West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That Nova vs Clayton State game ...

Clayton State took 80 FG attempts. Nova took 95.

I don't think they even get numbers that high in the NBA All-Star game.

Crazy.

[IUPalum]

That's just ridiculous!

[Columbuseer]

There was a blackout in first half where nova had something like a 23-1 run. Nova sending platoons at them every 3-4 minutes.
Imho the coach should have gone deep into the shot clock on every possession and try to get ball inside. He had no depth so why run? Instead they did the perimeter shot, high ball screen stuff and jacked up shots early. nova would beat them down the court for open threes or layups.
Once the legs got heavy, more and more shots were bricks.
I can only assume that their coach thought nova was just hot and would cool off. Very bad assumption when a team averages 46% from three. Very puzzling strategy.

[Scrub]

Columbuseer, you have a better analytical eye for this stuff than I do. I'm gonna need you to tell me what I just saw. I have no idea what I just watched. Speechless.

[Scrub]

Will this be the loss that finally knocks them out of the Top 25? Is this the one that finally ends the historic streak? I would think it's a possibility.

[Layton]

[Scrub]

Still trying to process what I saw. WLU led by as many as 20+ in the first half. But as the first half closed, it was clear that Wesleyan wasn't going away (and wasn't going to let the trademark WLU "blackouts" force them out of their game). They continued to plug away with their methodical high pick and roll game (a la Stockton-Malone), and WLU flat out lost the ability to stop anybody in the second half. WVWC was getting everything they wanted in the second half. So not only did WVWC not lose their composure after the early "blackouts," but I would argue that WLU were the ones who lost their composure. They stopped moving the ball and started to play one-on-one ball that isn't their game. Just an ugly, ugly half. Credit to WVWC for having a plan and executing it to perfection (even in the face of early adversity that sometimes knocks teams off their game). I'll await Columbus's read on this, as he knows the x's and o's better than I do.

[Layton]

Still trying to process what I saw. WLU led by as many as 20+ in the first half. But as the first half closed, it was clear that Wesleyan wasn't going away (and wasn't going to let the trademark WLU "blackouts" force them out of their game). They continued to plug away with their methodical high pick and roll game (a la Stockton-Malone), and WLU flat out lost the ability to stop anybody in the second half. WVWC was getting everything they wanted in the second half. So not only did WVWC not lose their composure after the early "blackouts," but I would argue that WLU were the ones who lost their composure. They stopped moving the ball and started to play one-on-one ball that isn't their game. Just an ugly, ugly half. Credit to WVWC for having a plan and executing it to perfection (even in the face of early adversity that sometimes knocks teams off their game). I'll await Columbus's read on this, as he knows the x's and o's better than I do.

[Scrub]

WVWC shot 80% (!) in the second half and 90% from behind the arc. That's how that happens.

Some of that was good shooting (Daylin Lee had the night of his life). But a lot of that is porous defense. WVWC was getting a lot of point blank looks on layups. Lane seemed to be wide open all half long.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

They scored 52 in the WHOLE game up here. Who did all the scoring for them?

[Scrub]

They scored 52 in the WHOLE game up here. Who did all the scoring for them?

They looked like they were on pace for 52 down here as well . . . until the second half happened. As I mentioned above, Daylin Lee was the high man off the bench for WVWC with 23.

[Columbuseer]

Columbuseer, you have a better analytical eye for this stuff than I do. I'm gonna need you to tell me what I just saw. I have no idea what I just watched. Speechless.

We gave Wesleyan open looks and they hit them. Also we have become enamored with dribble drive and difficult shots rather than ball movement. Boswell is the only one who consistently uses good judgment on when to drive. We were dissecting them on offense in the first 10 minutes with ball movement then went to perimeter passing and dribble drive. The ball is sticking and some our most experienced guys are the worst offenders. For 7 games coach has been yelling MOVE !
we have great shooters. No one needs to win the game by themselves. I will look at the stats when they are posted.

[Columbuseer]

[Scrub]

You mentioned some of the experienced guys. It looks to me like Yoakum was in the doghouse down the stretch of that game. When the game was hanging in the balance for the final 6 minutes, Robinson was running with the first team. I wonder if there will be a shake-up to the starting lineup going forward. It certainly felt last night like Howlett trusted Robinson (and, at times, even Butler) more than last year's Conference Freshman of the Year.

[IUPalum]

I guess the days of comparing WL and Nova are finally over!!!