Box Score
Hope started Gardner, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. Lowish minutes for the starters except for Gardner who logged 30. Neil, Denham, Benson, Byers, DeMaagd were the primary guys off the bench. This one wasn't in doubt with 12 to play and that's when the the starters gradually exited the game. Corey McMahon logged 10 minutes, the most action since early in the season. Whittenbach, Ray, Parisi and Holwerda all played in the final minutes.
Game Recap:
I never like to call games with Albion easy because they really rarely are, but this was a pretty easy win for the Dutchmen and I'm happy to say it was largely because Hope made it easy for themselves. Hope took the bull by the horns scoring points on its first 6 possessions mostly of the layup or in close variety. By 5 minutes into the game Hope already had an 8 point lead. The game went back and forth a bit for the remainder of the half with Albion never really getting closer than 5 points.
With about 2 minutes left before the break Alex Eidson hit their first 3-pointer of the half after missing their first 5 to put Hope up 14. Albion scored the final 6 points of the half to give them at least a chance to stay in the game. Reality was though that Hope had outplayed them considerably and were scoring many, many baskets within just a few feet of the rim. VanArendonk and Snuggerud had established themselves in close with 11 and 6, and most of the 25 combined points from Gardner, Eidson and Seiler had also come in the paint.
I fully expected Albion to compete hard in the second half, those late points really had to turn the emotion in their favor. However, Hope slammed that open door shut by out-scoring Albion 14-2 to start the second half once again mostly by getting the ball in close. With the completion of a 3 point play by Nate VanArendonk the lead was 20, Albion had yet to register a fg and truthfully you could kind of start to see it on their faces that they knew this hill was too steep to climb.
Gradually over the next few minutes the starters began taking their curtain calls and the bench emptied. Corey McMahon and Jordan Denham really played very well in their stretches on the court and were catalysts in continuing the good play that had long been established. The lead reached 29 points at one point as Albion just continued to have a difficult time stopping Hope from scoring and that was really the story of the day.
97 points isn't the most Hope scored against Albion even recently. In 2010 Hope scored 98, but on that day Albion scored 90. There have been some really tough defensive struggles over the years with a few games like yesterday's mixed in. The contrast between the game at Albion and this one was pretty interesting. Back in Albion the Britons were able to dictate the flow of the game more, grabbing the early lead allowed them to really play aggressive on defense. Yesterday Hope forced the issue inside and Albion just couldn't really respond and ended up playing from behind all day long.
So far so good for the Fr. point guards, through two games without Colton Overway Hope's kept control of the turnovers, just 7 yesterday, 8 on Wednesday. I think Hope's doing a nice job making sure those guys always have somewhere to go with the ball. It's always fun to watch young guys grow as a season goes on and Ben Gardner's confidence seems to have blossomed from earlier in the season. Jordan Denham had been playing with the JV this semester and his minutes yesterday were his best on the varsity squad.
Just an observation but the last 2 games I've watched they've been a much better passing team and its really opened up the offense. Ball movement to me has always been a staple of good Hope offense and yesterday especially I saw a lot more passes right on the money to put a guy in perfect scoring position. Combine this with improved interior play in general and its really not hard to see why this team has been so efficient its last 3 games.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
Free-throw shooting: Going to pick on the other guys today. Albion was 13-28 the first time they met and it directly affected the outcome of the game. The Britons have been atrocious at the line in league play, just 56% going into yesterday's game. I'm sure they talked about it a lot beforehand. So it probably shouldn't have been a shock to see them go 24-29 and raise their league average to 60%.
Moral victories.
FG shooting: Hope shot 68% for the game, 74% in the second half. Here are Hope's last 6 halves of basketball shooting percentage......66, 54, 31, 68, 63, 74. When you shoot the ball that good you really don't have to be great on defense.
Turnovers: Only 7 yesterday and a big fat zero from the PG position between Gardner and Denham. Outstanding!
Rebounding: A light day on the boards for both teams, seems rare to see both teams with less than 30 boards.
Nate VanArendonk: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 6-6 fg, 4-4 ft......Albion couldn't stop him, when Nate plays like that only the best teams in D3 have a shot to beat Hope and I don't think that's exaggerating. I'll let you decide what 'best' means.
Ben Gardner: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists..... just a really good day, nice A/TO ratio of infinity. Badly outplayed both Albion pg's.
Alex Eidson: 12 points, 2-4 3's......one of the many who has stepped up his game in Colton's absence.
Nate Snuggerud: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists.........best I've seen him move this year, took a nasty fall early second half limiting his minutes, by the time he was ready to return to the game it wasn't really necessary.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 68 Albion 68
Offensive Efficiency: 142.91
If your lower jaw isn't lying on the floor it should be, this is a pretty incredible scoring rate. This is the highest of the season for Hope, and highest Albion's allowed. Hope scored 52 second half points on 23 attempted shots with an efficiency rating of 154.76. Mind blown! The grain of salt here is that Albion has given up a handful of these kinds of games. I seriously think I'd be hard pressed to find a higher number in D3, even in Grinnell's system.
Defensive Efficiency: 107.71
Who cares, right? When you score at such a high rate its pretty difficult to keep any kind of a defensive tone. A surprisingly solid chunk was the result of Albion not being pathetic from the ft line. Halves were roughly the same. Hope still had 7 steals on 12 Albion turnovers and some of their misses were pretty wild altered shots that a boxscore can't account for, there were good things here that won't get measured by efficiency. Scoring off turnovers was 17-4 for Hope, that's significant.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 23.5% of available offensive rebounds
Albion: 28.6% of available offensive rebounds
Probably the most useless metric of the year. Hope only had 17 chances to rebound their own miss, they got 4 of them. 7 would have been about their average. 2nd chance points was 8-7 to Albion, one of the few times Hope hasn't won this battle.
Moments or Keys to the Game:
The fast start to the beginning of the game allowed Hope to play from in-front and put a lot of pressure on Albion to both score and defend.
Albion scored the last 6 points of the first half to cut a 14 point deficit to 8 and give them a chance.
The fast start to the 2nd half slammed the door shut on Albion's chances.
Please keep pounding the ball inside.
My Game Ball Goes To:
When a team plays this well its hard to dish these things out, both Ben Gardner and Alex Eidson played very well on the day and had big influences on the game. But early on the two Nate's made life miserable for Albion's defense and it was Nate VanArendonk who Albion just had no answer for. His perfect day from the floor and the line combined with a couple nice blocks and assists really kind of made this choice easy.
Standings
Snuggerud - 5
Overway - 4
VanArendonk - 2
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
If a book were to be written about Albion's season it would probably be titled something like 'The Crash of Flight 2013'. The Britons aren't a good basketball team and whatever it is that makes them play well at Kresge against Hope and Calvin just wasn't there for them this week. They had guys playing in this game who were supposed to be JV players, they have no JV because they need to be on varsity. They have 4 chances to pull themselves out of the basement of the MIAA, that's their reality and so its Hope's reality that they trounced a team at home they should probably trounce. The manner in which that was done was pretty impressive.
Still it feels better to see them just playing better and you get the sense that even with the loss of Overway this team can still reach something close to the team they expected to be this year. Wednesday its off to Kalamazoo, another team very similar to Albion, and struggling. It's kind of up to Hope to make sure they don't make the Anderson Athletic Center Kzoo's Kresge. In league play, really none of their road trips have been very easy and I suspect it will still take a stretch of good play to bring home a victory.
Up Next: Me vs being upset with terrible officiating in 25 point games
Wednesday, Feb. 6 Hope at Kalamazoo
Showing posts with label Nate Van Arendonk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nate Van Arendonk. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Hope 76 Trine 61
Box Score
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. If that looks different to you, yet close to what you expected all year, join the club. Gardner, Neil, Byers, Benson picked up the majority of bench minutes. Substitutions seemed less frequent and more purposeful, one for one type stuff, a lot less multiple subbing it seemed to me. Ray, DeMaagd, Holwerda, Wittenbach, Denham, McMahon all saw small minutes, mostly late.
Game Recap:
I lived in Holland for nearly 18 years and survived every nasty winter storm the big lake could throw at it. Last night I got a healthy reminder of just how vicious those Lake Effect snow events can be and now I remember. My shortish drive turned to almost exactly 2 hours with several thoughts of 'this is crazy' and 'I should just turn back' but I didn't. Memories of a mountain pass snow storm in Wyoming kept me going, this was just a little Lake Effect snow right. I jogged the last 100 yards or so from my parking spot and took my seat just before tip with my lungs blazing from basically not jogging for many years and the searing pain of 10 degree air burning my lungs. I caught my breathe by halftime, thanks.
Hope juggled its starting 5 again going a little something closer to what most of us thought they'd have all year long. The impact last night was fairly immediate as Nate VanArendonk played perhaps his best stretch of minutes in a Hope uniform. His first nearly 7 minute stint saw 6 points and a couple rebounds, he rested for a couple and then came right back on the floor and within a couple more minutes had a couple more baskets and about 3015 people were starting to feel all tingly.
The game itself was actually pretty tightly contested early on as the teams traded baskets and neither was able to get more than a 2 or 3 point lead. Ben Gardner checked in with 11:39 remaining in the first half and Hope trailing by 2. Gardner scored 13 points over the next 8 minutes and assisted on an Overway 3. It was an impressive few minutes that also included a couple of other near steals. Ben stayed on the floor until halftime, by then Hope had a 16 point lead thanks largely to his and Van Arendonk's great play those last 11 minutes.
The second half was really going to be about Hope protecting its lead, which a couple few times this year hasn't been easy for Hope to do. Trine played a little better for the first 8 or 9 minutes of the 2nd half using a little different lineups and rotations themselves. They had it down to 12 points at 56-44, Hope scored the next 8, not surprisingly Ben Gardner was in the middle of it again recording 3 steals and actually biffing a couple layups. It was for all purposes over though at that point.
Overall it was a good win, they played better than last week, passed it better and I thought their overall effort and energy was better. Its hard to say if Hope found a little something tonight and probably not even fare to ask that question. The challenges ahead remain basically the same.
Another streak, Trine has yet to beat Hope since joining the MIAA in 2005, that's now 18 games including an MIAA Tournament game. Hope played Trine twice in 2004 before they were officially a member and won both game, making this streak 20 in a row.
Ian Jackson came into this game leading the league in scoring. Hope's been able to slow him down or contain him the last 3 meetings where he scored 9, 4 and 8 points. It looked to me like Trine's using him a little different this year, less dribbling, more shots off passes and more action in the paint. Last night he had 14 points on 16 shots, all 2's and no trips to the ft line. Overall Hope did a pretty good job on him. Its been Sr. F Scott Rogers that has been able to get loose against Hope, but last night he had only 8 while Fr. C Jared Holmquist was saddled with foul trouble all night. This turned out to be a pretty good defensive effort.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Trine attempted about their average number of 3's which given Hope's previous defensive difficulties was a little surprising. I'm not sure we can definitively say Hope was better defending the arc because they really weren't challenged. Hope attempted 24 3's, only made 7, that attempts number surprised me when I saw it. Second highest attempts of the year (Mississippi), kind of strange for a winning team
FT shooting: I love you and we should totally hang out more. I hope those last 3 misses weren't the equivalent of going to bed angry. See you Saturday?
Turnovers: It wasn't a huge win but Hope forced a couple more turnovers from Trine than their avg. and committed a few less themselves, this was certainly key but didn't really become that much of a factor given the outcome. Better passing was the primary reason Hope kept theirs down.
Ben Gardner: 15 points, 3 steals.......was really the catalyst for turning this game in Hope's favor with his excellent stretch of first half play
Nate VanArendonk: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.....Nate was really good last night, hustled and played hard when on the floor.
Colton Overway: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.....was kind of overshadowed by the play of the above 2 characters but this was another good night for Colton.
Efficiency:
Estimated Number of Possessions: Hope 67 Trine 67
In league play Hope's been the most uptempo team, I'm sure by design. Trine has been one of the slower teams. Tonight felt much more controlled from Hope with less emphasis on speed and more on working the offense. I was not surprised to see the fast-break points was 2-0, which means Hope has exactly 2 in its last 2 games.
Offensive Efficiency: 113.56
Welcome back high efficiency, we missed you. Trine is actually a pretty decent defensive team though I think they've struggled a little in league play. This is the 3rd highest they've given up on the season. Hope's first half was a 130, second a 98. They spent a lot of the second half missing some of the same shots they made the first half.
Defensive Efficiency: 91.59
Hope has actually been pretty steady in league play, only Adrian, Calvin, North Central and MSOE have held Trine to a lower scoring rate. Trine was better the 2nd half though not a lot better, more like right at Hope's defensive average.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 52.8% of available offensive rebounds
Trine: 30.3% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 13-11 in Trine's favor, all of Hope's came in the second half. If these numbers seem a bit fishy consider Hope had a number of multiple rebounds on their own misses and also backed out the ball a few times, any resulting points are not recorded as '2nd chance'. So Hope dominated its own glass but probably not to the degree that number suggests and they probably actually scored more points as a result of getting another possession. This was a factor but not the factor.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
Kind of a weird one where there wasn't one single play or shot that stuck out. Just one long stretch of good play from Hope that turned the game and one mini-stretch in the second half that made the margin insurmountable. Otherwise quite a bit of even play.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Hardest one of the season, I really want to give it to Van Arendonk because he was really good last night but Ben Gardner's contributions turned the game in Hope's favor and then was part of slamming the door when a flicker of life remained. Ben it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
If we imagine the league season is just about protecting your home court and winning as many as you can on the road then all Hope really did last night was protect their home court. Albeit in a much easier fashion than most people probably thought. But, the truth is this Hope team was broken after last week, not much was working. I think we leave this one feeling like maybe something has been repaired or at least the repair is in progress and the early results are positive. Pretty much everything last night was better.
Saturday they head North to Alma for 'the rivalry' with a ridiculously long winning streak against them and frankly, yes, it terrifies me. Alma is similar to Olivet in that they play freely and with purpose and at home they will be trouble, to this point they have yet to win a 'big' one and are probably overdue. Hope was down by 10 at one point and trailed the Scots for 30 minutes before turning the first meeting into a 14 point win. I would gladly take being wrong but this seems like it won't be easy.
In the meantime I'll be spending the next 2 days reviewing all the moments that led up to my incredibly poor decision to drive halfway across the state into the teeth of what amounted to a mini-blizzard. Smart!
Up Next: Me vs poor decisions which I will inevitably lose again
Saturday Jan. 26 Hope at Alma
Hope started Overway, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. If that looks different to you, yet close to what you expected all year, join the club. Gardner, Neil, Byers, Benson picked up the majority of bench minutes. Substitutions seemed less frequent and more purposeful, one for one type stuff, a lot less multiple subbing it seemed to me. Ray, DeMaagd, Holwerda, Wittenbach, Denham, McMahon all saw small minutes, mostly late.
Game Recap:
I lived in Holland for nearly 18 years and survived every nasty winter storm the big lake could throw at it. Last night I got a healthy reminder of just how vicious those Lake Effect snow events can be and now I remember. My shortish drive turned to almost exactly 2 hours with several thoughts of 'this is crazy' and 'I should just turn back' but I didn't. Memories of a mountain pass snow storm in Wyoming kept me going, this was just a little Lake Effect snow right. I jogged the last 100 yards or so from my parking spot and took my seat just before tip with my lungs blazing from basically not jogging for many years and the searing pain of 10 degree air burning my lungs. I caught my breathe by halftime, thanks.
Hope juggled its starting 5 again going a little something closer to what most of us thought they'd have all year long. The impact last night was fairly immediate as Nate VanArendonk played perhaps his best stretch of minutes in a Hope uniform. His first nearly 7 minute stint saw 6 points and a couple rebounds, he rested for a couple and then came right back on the floor and within a couple more minutes had a couple more baskets and about 3015 people were starting to feel all tingly.
The game itself was actually pretty tightly contested early on as the teams traded baskets and neither was able to get more than a 2 or 3 point lead. Ben Gardner checked in with 11:39 remaining in the first half and Hope trailing by 2. Gardner scored 13 points over the next 8 minutes and assisted on an Overway 3. It was an impressive few minutes that also included a couple of other near steals. Ben stayed on the floor until halftime, by then Hope had a 16 point lead thanks largely to his and Van Arendonk's great play those last 11 minutes.
The second half was really going to be about Hope protecting its lead, which a couple few times this year hasn't been easy for Hope to do. Trine played a little better for the first 8 or 9 minutes of the 2nd half using a little different lineups and rotations themselves. They had it down to 12 points at 56-44, Hope scored the next 8, not surprisingly Ben Gardner was in the middle of it again recording 3 steals and actually biffing a couple layups. It was for all purposes over though at that point.
Overall it was a good win, they played better than last week, passed it better and I thought their overall effort and energy was better. Its hard to say if Hope found a little something tonight and probably not even fare to ask that question. The challenges ahead remain basically the same.
Another streak, Trine has yet to beat Hope since joining the MIAA in 2005, that's now 18 games including an MIAA Tournament game. Hope played Trine twice in 2004 before they were officially a member and won both game, making this streak 20 in a row.
Ian Jackson came into this game leading the league in scoring. Hope's been able to slow him down or contain him the last 3 meetings where he scored 9, 4 and 8 points. It looked to me like Trine's using him a little different this year, less dribbling, more shots off passes and more action in the paint. Last night he had 14 points on 16 shots, all 2's and no trips to the ft line. Overall Hope did a pretty good job on him. Its been Sr. F Scott Rogers that has been able to get loose against Hope, but last night he had only 8 while Fr. C Jared Holmquist was saddled with foul trouble all night. This turned out to be a pretty good defensive effort.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
3 point shooting: Trine attempted about their average number of 3's which given Hope's previous defensive difficulties was a little surprising. I'm not sure we can definitively say Hope was better defending the arc because they really weren't challenged. Hope attempted 24 3's, only made 7, that attempts number surprised me when I saw it. Second highest attempts of the year (Mississippi), kind of strange for a winning team
FT shooting: I love you and we should totally hang out more. I hope those last 3 misses weren't the equivalent of going to bed angry. See you Saturday?
Turnovers: It wasn't a huge win but Hope forced a couple more turnovers from Trine than their avg. and committed a few less themselves, this was certainly key but didn't really become that much of a factor given the outcome. Better passing was the primary reason Hope kept theirs down.
Ben Gardner: 15 points, 3 steals.......was really the catalyst for turning this game in Hope's favor with his excellent stretch of first half play
Nate VanArendonk: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks.....Nate was really good last night, hustled and played hard when on the floor.
Colton Overway: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.....was kind of overshadowed by the play of the above 2 characters but this was another good night for Colton.
Efficiency:
Estimated Number of Possessions: Hope 67 Trine 67
In league play Hope's been the most uptempo team, I'm sure by design. Trine has been one of the slower teams. Tonight felt much more controlled from Hope with less emphasis on speed and more on working the offense. I was not surprised to see the fast-break points was 2-0, which means Hope has exactly 2 in its last 2 games.
Offensive Efficiency: 113.56
Welcome back high efficiency, we missed you. Trine is actually a pretty decent defensive team though I think they've struggled a little in league play. This is the 3rd highest they've given up on the season. Hope's first half was a 130, second a 98. They spent a lot of the second half missing some of the same shots they made the first half.
Defensive Efficiency: 91.59
Hope has actually been pretty steady in league play, only Adrian, Calvin, North Central and MSOE have held Trine to a lower scoring rate. Trine was better the 2nd half though not a lot better, more like right at Hope's defensive average.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 52.8% of available offensive rebounds
Trine: 30.3% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 13-11 in Trine's favor, all of Hope's came in the second half. If these numbers seem a bit fishy consider Hope had a number of multiple rebounds on their own misses and also backed out the ball a few times, any resulting points are not recorded as '2nd chance'. So Hope dominated its own glass but probably not to the degree that number suggests and they probably actually scored more points as a result of getting another possession. This was a factor but not the factor.
Moment or Keys to the Game:
Kind of a weird one where there wasn't one single play or shot that stuck out. Just one long stretch of good play from Hope that turned the game and one mini-stretch in the second half that made the margin insurmountable. Otherwise quite a bit of even play.
My Game Ball Goes To:
Hardest one of the season, I really want to give it to Van Arendonk because he was really good last night but Ben Gardner's contributions turned the game in Hope's favor and then was part of slamming the door when a flicker of life remained. Ben it is.
Standings
Overway - 4
Snuggerud - 3
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Gardner - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
VanArendonk - 1
Benson - 1
Going Forward:
If we imagine the league season is just about protecting your home court and winning as many as you can on the road then all Hope really did last night was protect their home court. Albeit in a much easier fashion than most people probably thought. But, the truth is this Hope team was broken after last week, not much was working. I think we leave this one feeling like maybe something has been repaired or at least the repair is in progress and the early results are positive. Pretty much everything last night was better.
Saturday they head North to Alma for 'the rivalry' with a ridiculously long winning streak against them and frankly, yes, it terrifies me. Alma is similar to Olivet in that they play freely and with purpose and at home they will be trouble, to this point they have yet to win a 'big' one and are probably overdue. Hope was down by 10 at one point and trailed the Scots for 30 minutes before turning the first meeting into a 14 point win. I would gladly take being wrong but this seems like it won't be easy.
In the meantime I'll be spending the next 2 days reviewing all the moments that led up to my incredibly poor decision to drive halfway across the state into the teeth of what amounted to a mini-blizzard. Smart!
Up Next: Me vs poor decisions which I will inevitably lose again
Saturday Jan. 26 Hope at Alma
Sunday, November 18, 2012
North Central 60 Hope 49
Box Score
Hope started Overway, Parisi, Snuggerud, Byers, Van Arendonk. Most likely this lineup was used to counter the very formidable NCC frontline. As far as minutes distribution Byers and Van Arendonk logged a few extra because of foul trouble. Parisi maybe because of defense. Billy Seiler was questionable going in, but was inserted into the rotation midway-ish through the first half, unlikely 100%. Chris Ray didn't play and is probably not ready to play in a game like this one yet.
Game Recap:
Hey guess what, its really hard to write a recap about a game you didn't see.
The bottom line about this game for both teams was this was a tough ask this early in the season. I think if you had quizzed both coaches and they were honest they'd say they would rather play this game 3 weeks from now. No question 3 months from now both teams will look quite different.
The talking point of this one probably centers around Nate Snuggerud picking up 4 first half fouls, very little doubt this impacted the game. Matt Neil gambled that his all-american candidate, Sr. forward could keep himself out of trouble when he re-inserted him midway through the first half sitting on two fouls. Unfortunately Matt lost that gamble this time, one of dozens of decisions a coach has to make on the fly during a game. It was simply incredible miss-fortune Nate picks up foul #4 with his sub at the table. In twenty plus years of watching games at his level, I bet I've seen that one other time. I imagine given the reports of the physical nature of the game, Matt felt he needed him out there, so he rolled the dice. Two things probably come out of this 1) Hope will be more careful with foul trouble in the future 2) Nate Snuggerud will learn a very good and very hard early lesson. Better now than latter.
Meanwhile what I think what might be missed is how well Hope competed without their best player for three-quarters of the game. Picture this roster without Caleb Byers and Brock Benson......now sit Snuggerud. Hope has a big problem vs North Central then, right? Caleb Byers' and Brock Bensons' value to this team showed up in its very first (real) game. Hope could start bigger to combat NCC's front line and when Snuggerud had to sit, Hope could still compete with NCC, otherwise they were probably a sitting duck.
Derek Raridon and Landon Gamble, NCC's all-american forwards, played 39 and 25 minutes, Hope's all-american Nate Snuggerud played 10.....and Hope lost by 11. It was a 5 point game with a little under 5 to play. Yeah, it mattered.
As far as the game itself, it seemed to get off to a torrid pace and then grind to a standstill. Listening to the last few minutes was like watching kids throw darts at each other, I cringed every time a shot was missed but I knew eventually someone was going to get hurt...unfortunately it was Hope when Derek Raridon hit a 3 with about 6 minutes remaining to put NCC up 8. It was as good as a dagger(dart?).
A couple concerns popped up in this one.
Between Parisi, Seiler and McMahon, Hope was 1-16 from the floor and 0-10 from triple for 8 points from the 2/3 guard spot. Yikes! One day after not worrying its hard not to. To be fair, it was an awful night for everyone shooting 3's, combined the two teams went 5-33 and a mind numbing 1-23 in the second half. Had I seen this in person, I might have desired poking my eyes out. Matt Parisi may never go 0-8 again from 3 again in his career. Inconsistency might be the norm from out there and it might cost them a game or two along the way.
Free-Throws: This is where you picture me being the zookeeper burying his head in the bushes at the 1:24 mark (awesome movie by the way, Scavenger Hunt(1979))...
Sometimes its not that you miss free throws as much as when you miss them. Down 8 with 6 minutes to play, Hope holds NCC 3 straight posessions and gets FT's at the other end. Hope makes one, misses one each time, make them all and its a 2 point game with 4:42 to play, totally different game ending, instead of a parade of FT's you make NCC have to score, which given the way the last 10 minutes played out was not a certainty for either team. We've been down this road too many times, in too many important situations.
So that was it, a tough opening night loss to what will probably be a very good CCIW team that by the end of the year will be looking at winning trophies and making March travel plans. Hardly something to be too worried about. I was hoping Hope would compete and maybe be in a position late to take the win, and really I think you can say they were. Its a tough loss but I wouldn't call it a bad loss or even one to feel bad about, only its circumstances.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
All the stats were close to even across the board. Hope was a little light on the assists, but then they were a little light on the FG's. Second half shooting for both teams was, well, atrocious.
When you shoot 18.5% for a half you really don't deserve to win, on the other hand they held a team to 26.9% at the same time. Its either knock-out defense or terrible offense, most likely a little of both.
Coltan Overway: 12 points, 7 rebounds......played 36 minutes which might be the most he's played in his career. In a foul-fest game he stayed out of that trouble.
Nate Snuggerud: 9 points......10 minutes
Caleb Byers: 8 points........33 minutes, all valuable cover for Nate's foul trouble
Nate Van Arendonk: 7 points, 7 rebounds........managed to stay out of foul trouble himself which was important as were his 31 minutes.
Estimated Possessions: Hope 61 NCC 64
That's a slow grinding paced game, and considering how quickly it started, the last 30 minutes of this thing was probably played in the 50's. Hello Wisconsin!
Offensive Efficiency: 80.49
This isn't efficient, not at all. In the previous 'games' write-up I mentioned anything under 85 starts to measure offensive ineptness. Yeah, that. But North Central surely played some outstanding defense to get there.
Deffensive Efficiency: 94.01
This is pretty good vs what will likely prove to be a good team. The only bad thing is you held a good team to this number and you didn't win because you were being held to an even lower number.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 24.1% of available offensive rebounds
NCC: 33.3% of available offensive rebounds
The difference is 3 offensive rebounds for NCC on one possession which resulted in a turnover, take away those 3 and this battle was dead even. Ideally both teams would like this to be in the high 30's or better. In the end both teams probably did a good job rebounding all those misses or to put it another way, the advantage in this one didn't come from rebounding.
Nate Snuggerud picking up foul #4 at the 10:25 mark of the first half. You can manage a player having 3 with 30 minutes to play but 4 is another story. That really changed everything. I also remember a long NCC possession midway through the 2nd half where they rebounded 3 or 4 misses in a row, it ended up being a long defensive possession. Also Derek Raridon's three with 6 or so to play, essentially iced the game, but not quite.
My game ball goes to:
I thought the re-cap was hard. Shot in the dark and I'll go with Caleb Byers. I heard his name a lot and he stepped in for Snuggerud's absense and apparently did very well.
Standings
Snuggerud - 1
Byers - 1
Going Forward:
Hope challenged itself right off the bat with the two-time defending CCIW champs and Sweet 16 team from a year ago on the road. They didn't win, and that's about it. I know of no other NCAA tournament team that did that. Its great competition to start the season and there will be just a ton of coachable moments from this one and compared to other teams who have yet to play schools with a pulse, they know where they are and where they have to go.
Up Next: Friday Nov 23, vs Cornerstone at DeVos Fieldhouse
Hope hosts the Hall of Fame Classic with Calvin, Aquinas and Cornerstone this year. Cornerstone will be a good test again.
Hope started Overway, Parisi, Snuggerud, Byers, Van Arendonk. Most likely this lineup was used to counter the very formidable NCC frontline. As far as minutes distribution Byers and Van Arendonk logged a few extra because of foul trouble. Parisi maybe because of defense. Billy Seiler was questionable going in, but was inserted into the rotation midway-ish through the first half, unlikely 100%. Chris Ray didn't play and is probably not ready to play in a game like this one yet.
Game Recap:
Hey guess what, its really hard to write a recap about a game you didn't see.
The bottom line about this game for both teams was this was a tough ask this early in the season. I think if you had quizzed both coaches and they were honest they'd say they would rather play this game 3 weeks from now. No question 3 months from now both teams will look quite different.
The talking point of this one probably centers around Nate Snuggerud picking up 4 first half fouls, very little doubt this impacted the game. Matt Neil gambled that his all-american candidate, Sr. forward could keep himself out of trouble when he re-inserted him midway through the first half sitting on two fouls. Unfortunately Matt lost that gamble this time, one of dozens of decisions a coach has to make on the fly during a game. It was simply incredible miss-fortune Nate picks up foul #4 with his sub at the table. In twenty plus years of watching games at his level, I bet I've seen that one other time. I imagine given the reports of the physical nature of the game, Matt felt he needed him out there, so he rolled the dice. Two things probably come out of this 1) Hope will be more careful with foul trouble in the future 2) Nate Snuggerud will learn a very good and very hard early lesson. Better now than latter.
Meanwhile what I think what might be missed is how well Hope competed without their best player for three-quarters of the game. Picture this roster without Caleb Byers and Brock Benson......now sit Snuggerud. Hope has a big problem vs North Central then, right? Caleb Byers' and Brock Bensons' value to this team showed up in its very first (real) game. Hope could start bigger to combat NCC's front line and when Snuggerud had to sit, Hope could still compete with NCC, otherwise they were probably a sitting duck.
Derek Raridon and Landon Gamble, NCC's all-american forwards, played 39 and 25 minutes, Hope's all-american Nate Snuggerud played 10.....and Hope lost by 11. It was a 5 point game with a little under 5 to play. Yeah, it mattered.
As far as the game itself, it seemed to get off to a torrid pace and then grind to a standstill. Listening to the last few minutes was like watching kids throw darts at each other, I cringed every time a shot was missed but I knew eventually someone was going to get hurt...unfortunately it was Hope when Derek Raridon hit a 3 with about 6 minutes remaining to put NCC up 8. It was as good as a dagger(dart?).
A couple concerns popped up in this one.
Between Parisi, Seiler and McMahon, Hope was 1-16 from the floor and 0-10 from triple for 8 points from the 2/3 guard spot. Yikes! One day after not worrying its hard not to. To be fair, it was an awful night for everyone shooting 3's, combined the two teams went 5-33 and a mind numbing 1-23 in the second half. Had I seen this in person, I might have desired poking my eyes out. Matt Parisi may never go 0-8 again from 3 again in his career. Inconsistency might be the norm from out there and it might cost them a game or two along the way.
Free-Throws: This is where you picture me being the zookeeper burying his head in the bushes at the 1:24 mark (awesome movie by the way, Scavenger Hunt(1979))...
The internet is one awesome place sometimes
So that was it, a tough opening night loss to what will probably be a very good CCIW team that by the end of the year will be looking at winning trophies and making March travel plans. Hardly something to be too worried about. I was hoping Hope would compete and maybe be in a position late to take the win, and really I think you can say they were. Its a tough loss but I wouldn't call it a bad loss or even one to feel bad about, only its circumstances.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
All the stats were close to even across the board. Hope was a little light on the assists, but then they were a little light on the FG's. Second half shooting for both teams was, well, atrocious.
When you shoot 18.5% for a half you really don't deserve to win, on the other hand they held a team to 26.9% at the same time. Its either knock-out defense or terrible offense, most likely a little of both.
Coltan Overway: 12 points, 7 rebounds......played 36 minutes which might be the most he's played in his career. In a foul-fest game he stayed out of that trouble.
Nate Snuggerud: 9 points......10 minutes
Caleb Byers: 8 points........33 minutes, all valuable cover for Nate's foul trouble
Nate Van Arendonk: 7 points, 7 rebounds........managed to stay out of foul trouble himself which was important as were his 31 minutes.
Efficiency:
Estimated Possessions: Hope 61 NCC 64
That's a slow grinding paced game, and considering how quickly it started, the last 30 minutes of this thing was probably played in the 50's. Hello Wisconsin!
Offensive Efficiency: 80.49
This isn't efficient, not at all. In the previous 'games' write-up I mentioned anything under 85 starts to measure offensive ineptness. Yeah, that. But North Central surely played some outstanding defense to get there.
Deffensive Efficiency: 94.01
This is pretty good vs what will likely prove to be a good team. The only bad thing is you held a good team to this number and you didn't win because you were being held to an even lower number.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 24.1% of available offensive rebounds
NCC: 33.3% of available offensive rebounds
The difference is 3 offensive rebounds for NCC on one possession which resulted in a turnover, take away those 3 and this battle was dead even. Ideally both teams would like this to be in the high 30's or better. In the end both teams probably did a good job rebounding all those misses or to put it another way, the advantage in this one didn't come from rebounding.
Moment or Play of the game:
Nate Snuggerud picking up foul #4 at the 10:25 mark of the first half. You can manage a player having 3 with 30 minutes to play but 4 is another story. That really changed everything. I also remember a long NCC possession midway through the 2nd half where they rebounded 3 or 4 misses in a row, it ended up being a long defensive possession. Also Derek Raridon's three with 6 or so to play, essentially iced the game, but not quite.
My game ball goes to:
I thought the re-cap was hard. Shot in the dark and I'll go with Caleb Byers. I heard his name a lot and he stepped in for Snuggerud's absense and apparently did very well.
Standings
Snuggerud - 1
Byers - 1
Going Forward:
Hope challenged itself right off the bat with the two-time defending CCIW champs and Sweet 16 team from a year ago on the road. They didn't win, and that's about it. I know of no other NCAA tournament team that did that. Its great competition to start the season and there will be just a ton of coachable moments from this one and compared to other teams who have yet to play schools with a pulse, they know where they are and where they have to go.
Up Next: Friday Nov 23, vs Cornerstone at DeVos Fieldhouse
Hope hosts the Hall of Fame Classic with Calvin, Aquinas and Cornerstone this year. Cornerstone will be a good test again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)