still to play in the first half.
The Knights defense was so good every first-half Hope fg almost felt like a mistake, between those mistakes were numerous multiple possessions where Hope got nothing but shots blocked, balls stolen, turnovers and missed shots. Before to long the route was already on and the scoreboard revealed the painful truth, 43-19 and might have, should have been worse.
I'm not sure what you say to a team at halftime that's been so thoroughly whipped, it seems about all you can do is challenge your guys to compete, which Hope did. Hope came out the 2nd half and really pressured Calvin, trapping them a little and finally forcing some difficult shots. Hope's brightest, and only bright moment of play was a 12-2 run to start the half which brought the deficit down to 14. Within a couple minutes though it was back above 20 and really the last 10 minutes became about playing out the clock.
For a 20 point game there was still lots of good play, Tom Snikkers and Bryan Powell stroked shots with confidence and abandon like I really haven't seen them do in their 3 previous years at Calvin. Both teams seemed to take personal offense to anyone trying to score near the basket, there were several good blocks by both teams and good hard physical play. Remarkably Hope had to score the final 8 points to get the deficit to 26.
This one should sting.
There are only about maybe 5 D3 teams that could have competed with Calvin's first half. As if the stifling defense wasn't enough to contend with the Knights simply shot lights-out hovering around 60% for most of the half. I'm really not sure it had much to do with how Hope was or wasn't defending them. Sometime teams just have it and Calvin had it.
Hope's front-line was pretty much m.i.a. in this one. Between Snuggerud, Benson and VanArendonk it was 5 points and 5 rebounds combined. Only 6 shots attempted and one of those was a 3 pointer. Even if I'm generous and throw in Caleb Byers it was 9 and 9. If there's anything that could torpedo Hope's season its this, its a little embarrassing.
That 17 game road winning streak came to an end, I still believe no one has ever done that. It's 19 wins counting the two MIAA semi-final wins at Calvin in 2010.
The two most comparable losses that came to mind were the 2009 UW-Platteville NCAA game when Hope lost by 24 in a terrible mis-match and mis-seeding. In 2005 Hope lost at home to Albion 68-44 in the last time those two teams would play at the Holland Civic Center. Neither one of those two games saw a 24 point halftime deficit.
Big losses are pretty few and far between for Hope, in the 23 years I've been watching I can only recall maybe a handful.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
FT's: Hate'em. It reared its ugly head in this one again with Hope going just 14-23. Seven of those misses came from guys who shoot 80 and 78 percent even after tonight. Evidence that some nights its just not yours.
About the only positive from this ugly box-score is that the 2nd half was mostly even, that is if you completely ignore that Hope had to score the last 8 points to make it so.
Colton Overway: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists........seemed to be the only guy able to get loose and get open for a shot.
air
well almost,
Josh Holwerda: 8 points, 3 rebounds..........had a nice put-back dunk off a missed layup. For having not played much this year he played well in his 10 minutes.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 66 Calvin 67
Calvin controlled the pace throughout this one, it was probably heading for the mid 70's but the Knights used most of the last 10 minutes to run the shot-clock. The first half was pretty deliberate with just 30 possessions each. Hope tried, with some success, to force the 2nd half pace.
Offensive Efficiency: 74.33
Hope's lowest output of the year beating their opening night performance at North Central. The first half was in the 60's which is just brutal. Second half only 80, which is also actually brutal. Calvin's done something like this to 5 other teams this year, Grace Bible, North Park, Kzoo, Wabash and Anderson, not great company.
Defensive Efficiency: 112.78
This is the 2nd highest of the season (Cornerstone), the first half was 135, the second 91. I really didn't see much about Hope's defense that was the first half culprit, Calvin just shot the ball great.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 27.3% of available offensive rebounds.
Calvin: 48.4% of available offensive rebounds.
I was really hoping Hope could be more competitive on the boards. I expected them to lose this battle because Calvin really is an excellent rebounding team. They really had their way in the first half which was 62-22, so Hope did sort of better the 2nd half. Second chance points was a whopping 19-5 advantage to Calvin.
That was all kind of depressing.
Moments or Keys to the Game:
Everything Calvin did pretty much turned to gold, but the first 5 minutes laid the foundation for their great first half. They just kept feeding off the defensive success and it eventually snowballed into something Hope couldn't control.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Colton Overway played really hard and gave a great effort. I don't know how many times he hit the floor but it always seemed to be hard.
Standings
Overway - 4
Eidson - 2
Snuggerud - 2
Seiler - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Gardner - 1
Going Forward:
I suppose in the long history of this rivalry Hope's been way overdue for something like this. In 23 years of seeing most of these I'm not so sure I've seen a Calvin team play so well at both ends of the floor for one half. I don't think I'm kidding when I say it could have been worse, they had 9 turnovers and still scored 43 with a 24 point lead.
This creates clear division between the leader and 'the rest' in the MIAA, a category Hope falls into with last nights performance. Hope can still make this interesting by winning their next 6 and making the return visit to Holland a chance to tie for the league lead. That seems a lot less likely after last night, Hope is clearly the more vulnerable team to the odd loss to someone else.
Saturday the next 'someone else' is Olivet and it won't be easy. Hope should be battered and bruised mostly in the ego and I think the Comets might give them more than they'd like. I've watched Olivet twice, Hope should physically pound them but coming off a loss like this and my memory of last years near debacle in that same gym, I'm really not sure that will happen. This could be a dangerous game, more dangerous than I'd like.
Up Next: In the perfect timing category, a 30 pack of Hamm's Special Light is on-sale at Meijer's this week....."From the clear blue waters". I won't lie, it was tempting.
Saturday, Jan 19 Hope at Olivet
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