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SBU Men's Basketball / Game 29: vs. UMBC 2/27 7pm
« on: February 25, 2019, 09:23:53 pm »
UMBC
Record: 18-11 (10-4 America East)
Last 10: 8-2
Last Game: Albany 84, UMBC 75 on 2/23/19
Last Game with SBU: UMBC 57, Stony Brook 49 on 1/30/19; SBU 2 for 22 from three; Yeboah 5 for 17 overall
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -2.5
Net Ranking: Stony Brook 157, UMBC 218
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 170, UMBC 215
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 66, UMBC 60
Yeboah Point Watch: 1,247
Division I: Currently 6th. Next up: Mitchell Beauford (2003-08) 1,359
All-time: Currently 12th. Next up: Mitchell Beauford (2003-08) 1,359
Listen/Watch:
TV: http://bit.ly/MBBGm29Vid
Stony Brook radio: http://bit.ly/WUSBSports_FM
Notables:
6-6/220 gr F Joe Sherburne 14.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, .494 FG%, .902 FT%, .415 3-pt FG%
6-2/180 jr G KJ Jackson 12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.2 spg
6-5/235 jr F Arkel Lamar 9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.4 spg
6-10/200 so F Brandon Horvath 9.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg
A couple orders of business to touch on first.
Off the bat, I haven't heard anything from our camp or from the conference on the availability of Jeff Otchere. My sense is he will not play. No inside knowledge; just a hunch. I truly believe that there was no malicious intent whatsoever, but when a kid's season ends like that and it wasn't your typical hard foul, I could see him getting hit for a game. If the AE doesn't, we've seen Boals give players a game to observe – Garcia, McKenzie, Almonacy to name a few – and between the flagrant 2, the injury and the poor play of late, it seems like a good time to do that.
Second, I thought Healy from UA deserved POTW honors over Akwasi. The latter undoubtedly had a great week, but Healy and 20-plus points in wins over the second and third ranked teams in the league. Game results have to matter if the production is close. As great as he was, I'm not sure how Akwasi got the nod.
OK, on to the game that will factor greatly in the seeding of next month's conference tournament.
As I posted in the Maine thread, a win means that we're in the driver's seat for the 2, basically needing a win at Vermont or Hartford OR an unlikely UMBC loss to UNH. A loss Wednesday means it would be almost impossible to finish any higher than 3. Honestly, I'm good with either the 2 or the 3 – whatever allows us to avoid Albany in round one.
Our last meeting with UMBC was part of a two-game stretch in which we played our worst basketball in my opinion. A total of 101 points in the losses to UVM and UMBC, a total of 12 assists, and overall just a defeated look about us. I'm interested to see what we get out of Cornish because this is where he hit his swoon – seven points total in the final three games of the first AE cycle, too many jump shots, a dip in minutes. We're a different team when he's not getting to the rim, and we need him when facing the conference's best – in this case, teams 2, 1 and 4 in the standings.
You know, I was going to tout UMBC's defense, which has contributed more to its success than years past. But look at what we're doing – top TEN in the COUNTRY in field goal percentage defense, with teams shooting it under 39 percent from the field. Some of this has to do with our opponents – UNH twice, Binghamton twice, etc. But that really speaks to our athleticism and, more than anything in my mind, our effort and attitude. The same goes for work on the glass – we're currently 17th in rebounding margin. As for the Retrievers, they're 17th in scoring defense.
I hope Otchere plays. Like I said, I don't think he intended to harm Fleming – he thought about the block, then thought better of it, and was caught in the middle. If he sits though, can we afford to go small up front for better than half the game? Or can be actually count on Ochefu for big minutes? Christie for more than a few? UMBC lost Daniel Akin and Max Curran to injury during the non-conference schedule, but Sherburne, Horvath, Gerrity and Schwietz still suggest to me that we'll need big minutes from our bigs.
I hope the student body and area residents realize how important this one is. I have my doubts. Would it kill the students to stand the whole game though? Or ever?
Record: 18-11 (10-4 America East)
Last 10: 8-2
Last Game: Albany 84, UMBC 75 on 2/23/19
Last Game with SBU: UMBC 57, Stony Brook 49 on 1/30/19; SBU 2 for 22 from three; Yeboah 5 for 17 overall
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -2.5
Net Ranking: Stony Brook 157, UMBC 218
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 170, UMBC 215
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 66, UMBC 60
Yeboah Point Watch: 1,247
Division I: Currently 6th. Next up: Mitchell Beauford (2003-08) 1,359
All-time: Currently 12th. Next up: Mitchell Beauford (2003-08) 1,359
Listen/Watch:
TV: http://bit.ly/MBBGm29Vid
Stony Brook radio: http://bit.ly/WUSBSports_FM
Notables:
6-6/220 gr F Joe Sherburne 14.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, .494 FG%, .902 FT%, .415 3-pt FG%
6-2/180 jr G KJ Jackson 12.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.2 spg
6-5/235 jr F Arkel Lamar 9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.4 spg
6-10/200 so F Brandon Horvath 9.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg
A couple orders of business to touch on first.
Off the bat, I haven't heard anything from our camp or from the conference on the availability of Jeff Otchere. My sense is he will not play. No inside knowledge; just a hunch. I truly believe that there was no malicious intent whatsoever, but when a kid's season ends like that and it wasn't your typical hard foul, I could see him getting hit for a game. If the AE doesn't, we've seen Boals give players a game to observe – Garcia, McKenzie, Almonacy to name a few – and between the flagrant 2, the injury and the poor play of late, it seems like a good time to do that.
Second, I thought Healy from UA deserved POTW honors over Akwasi. The latter undoubtedly had a great week, but Healy and 20-plus points in wins over the second and third ranked teams in the league. Game results have to matter if the production is close. As great as he was, I'm not sure how Akwasi got the nod.
OK, on to the game that will factor greatly in the seeding of next month's conference tournament.
As I posted in the Maine thread, a win means that we're in the driver's seat for the 2, basically needing a win at Vermont or Hartford OR an unlikely UMBC loss to UNH. A loss Wednesday means it would be almost impossible to finish any higher than 3. Honestly, I'm good with either the 2 or the 3 – whatever allows us to avoid Albany in round one.
Our last meeting with UMBC was part of a two-game stretch in which we played our worst basketball in my opinion. A total of 101 points in the losses to UVM and UMBC, a total of 12 assists, and overall just a defeated look about us. I'm interested to see what we get out of Cornish because this is where he hit his swoon – seven points total in the final three games of the first AE cycle, too many jump shots, a dip in minutes. We're a different team when he's not getting to the rim, and we need him when facing the conference's best – in this case, teams 2, 1 and 4 in the standings.
You know, I was going to tout UMBC's defense, which has contributed more to its success than years past. But look at what we're doing – top TEN in the COUNTRY in field goal percentage defense, with teams shooting it under 39 percent from the field. Some of this has to do with our opponents – UNH twice, Binghamton twice, etc. But that really speaks to our athleticism and, more than anything in my mind, our effort and attitude. The same goes for work on the glass – we're currently 17th in rebounding margin. As for the Retrievers, they're 17th in scoring defense.
I hope Otchere plays. Like I said, I don't think he intended to harm Fleming – he thought about the block, then thought better of it, and was caught in the middle. If he sits though, can we afford to go small up front for better than half the game? Or can be actually count on Ochefu for big minutes? Christie for more than a few? UMBC lost Daniel Akin and Max Curran to injury during the non-conference schedule, but Sherburne, Horvath, Gerrity and Schwietz still suggest to me that we'll need big minutes from our bigs.
I hope the student body and area residents realize how important this one is. I have my doubts. Would it kill the students to stand the whole game though? Or ever?