Hope 75 Trine 61

(I've pretty much decided to only do a review of the weeks games once and combine them into one long post.  But Hope/Calvin games probably deserve their own space so I'll do two this week and in 4 weeks.)

box score

If you read the MIAA preview I wrote last week you probably guessed I didn't think much of Trine's non-conference schedule.  To me, I think it was pretty clear Hope would be the best team they had played and probably by a lot so this score shouldn't be to surprising.

Through the magic of the internet I was more focused on watching Adrian/Olivet and Kalamazoo/Albion.  So I actually only passively listened to this one.

Since this was another game I didn't see, I'll keep it brief.


Note:  Hope started Brock Benson and Nate VanArendonk together.  This isn't the first time and if you've strung together some of Matt Neil's comments since about early November he's mentioned 'versatility' and 'we have options' a number of times.  This is pretty much what he's talking about.  This front-line I'm sure caused a couple match-up problems for the Thunder.  It will be good for some opponents, not so good for others.

Efficiency:

Estimated number of possessions:  Hope 65  Trine 66
Standard

Offensively Efficiency:  116.28

This becomes Hope's second best performance of the season and excellent.  Trine had given up eff's of 110+ to all 4 good teams they've played.

Defensive Efficiency:  92.39

Also to this point Hope's 2nd best performance of the year.  Trine had been pretty good offensively against that soft schedule for the most part with a few games where they clearly struggled.


Rebounding Efficiency:

Hope:  32.0% of available offensive rebounds
Trine: 37.5% of available offensive rebounds

2nd Chance points:  Trine 14 Hope 13

I've harped on this a couple times the last couple years, the greatest difference between Trine and Hope/Calvin has been rebounding.  The next leap they need to make to reach that level maybe.  This is probably the first time they've won this battle recently against these opponents.

Basketball is a lot more than just rebounding of course, but Hope was a little lucky here to have won so convincingly while losing this battle.  Obviously there were a number of other things that were bigger factors, one guess would be defense.  The other would be a deeper bench, and Hope had 30 bench points to Trine's 10.


Game Score:  I'm going to scrap game score.  One, because I'm tired of figuring it out.  Two, I'm not sure its all that helpful.

So......Other Interesting Stats.

Assists:
Hope recorded 18 assists on 27 made baskets.  That's excellent.

It's an Indiana thing I can't possibly understand:
Trine's Fr. pg Will Dixon had been Trine's leading scorer 4 times previously and in recent games had scored 16, 14, 13 in the 3 games leading up to Thursday.  I guess if Ben Gardner runs across an Indiana guy it becomes some sort of personal challenge.  I don't know if it was all specifically Gardner v. Dixon but Hope held him to 5 points on just 2-12 shooting.  Since being inserted as the starting pg, that's the best anyone has defended him.

Going Forward: 

Hope continues another one of those long streaks that don't always makes sense.  Since joining the league, Trine has never beaten Hope.  That streak is up to 23 now.

Short turn around for Saturday's contest at Calvin.  A little early in the proceedings for my taste but no time like the present.  (insert lots of comments about questions, things to watch, slaying lions etc.....except I'm writing this Sunday morning the day after)

Up Next:  ?

Saturday, Jan. 11  at Calvin