Its About Time
Calvin 83 Hope 77
Box
Recap
Recent Hope/Calvin games have been anything but what most of us have come to expect from these games. In the previous 7 games these two have played, 5 had been decided by double-digits with the lowest of those being 18. Very un-Hope/Calvin like. On Wednesday the duel was more familiar and frankly refreshing.
For a little over 3/4's of this game both teams were shooting over 50% from the floor and both hovered around 50% from the 3-point line. Much of the evening was a lot of back-and-forth with both teams seeming to top each others great shots typically right after the other. Neither team could ever get a big lead with the largest being Hope by 5, Calvin by 7. This one was played in a pretty tight range of margin which made it very enjoyable to watch.
In a game such as this some might think the defense was poor but I didn't think so, I thought it was really good. For the most part it took a lot of effort for either team to score, its just that the game was played at such a high level offensively for such a long time. Ultimately though it was defense that carried the Knights to this win.
From 6:21 mark to 1:27 Hope had zero field goals. A 3-point lead became a 6-point deficit. All Hope could manage was a couple of missed 3-point attempts and two large empty trips to the FT line. On the other end Jordan Brink completed a 3-point play which was some kind of mess of shot that went in that put Calvin up 3, their first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game time. It was a lead the Knights wouldn't give up.
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Little Things:
That nearly 5 minute stretch of Hope going without a FG kind of typified Hope's 4 really close losses this year (Whitewater, Wooster, at Trine and now Calvin). Within that stretch was 2 missed FT's, one of them the front of a one-for-one. That's 3 critical points left on the floor. Most importantly though was allowing Calvin 3 possessions with an offensive rebound. The Knight capitalized on all three resulting in 7 points. Those are stops that have to be converted. All 4 of these games have something similar, whether its a turnover, missed FT or rebound at the wrong time. Small things like these are what's keeping Hope from being 18-3 and a virtual lock for the post-season.
Efficiency:
Hope 119.29 Calvin 128.04
Pretty solid evidence of how the offenses ruled the day. The splits for Hope were 132-102, also evidence of how Calvin's late game defense won the game. Calvin's splits were 123-131. From about eleven minutes on Calvin failed to score some kind of points on only 2 or 3 possessions.
Pace:
65-65 Pretty high score for average game possessions, very high quality offensive game I thought.
Rebounding:
Hope 32 Calvin 33
Hope had 34%% of available offensive rebounds
Calvin had 36% of available offensive rebounds
The margin here is hidden, 3 big offensive rebounds in the final 5 minutes resulting in 7 points for Calvin won this game. 2nd chance points was 12-14
Statistically its about as even as a game can be played and for me its just a shining example of the little things Hope hasn't been able to do late in their close losses.
Purpled Walls Special
Hope 70 Albion 64
Box
Recap
Saturday Hope played at Albion a team that is a mere shadow of its non-conference self. Jody May became so desperate for answers he's move Jordan Herron and Corey Wheeler to the bench. Around Christmas those two guys were the Britons leading scorers.
Its going to be very cliche of me but this was the usual kind of Hope at Kresge Gym game we've come to expect. Albion plays a gritty, tough, intense game and it takes Hope awhile to finally match the effort. When they do they make enough shots to eek out a win, when they don't they get clobbered (see last year). Hope didn't get clobbered Saturday.
Adversity comes in many forms and this one was so full of it its hard to talk about all of them. Let's start with Harrison Blackledge who spent almost all of this game on the bench. Coming off back-to-back impressive 20+ point performances seeing Harrison pick-up two quick fouls early was disconcerting at least. One of those fouls Harrsion received for having his jersey grabbed by an Albion player, a small example of the all-star officiating crew that afternoon. With Harrison benched and a complete non-factor in the game Hope needed someone to step up big time.
One of those players was Brock Benson who tortured the Britons on the baseline in the second half. Brock was dominating this game when he had to come out with a split lip, just another thing Hope had to overcome on this day. The hero might have been Steve Wittenbach who played an excellent all around game I thought and rescued what would have been a poor 3-point shooting day for the team by going 3-4. His 3's a little shy of midway through the second half gave Hope some separation they enjoyed for most of the rest of the game.
The typical crazy hard play Albion comeback appeared with a few minutes to go as the Britons tried desperately to rally. A kind of prayer 3 by Zach Hurt with :30 seconds to play was the first time the margin was within one possession in 12 minutes. Hope overcame all of it and survived another trip to Kresge which is always a deep breathe kind of moment.
Time out of the Year:
With :30 to play Hope leading by 3 Albion pressuring the back-court. Hope in a desperate attempt to get the ball across the line flips it to Brock Benson who stumbles and falls to the ground, catches the ball and slides across the floor. Greg Mitchell calls timeout as all of this is happening which was awarded. I don't know if this is the correct call, Albion assistant Michael Thomas certainly didn't think so. But it preserved possession which Hope later cashed in for FT's that resulted in salting away the game.
The odd thing for me is I saw this very same play in a Medaille-Pitt-Bradford game I tuned into earlier this winter for all of 4 plays. Three air balls and this very same sliding across the floor with the ball and timeout from the coach. Its either genius or maddening, I don't know which. Either way its a heck of a heads-up play from the sideline.
Efficiency:
Hope 122.16 Albion 112.97
I like what Hope did on offense a lot. They were very efficient and scored 70 points in a game they attempted only 40 shots, just 19 in the second half. They were especially aggressive getting to the basket in the 2nd half which resulted in twice as many trips to the free-throw line as the Britons(20-10).
I did not like Hope's defensive performance though blaming it on defense probably isn't fair. This was probably Albion's best offensive game in awhile in terms of efficiency, they've been pretty dreadful in the league in fact. As you'll see in a minute Hope simply allowed Albion too many 2nd bites at the apple.
Not a great week defensively for Hope.
Pace:
57-57 Very low even for this years Albion but it was their best chance to win against Hope. Watching the game it didn't feel this slow.
Rebounding:
Hope 27 Albion 30
Hope had 34.8%% of available offensive rebounds
Albion had 44% of available offensive rebounds
This might not look like it but Hope was mauled on Albion's offensive end. Albion had 15 offensive rebounds to Hope's 19 defensive rebounds. Somehow 2nd chance points was only 5-10 to the Britons but that has to be wrong. This is what Albion did so well in the non-conference season and its what keeps their floundering offense above water. Hope simply didn't do a good enough job here.
Turnovers:
Simply a general statement of the league season. Hope's doing an pretty ok job with turnovers. The MIAA remains a pretty ridiculous low turnover league, but Hope is on the negative side of the turnover margin game by -26. Hope's not creating enough steals in league play with just 49 so far, tied for league low. Hope's last 4 opponents have committed 8, 7, 7 and 7 turnovers. Hope is giving up too many possessions per game to turnovers and lack of steals. We have become Calvin of the last couple years, that can't be tolerated.
Up Next:
Wednesday host Olivet, 7:30pm
Saturday @ Alma, 8pm
You might want to gird your loins for the trip to the great white North Saturday.
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