Hope 77 Cornerstone 64
box
recap
Aquinas 72 Hope 68
box
recap
Last weekends action saw Hope split its Hall of Fame Classic games with Cornerstone and Aquinas but not in the way you probably anticipated. Friday Hope played a terrific second half to upend Cornerstone 77-64, a score that is not indicative of the 4-5 point, back and forth game it was for about 30 minutes.
Saturday I watched Auburn-Alabama and dreamed of a world in which Nick Sabin or Gus Malzahn get tired of coaching in a good football conference and take the Michigan job. When I woke up, Aquinas beat Hope and the first numbers that stood out was the nearly 20 turnovers and shooting percentage that dipped below 30% in the second half.
Its difficult what to make of Cornerstone and Aquinas. Neither is going to win the WHAC, that will likely be their city neighbors Davenport. Cornerstone is good but not as good or as deep as recent versions. Aquinas is for sure better than the hodge-podge of players that have taken the court since their run of four WHAC titles that ended in 2009.
A split wasn't a bad thing, but it should sting a bit given the win Friday and the fact just a couple minutes of better basketball on Saturday results in a second win. Overall the classic was split evenly with everyone getting a ribbon, something to feel good about and a loss to motivate for the future.
Sturrus Center
This was my first look inside Aquinas's version of the Michigan small college basketball arms race. I guess its been 4 or 5 years since it happened and its very nice and a great departure from the old gym. It always felt like playing basketball in a warehouse with odd pieces of sports equipment shoved into the dark corners.
I can't remember which came first DeVos Fieldhouse or Cornerstone's Mol Arena, but what has resulted from building those palaces is a collection of brand new, trying to one up the other guy gymnasiums. Calvin, Alma, Olivet have all built new facilities from the MIAA with cosmetic changes at Albion and Kalamazoo, while Davenport built a new place when it popped up out of a Kent County corn field. We've got some great places to watch basketball now, and as far as small colleges go, Hope, Calvin, Aquinas and Cornerstone are right at the top of that list.
New look lineup
Friday night Hope started Chad Carlson at PG which moved Ben Gardner to the 2nd guard and Alex Eidson to the 3rd guard. It was probably a match-up move against Cornerstone's 5-9 PG Michael McGlaughlin. Cornerstone was a mirror image to Hope in terms of size and depth so it made sense. Saturday they used the same lineup, I wasn't there to ask but I assume because it went well the night before.
My initial thought is this is either a staff trying to find what works, or a staff that will mix and match their parts and pieces as they see fit. I'd be leaning to the latter at the moment given the 2nd half substitution patterns. Whatever the reason its still pretty clear Hope is in the feeling out process between their on court talent and their new coach.
Congratulations to Coach Mitchell on his first of what I guess will be many Hope wins. Hope's schedule got a lot tougher this week when Ohio Wesleyan beat Calvin last week then pretty much demolished Wooster at Wooster without actually demolishing them. Hope has 7 non-conference games remaining, and probably 5 teams of those are looking at the NCAA tournament or were in the tournament last year. When that's over you get to start the MIAA with Trine, Calvin and Albion.
Hope 77 Cornerstone 64
Efficiency:
Hope 118.01 Cornerstone 97.93
Hope was highly efficient, especially in the second half when Hope stayed out of foul trouble for really the first time this year. Brock Benson saw extended minutes and was a big difference maker at both ends of the floor especially defensively against Cornerstone's Kyle Steigenga. Kyle had 15 first half points but only 8 the second half with Brock in the paint area. Cornerstone bogged down offensively and Hope was able to pull away eventually.
Pace:
65-65 beautiful tempo all night.
Rebounding:
Hope 28 Cornerstone 38
Hope had 20.0% of available offensive rebounds
Cornerstone had 39% of available offensive rebounds
Hope didn't do well here partly because they didn't do so well and partly because Cornerstone is credited with 4 more "team" rebounds. This was actually mostly even with regards to offensive rebounds.
Turnovers: Hope 7 Cornerstone 15
The primary reason Hope wins this game is taking care of the basketball and getting some transition opportunities themselves. Some of these were dogged, determined defensive efforts like Dante Hawkins showed 3 or 4 times diving on the floor. Points off turnovers was 15-2 to Hope.
Hope's bench scored 23 points led by Steve Wittenbach and Cody Stuive. The two combined to shoot 7-10 and score 18 of those points. Another little difference in the game.
Aquinas 72 Hope 68
Efficiency:
Hope 94.67 Aquinas 99.38
Both teams under 100 usually means it wasn't very pretty. I was able to follow most of the second half and there was a long stretch of 9 minutes where Hope had one FG and about 6 turnovers as a 6 point lead became a 7 point deficit.
Pace:
72-72 Fourteen more possessions than the night before, probably all of them empty.
Rebounding:
Hope 33 Aquinas 39
Hope had 33% of available offensive rebounds
Aquinas had 38% of available offensive rebounds
This wasn't the reason Hope lost but it didn't help. Two nights in a row being out-rebounded is never good this is certainly an area of needed improvement. 2nd chance points was 12-8 to AQ, so maybe
Turnovers: Hope 18 Aquinas 15
Points off turnovers was just 20-14 to AQ but this played a key part in turning the game in the Saints favor. This and an offense that went silent for almost a quarter of the game.
Up Next:
Hope heads across Lake Michigan with its late November early December travel partner Calvin for the 11th MIAA/CCIW Challenge with Wheaton and Carthage. This is the third time Carthage has hosted this event. Hope is 1-3 with all 4 games decided by less than 6 points in Tarble Arena.
Friday night at 8pm cst. Hope plays the host Carthage(3-3). The Red Men are a bit of an enigma so far with a good win against UW-Platteville and wins against Northwestern MN and 1 point win over UC-Santa Cruz. On the bad side 2 double-digit losses to St. Francis and UW-LaCrosse while getting pulverized by 35 against WashU. They were picked an eyebrow raising 7th in the CCIW.
Probable lineup:
G Logan 5-11 Sr.
G Kjeldsen 6-3 Jr.
G Herth 6-2 Sr.
F Van Wyk 6-6 Sr.
C Kastel 6-8 Sr.
-------------------------
G Matthews 6-3 Jr.
F McNellis 6-6 So.
G Olsen 6-1 Jr.
G/f Stevenson 6-4 So.
G/f Valentine 6-4 Jr.
Another mirror image of Hope team with lots of guards and little front-line depth. Carthage's season box is pretty even with their opponents, nothing really stands out except ft%. I wouldn't expect a repeat of last year's 22 point win by Hope.
Saturday Hope gets the quick turnaround game at 1pm cst against Wheaton. Wheaton(4-2) is coming off what is probably going to be considered an impressive win over Chicago 62-51. Their two losses are to HCAC challenger Defiance and undefeated WashU. They also have a win over MIAA Olivet that was ugly for the Comets.
Probable lineup:
G B. Teuscher 6-3 Sr.
G DeMoss 6-0 Sr.
F P. Smith 6-3 Sr.
F L. Miller 6-4 Jr
F Berg 6-6 Jr.
-------------------------------
F J. Smith 6-6 Jr.
G Dillard 6-4 Fr.
G Berntsen 6-0 Jr.
G R. Teuscher 6-3 Jr.
This is basically the same Wheaton team we've seen the last two years minus all-american Tyler Peters and post player Nate Haynes. Probably still a pretty good team and should be right in the mix for the top spots in the CCIW. The Thunder shoot the ball well overall and 40% from the 3 line. Statistically almost identical to Cornerstone.
Ideal would be two wins but the way this challenge has gone in the past I would probably be happy with just one. Hope is just 2-8 in its five previous trips across the lake in this event.
No comments:
Post a Comment