Week in Review: Kalamazoo, Adrian

I tried to limit my travels a little this year which meant cutting out a couple MIAA games I would normally see.  Adrian and Kzoo to finish the season seemed appropriate so I didn't make it to either of these games.


Easy to Forget
Hope 67  Kalamazoo 55
Box
Recap

Unless I'm forgetting something this is probably the first Hope game in awhile I neither followed online or listened to on the radio.  It was such a big day I've even forgotten what else I was doing.

After the loss to Alma, Hope just needed to get back in the win column this week and begin piecing together their strategies for the MIAA Tournament next week.  With the MIAA title out of reach and Pool C bid becoming the longest of longshots there really wasn't much else to focus on for the Dutchmen.

So Wednesday it nice to hear they shed most of the disappointment from Saturday by beating the Hornets without a lot of fuss.  Kzoo stayed around for awhile, but a strong first 10 minutes of the second half put this one away and Hope coasted to a 12 point win.




Efficiency:

Hope 110.56   Kalamazoo  92.94

Pretty comfortable difference in efficiency.   Splits 112-104 for Hope, Kzoo 93-90.  It probably wasn't very pretty to watch.  It should be noted Kzoo played zone most of the game I'm told.

Hope launched 29 3-point shots in this game and made just 9, under that lens a pretty good day efficiency wise.  They attempted just 27 2-point shots.


Pace:

60-60  Pretty slow and more of a Kzoo thing than Hope thing.  The Hornets have been one of the slowest teams in the league.
 
Rebounding:
Hope 30  Kalamazoo 26

Hope had 41% of available offensive rebounds
Kzoo had 27% of available offensive rebounds

Pretty commanding day on the glass, 2nd chance points was 14-2

Turnovers:
Hope 11  Kalamazoo 20

The Hornets appear to have been pretty sloppy with the basketball.  Hope scored 28 points off turnovers and gave up 12.


Corey McMahon  started this one in place of Alex Eidson who was hampered 'with an injury'.   Alex played 14 minutes and attempted 4 shots.  For Corey's part every time he touched the ball behind the 3-point line he shot the ball hoisting up 12 attempts.   I don't know if that's a Hope record but it feels like it might be.  Maybe going back to Ryan Klingler who was known to throw up a few.



We made it but its still freaking cold out.
Hope 56  Adrian 41
Box
Recap


This game could have meant a little more under different circumstances but after Alma beat Adrian on Wednesday to eliminate the Bulldogs from tournament consideration there wasn't a lot of meaning in this one for the visitors.  Hope needed a win to assure a #3 seed in the Tournament.

Hope really grabbed the lead pretty early and had it up to 10 points by the 10 minute mark of the first half.  Adrian doesn't have a lot of fire power and the rest of this game really played itself out with Hope gently cruising along and in pretty full command of things despite the halftime lead being only 6.

Like the game in Adrian the Bulldogs had a pretty long spell without much offense.  Down there it was 9 minutes with no field goals.  In this game it was just 1 fg in the first 8 minutes of the second half.  By that point Hope opened the deficit to double-digits and there wasn't much threat Adrian could come back in this one.

Efficiency:

Hope 103.75  Adrian  75.54

Come on Adrian, yeesh.   For Hope that's one of their lowest offensive outputs of the MIAA slate.  For  Adrian that's just awful and one of 3 or 4 of those kinds of games they've had this year.  Maybe they mailed it in, maybe they didn't.

I guess Hope should take some credit for the defense and it would be their best performance of the season.  They looked much more like the good defensive team of much of December.


Pace:

54-54  Hope's slowest game of the year with not a lot of action.  Lots and lots of deliberate offense.
 
Rebounding:
Hope 36  Adrian 28

Hope had 33% of available offensive rebounds
Adrian had 24% of available offensive rebounds

2nd chance points was 6-5.  This didn't play much part in the game.

Free-throws:
Hope went 15-21 on the day which is well below their average.  The main comment is Hope continues to do well getting to the free-throw line.  Without even looking it up Hope is the most proficient team in the league and one of the top 2 or 3 in the Great Lakes Region at getting to the line.

Hope broke the old league record for team FT% finishing at 80.5% which would have been really neat except Trine broke it earlier in the day at 85%.  If you've watched a lot of Hope basketball over the years you probably have an idea of how improbable it is for a Hope team to shoot that well.


Random Thoughts:

Pool C?
Still no.  When the dust settles I think Hope is going to end up in a much better position than first thought but still on the outside looking in.  For this year its probably not going to be one loss but two that keeps them out.

There's a couple things Hope could do to tweak the schedule a little but overall they played a great one that gave them a chance at an at-large bid.   These days if you want any chance at Pool C you have to play really good teams.  Hope did that, lost a couple close ones that would have made the difference.  That's the risk but its worth the try I think.  Hope will probably do the same next year.

In the end your easiest path to the tournament is still to win the MIAA Tournament.


Defensive credit.  I don't know what to make of Hope's two seemingly renewed defensive efforts this week.  Neither Adrian or Kzoo is anything close to really good on offense and both games were very low possession oriented.  At least against Adrian it looked better and they made a team do stuff they didn't want to do, vs letting a team do whatever it wanted to do.

I did like that both games were deliberate because that's what they'll get down in Angola on Thursday.  A low possession half-court game where protecting the ball is a premium.


Another DeVos record.  I don't know what the obsession with DeVos Fieldhouse records was this year but that's about a dozen or so of differing kinds.  Saturday it was points by an opponent.  Adrian's 41 is the fewest allowed by Hope at DeVos.

Its also the fewest allowed by Hope against an MIAA opponent in 12 years (Kzoo 100-35 in 2003).  Also the fewest against any opponent that isn't an internet site in the same time frame.  (College of Faith 2013).


Speaking of DeVos Fieldhouse
It went with hardly a mention this year that Hope has now played 10 full seasons in DeVos Fieldhouse.  What a great 10 years its been.  We opened with the women winning a National Championship in 2006 and finished off the 10 years with the volleyball team winning a National Championship last fall.  In between it hosted a few dozen MIAA Tournament, NCAA games and women's basketball and volleyball Final Fours,


Men at DeVos
Record:  132-17  .886
MIAA:  64-6  .914
MIAA Trn: 15-2  .882
NCAA: 6-2  .750
5 MIAA Championships
6 MIAA Tournament Championships
6 Trips to the NCAA Tournament
1 Final Four

Attendance:  427,687

Women at DeVos
Record:  150-5   .968
MIAA:  77-3   .963
MIAA Trn:  18-1  .947
NCAA:   7-1  ..875
5 MIAA Championships, 2 Co-Championships
7 MIAA Tournament Championships
8 Trips to the NCAA Tournament
1 National Championship
1 National Runner-up

Attendance:  187,470

Total basketball attendance:   615,157


I guess I'm one of the old people now who will always have the roars of the Civic Center echoing between my ears.  DeVos has become a special place now, one that gives me a feeling of disbelief that its ours even today.  Not to long in the future over half my fandom of Hope basketball will have taken place in that building.  I'm not sure how to deal with that as this calender continues to move faster and faster.  I do know this, its still the people inside that make it what it is today and what made the Civic Center what it was then.  I'm still blown away by the amazing support the Flying Dutchmen and Dutch get every year.  It really is something very special.  Year after year.


Up Next:

MIAA Tournament Semi-Final
Thursday February 26  7:30pm
Hersey Hall at Trine University
Angola, Indiana

Pretty simple.  Win or go home.