Not So Close
Box Score
Recap
I couldn't make it over to see this one and with no video I'm flying blind here. But I think its safe to say this one went pretty similar to last years game up at Stevens Point with Hope having a hard time with Point's athletes and not being able to slow them down enough to keep a game within reach. One or two 5 minute stretches and suddenly its a 20 point game and pretty much over.
The worst thing that probably happened last week was Point losing at St. Olaf. What Hope played Saturday was a team mad about a loss and making a trip to a place they were probably really looking forward to playing, against a team that just played very well against Whitewater. We had their attention.
The first 13 minutes certainly read like a team ambushed by a superior opponent playing at a higher level. It wasn't over early but it was a hole Hope could never quite dig themselves out of. Despite closing within 6 or 7 a couple times in the second half, it never felt like Hope was capable of overtaking the Pointers. Not much later the deficit was 20 and humble pie was being served.
My post-game inquiries to a couple people in attendance used the word sloppy too often, but neither felt Hope had much chance to win this one, unlike the Whitewater game. That's disappointing on some level but Hope just played two opponents very capable of winning the national championship come March. I wouldn't be too down about this one, really all we've learned is Hope probably isn't among D3's elites so far and we probably already knew that.
Efficiency:
Stevens Point 121.9 Hope: 102.6
The real difference here is Hope's inability to create consistent offense and that's mostly from the first half. Hope's scoring rate always felt choppy. In the first half I count only one time Hope made consecutive baskets on consecutive possessions, its last two of the half. There were a few FT trips mixed in but not much chance to build any momentum. That really didn't change much in the second half either.
Points first half was a 130, the second half was 'closer'.
Pace:
64-63 Slightly slower than the Whitewater game and probably closer to Stevens Point's usual style of play. Neither a faster or slower pace probably would have helped Hope much.
Rebounding:
Hope 38 Stevens Point 28
Hope had 50.0% of available offensive rebounds
Whitewater had 34.8% of available offensive rebounds
A bright spot in the game. Point isn't exactly a tall team, neither is Hope but through these two games Hope won this battle pretty convincingly both times. Second chance points was 22-9, a very big reason Hope was able to keep this relatively close rather than being blown out.
Turnovers: Hope 15 Stevens Point 6
Ordinarily 15 turnovers isn't all bad especially against a superior opponent. This difference though is a big reason Point won so handily. Points off turnovers was a pretty significant 19-5 to Stevens Point. I've also had a couple cocked eyebrows at Hope "only having" 15 turnovers.
Random Thoughts:
Maybe Hope was lucky. Between Point shooting poorly from behind the 3-point line and Hope's rebounding advantage Hope might feel a little lucky this wasn't a much more dominating score line. Its hard to find things in the box score that Hope might have done much better against that kind of team.
Fouls. Well yeah its a problem through two games and it was kind of known it would be before we even started. I had a nice foul analysis I never published but Hope has some high foul rate guys, graduated a couple low rate guys from last year, and thus far they've played much of two games with guys sitting on the bench they'd rather not have sitting on the bench. Point ended up with 3 guys in 'foul trouble' but Hope's came much earlier and had a bigger influence on things.
I think most coaches have no problem with fouls coming from aggressive play, those are fine. Its the silly fouls that have to be cleaned up. For example, post players can't commit back court fouls, and you can't pick up your 3rd and 4th fouls disagreeing with refs. Those are silly and affect your ability to play the way you want for the remainder of the game.
Jordan Denham played 15 minutes, scored 14 points and has had more opportunity to show what he can do than at any point in the last couple years. It will be interesting to see where this goes from here but at least he seems to have earned a chance to play more and maybe more important minutes.
Up Next:
Our annual Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Tournament with Cornerstone, Aquinas and Calvin which is nowhere near as fun or as interesting as it used to be, or even a tournament but we keep doing it.
Friday Hope gets Cornerstone in the 6pm game. Around 8:30 you'll find lots of cars heading to Holland full of people weeping at the thought of Kyle Steigenga playing for Hope. Cornerstone will have 8 games under the belt by Friday. Its hard to say right now if they're as good as last years team, 5-2 heading into a game tonight at Sienna Heights. I'd lean towards not quite as good right now but with the potential to reach that level. Last's years Hope/Cornerstone game in box form.
Lineups
G McGlaughlin 5-9 So.
G Wells 6-1 Jr.
G Mason 6-2 Sr.
F Steigenga 6-6 Fr.
F Lanning 6-8 Jr.
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F Cox 6-5 So.
G Pepper 6-7 Sr.
G Readman 6-3 So.
G Blauwkamp 6-2 So.
Cornerstone is an excellent offensive team, shooting the ball at 47% and 40% from the 3-point line, but that includes a couple early blowouts. They're 2-1 so far in 3 close WHAC games and beat NAIA #8 Robert Morris while losing to #1 Indiana Wesleyan. A tad younger than recent versions of the Eagles who have won the last two against Hope in the series.
Saturday its the 8pm game against host Aquinas. The last three against the Saints have been real knuckle dragging games decided very late, with some late heroics including Ben Gardner's late layup and Grant Neil's defense last year. Hope has won 4 in a row against the Saints but the last 3 could have gone the other way.
Aquinas has been kind of meh lately and truthfully I haven't seen them play much over the last 4 years. At least so far they seem improved but I'm not sure it results in any better than a middle of WHAC finish, which is where they've been the last couple years. They're 4-3 with those 3 losses to Western Michigan, NAIA's #1 Indiana Wesleyan and WHAC favorite and top 5 Davenport. All of their wins have been pretty convincing.
Lineups
The Saints have started only one guy in all 7 previous games (Williams) with 10 different guys starting overall. So these are listed by minutes played. I have no idea who they'll start this weekend and I'm not sure it matters.
G Williams 6-0 Sr.
G Shall 5-10 So.
G Bullock 6-0 So.
G Cain 6-0 Jr.
F Ferrici 6-5 Jr.
G Johnson 6-0 Jr.
F Mitzner 6-5 Sr.
F Grant 6-4 Sr.
F Armstrong 6-6 Fr.
F Venema 6-7 Jr.
C Sorenson 6-11 Jr.
F VanBeek 6-4 Jr.
The Saints play a lot of guys for a lot of minutes. All but VanBeek is averaging over 10 and he's at 9. So expect a lot of substitutions and a lot of different lineups. Out of these 12 guys I only remember seeing 3 of them in person, one playing for a different school. So I really know nothing of the Saints.
Between these two games and the next two (Wheaton, Carthage) I feel like Hope has a nice chance to get some wins but none of these 4 is going to be easy and I could see all of these games swinging either way. It would be nice to get some wins and tangible rewards for the hard work heading into exams and another batch of tough games before and after Christmas.
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