Just one game to look at this week as Hope's Saturday game with Kalamazoo was postponed to Monday and then postponed to next Monday. This is what happens when you wait for the completion of a postponed game that gets postponed again.
I was remembering that not that long ago I drove to every Hope game home and away on clear roads and seemingly clear skies. Though that's probably not 100% accurate but this winter has been a stark contrast to seasons past. This 90 miles difference between home and Hope might as well be 900.
Hope 93 Alma 82
box score
This was a weird game, it was 33-30 at the half and I remember thinking to myself while watching the video broadcast that this was nothing like the game I expected. Both teams seemed to come into this determined to play defense, maybe determined to control tempo. Neither team shot the ball great in the first half and Hope continued their slump from behind the arc making just 1 in 6 attempts.
After striking out on their first three second half possessions Hope scored points on its next 8 and found a little cushion in a 9 point lead. Midway through the half a couple threes from Eidson and Gardner extended the long stretch of offensive success and Hope led by 14. Alma didn't quit and battled that lead back down to 5 with just over 7 minutes to play. Again though Hope expanded their lead with the help of 3-point shots by Neil and Stuive and Alma would never threaten again.
In between all these 3-point shots was Alex Eidson finding his shooting touch again and Nate Van Arendonk dominating a game like a 6-10 D3 center should. Alma couldn't handle VanArendonk and it was easy layup or get fouled almost every second half touch. His inside presence forced Alma's defensive hand a little as they struggled to double the post and left Hope open from the arc. The streaky Dutchmen connected on 6-7 second half three's a very large reason the Dutchmen were able to win this game.
Streak With this win we're up to 41 consecutive wins over the Scots. Last win for Alma was 1998. This has been the MIAA's most lopsided series with Hope winning all but 4 meetings since the second meeting of 1981.
3-point shooting streak: At the end of the first-half Hope was 1-6 from beyond the arc, combined with their previous two games they shot 13.9% or 5-36 in those 5 consecutive halves. Brutal.
Tough week ahead: With the Kalmazoo game being moved out to next Monday Hope is now given a pretty tough 8 day stretch of Trine, Kzoo, Calvin and Albion. Navigating that unscathed will be a tall order. The one saving grace is that after the trip to Angola Saturday Hope's at home for the next 3, so no late bus rides to add to the fatigue. Wobbly legs towards the ends of the Calvin and Albion games could be a concern.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 74 Alma 73
It ends up at the pace that's probably near average for Alma. The second half was closer to a pace of about 80 possessions for a full game.
Offensively Efficiency: 126.32
This ends up being Hope's highest point total and highest efficiency of the season. What makes this unusual is that the first half was only a 93. The second half Hope scored at a rate of 156. You can pretty much count the number of second half Alma defensive stops using very few fingers.
Defensive Efficiency: 111.95
Hope held Alma to a first half efficiency of just 86, which is excellent. A little disappointing Hope wasn't able to capitalize that effort into a bigger lead. The game opened up quite a bit in the second half and Alma scored at a rate of 135. A little different execution here and there and this might have been a different result.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 34.8% of available offensive rebounds
Alma: 35.7% of available offensive rebounds
2nd Chance points: Hope 12 Alma 10
Pretty much even though I think you'd expect Hope to have won this battle by a wider margin than 32-30. Hope shot 65% from the floor in the second half, just not many opportunities for rebounds.
Other Interesting Stats:
Free-throw shooting: 74% Hope hasn't been in too many games where they've had to salt away a lead from the stripe in the final minutes. Hope made 9-10 in the last minute and a half.
Going Forward:
Getting out of Alma with a win seems like a good thing these days. Those Scots don't ever quit, put you in tough one-on-one situations and just seem to play hard right to the end. They've already scalped Albion at Kresge and could very well get a couple more wins against the league semi-final participants.
A sort of normal week ahead with Adrian at home Wednesday followed by an important trip to Trine on Saturday. At this point it really seems like its about getting to that Calvin game next Wednesday with just the one conference loss.
Me vs: setting fire to all the snow
Wednesday: Adrian at DeVos Fieldhouse
Saturday: @ Trine
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