Hope 82 Kalamazoo 55

Box Score

Hope started Gardner, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk.  The bench was everybody who dressed played.  Denham, DeMaagd, Benson and Neil the primary guys.  There were quite a few lineups out there tonight I didn't recognize as having played much together.  It was just that kind of game.


Game Recap:

For a brief 5 minutes last night it looked like we might get an 'old school' Hope-Kalamazoo game as the Hornets came roaring out of the locker room to grab an early 8 point lead.  By the 15 minute mark it was Kalamazoo leading 14-8, over the next 10 minutes the Hornets missed their next 12 fg attempts, turned the ball over 5 times and proceed to go 1-6 from the free-throw line.  Hope did some good things on defense in this stretch but this was a pretty brutal stretch of play from Kzoo.

On the other end Hope had settled down offensively and was clinically breaking down the defense with a stretch of 10-14 shooting to grab what would be a commanding lead of 29-15, it was a 21-1 stretch.  14 of those 21 points were scored by the Freshmen Gardner, Eidson, Benson with  Jordan Denham getting a nice assist in there as well.

Halftime came and went with Hope leading 40-22, it really felt like a 'name your score' kind of game.  I give Kalamazoo's guys a ton of credit for coming out and playing about as hard as I've seen a team play this year.   For about 10 minutes of the second half the Hornets kept the game pretty reasonable getting as close as 12 but another stretch of scoreless play put the Hornets down +20 and it was pretty much over as they played out the final minutes.  By the end the Hornets were visibly frustrated with their performances and probably the season in general.  Its been a fruitless stretch of 6 game in a row now.

Overall this game was a little sloppy at times and Hope was not the crisp passing, ball control focused team I saw on Saturday.  It's hard to get up emotionally to play a team you've beaten once by 30 so I'm sure there was a little of that going on.  Hope took care of business the way they needed to and other than 5 or 6 minutes this one was really not in much doubt.


Streak?  32 games in a row over the Hornets.  125 year old leagues like the MIAA have a lot of years behind them to develop a little animosity between rivals.  I don't think that animosity has ever really left this series its just difficult to see sometimes when one team is so dominant.  This particular Hope rivalry has lost a little edge in recent years, crowds are way down, esp. in Kalamazoo where Hope fans used to pack the place to the chagrin of the Hornet faithful.  Kzoo hasn't beaten Hope in basketball or football since 1998, that doesn't help.  Hope joined this league in 1926, they played the Hornets regularly in most sports going back to the beginning of Hope athletics.  In basketball this is the most played series in the MIAA, now at 199 games. Hope's dominated since 1978 the year Glenn VanWieren took over to the tune of 69-9, enough to swing what was a close 63-58 series record to 132-67.

My academic adviser at Hope my Freshmen and Sophomore year was recently inducted into the Kalamazoo Athletics Hall of Fame.  This helps explain some things. I guess.  Maybe.

The 'A' Crew.  For some reason this game was officiated by Jim Schipper, Kevin Kooiker and Mike Brya.  Schipper has been a regular official in the Big Ten this year, Kooiker and Brya are probably among the best 5 in the whole state.  For the record it was the Big Ten guy who blew his whistle the most, or it seemed that way.  Not sure what circumstances led to this crew being assigned this game, it was a pretty big surprise when those 3 made their appearance.

Kalamazoo is the last MIAA team I've had the chance to see live.  I can see how they've been able to stay mostly competitive with everyone but Hope and Calvin.  Those teams are just much taller and overall bigger than the Hornets.  They competed hard on the boards last night but in the end its just really tough for them to defend the interior with any stretch of success against those two teams.  Not their best match-up.


Scoring and Interesting Stats:

Turnovers:  21 each.  Hope was pretty sloppy with the ball a few times and the passing was definitely a notch or two below the last couple games I've witnessed.  It was kind of a weird one where Hope had good ball movement and made several great passes for assists, yet several others that were pretty bad.  That kind of game I guess.

Free-throws:  Again I get to pick on the other guys.   Kzoo was 8-21 at the line.   C'mon man!!!   Can't wait to see the ft stats from Saturday's Kzoo/Albion contest.   63% v 62% in league play.  Woof.

Fg shooting:  Hope didn't quite have the emphasis of going inside to their big guys tonight but they still scored many baskets at close range.  Two more halves at 50% or better making this 4 game stretch now look like this  66, 54, 31, 68, 63, 74, 63, 50.  Continuing that stretch through Saturday is a tall order, but yes please.

Alex Eidson:  14 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds......his 10 point 2nd half kind of made sure of the victory.

Ben Gardner:  13 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals.......'Hoosiers for Hope', seriously glad Ben chose Hope.

Nate VanArendonk:  8 points, 2 rebounds.........pretty quiet day from the big guys who truthfully weren't really needed.  Did some nice things in relatively few minutes

Brock Benson:  8 points......not many touches in the post, may have scored on all 4. 

Billy Seiler:  7 points........an otherwise pretty quiet night, probably spent most of the night guarding Eric Fishman

Grant Neil:  7 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists........really good night contributing in different ways, probably some on defense I don't realize.


Efficiency:

Estimated number of possessions:  Hope 81  Kzoo 78

Kzoo made no attempt to slow this game from the first time which was somewhat surprising.

Offensive Efficiency:  101.8

Not the most efficient night despite shooting over 50%, the culprit here is the 21 turnovers which were all legitimate in the flow of the game turnovers and not just garbage time.  Turnovers though were only 1 or 2 above their season turnover rate.   Also a less than average night of offensive rebounding contributed.

Defensive Efficiency:  70.54

This is what happens when you turn it over 21 times and shoot 35% from the floor.  It wasn't just Kzoo missing wide open shots all night either, Hope did some nice things challenging shots and had 12 steals.  This was Hope's lowest defensive efficiency on the season.  Except for the internet game, Kzoo now has the lowest 2 efficient games against Hope this year. 

Saturday against Calvin, Kzoo's efficiency was 65.32.  Some of the frustration that came out for Kzoo during the game is now explained, that's a bad couple games of offense in 5 days.

Rebounding Efficiency:

Hope:  30.8% of available offensive rebounds
Kzoo:  31.6% of available offensive rebounds

Second game in a row where this is mostly a meaningless metric.   For the most part though Hope had several really good efforts on the boards, that may just be my shaded glasses though.  This didn't feel like much of an advantage for either team, which is probably a win for Kzoo.  In Holland this was 41% to 14% so big improvement for Kzoo.

Concern for Saturday:  Hope hasn't been very good on the offensive glass the last 3 games, partly because they've shot so well.  Saturday they won't shoot as well so there will be more rebounds to get after.  


Moments or Keys to the Game:

The big first half scoreless run by Kzoo over 10 minutes of  21-1 for Hope was pretty much the decisive run of the game.

A second run of 16-2 to Hope later in the second made sure of the outcome.


My Game Ball Goes To:

Alex Eidson and Ben Gardner each had pretty big influences on this one.  Ben in the 1st half, Alex in the 2nd and both with bits and pieces of good play throughout.

Cripes, we just completed game 22 and I'm having a hard time picking between two outstanding Freshmen on who had the better game and I can't decide.  What a terrible problem.  I'm giving this one to Grant Neil, he deserves it.


Standings
Snuggerud - 5
Overway - 4
VanArendonk -  2
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1   
Benson - 1
Neil -1


Going Forward: 

Kalamazoo at Albion for last place maybe, never thought I would see that.

Saturday we religiously gather in our cathedral of basketball for the second service of our otherwise drab winter malaise.  Families, friends, relatives will stand side by side and across the aisles.  The congregations will speak their displeasure for their adversary with forked tongues and wicked gestures, in as polite a way as possible.  Around the country pilgrims will gather at watering holes and sip their wine and talk of days of worship past, while satellites beam the service for all to witness.  The masses will tune their ears towards the hardwood floor as the sermon of basketball is delivered for 2 glorious hours.  Time will pass and history will write itself in this wonderful book of competition and rivalry.

I didn't particularly care for the last sermon, it was a little too preachy, a little to truthful.  I'm hoping this one stands a little taller, reads of inspiring words from chapters deep within the good book of rivalry.  The shepherds have been called to slay the lion.  I care not if others feel the lion has prayed on the weak and the sick.  A lion is still a lion. I bore witness to the beasts ferocity, its lust for blood.  It stalked its pray with a cold icy stare and pounced without hesitation. It tore into the flesh, touched its soul and spoke in its deep haunting voice "not today shepherd, not today".  Mothers shielded their children's eyes from the horror.  It was a gruesome, gruesome scene.

Three weeks have passed, the dead have been mourned, the memories linger.  Many battles won, some were lost, casualties were taken.  Thunder was muffled, Scots stifled, Bulldogs muzzled, Britons beaten, Hornets swatted.  Ah, but the lion still stalks, still hungers, still rules this kingdom.  The shepherd stands to guard its pasture, this flock of caffeine intoxicated followers.  The grey, overcast skies approach on the horizon, trumpets call in the distance.  Will the shepherd stand tall, will the lion claim another lame and weak victim?  When this book is closed, another chapter written, the final hymn of celebration sung by the victor, the followers will exit the great cathedral wondering only if the final trumpet on this season of worship has sounded.  Is there another chapter to write?

Yes my friends, yes!  Its time to worship in this holy church of rivalry again.


Up Next:  Me vs finding any way possible to avoid thinking about last time, while constantly thinking about last time.......think happy thoughts, happy thoughts

Saturday, February 9   Calvin at Hope  DeVos Cathedral