West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[boatcapt]

Think it's time to point out the obvious, WLU's "second platoon" that was a work in progress coming into the season just is not getting any better. Beyond Rasile, we seem to have a collection of late game minute eaters that don't produce much or at a very high percentage. Occasionally someone beyond Rasile has a decent game, but those seem very isolated.

[boatcapt]

WLU pulled out a win over S&T 96-88.

Can someone PLEASE make a shot in the last 5 minutes of a game!!!! More than the occasional freethrow down the streatch would be nice too.

[Columbuseer]

The WLU turnovers were a problem to be sure. But they still win this game if they don't forget how to shoot for the last 5 minutes of the game. I didn't pay to watch the live broadcast, but there was a neat little feature on the LiveStats feed I was watching that showed stat trends. And WLU's trend box in the upper righthand corner of the screen kept saying things like:

"0-7 over the last 3:45"
"1 for their last 17 FG attempts"
"0-5 over the last 2:15"
Etc.

Lubbock's trends kept saying:
"5-5 on last 5 FT attempts"
"6-7 from the FT line in the last 2:05"
Etc.

Those trends seemed to tell the story. WLU couldn't hit a bull in the arse for 5 minutes, and Lubbock sealed it at the line like a good team should.

In truth, if this team has any hope of making a run, they're going to have to figure out how to beat good teams on neutral courts (or perhaps even have to beat IUP on their own court in a Regional Final if it comes to that). So hopefully they learn from this trip.

(And hopefully they blitz Missouri S&T today to wash the bad taste out of their mouths going into break.)

I watched game. In 2nd half, Lcu collapsed on brice and played rasile tight to limit him outside. They picked their poison and last night it paid dividends, Late in the game wlu got high quality open shots from three and no one was hitting after shooting over 40% in 1st half.
I noticed that lcu was excellent at playing the passing lanes defending the kick out pass.
imho these games will be invaluable for improving, as lcu has sweet 16 level coaches and players.

[Scrub]

I watched game. In 2nd half, Lcu collapsed on brice and played rasile tight to limit him outside. They picked their poison and last night it paid dividends, Late in the game wlu got high quality open shots from three and no one was hitting after shooting over 40% in 1st half.
I noticed that lcu was excellent at playing the passing lanes defending the kick out pass.
imho these games will be invaluable for improving, as lcu has sweet 16 level coaches and players.

Right. Usually when you pick your poison (i.e., doubling down on Bryce or extending on Rasile), a guy like Mont or Cannady will go ahead and poison you. They just didn't have it in them on Saturday night to do so.

[Columbuseer]

Fyi WLU ncaa stats west liberty as of dec 19

1st- 3pt attempts per game 33.5
1st- Assist to turnover ratio 1.90
2nd - assists per game 23.1 nova se
first at 25.1
2nd - 3pt made per game 11.9
2nd- scoring 98.7 Nova se is first at 108.9
2nd - steals per game 11.5 Nova se is 13.9
3rd - Turnover margin 8.1 Nova se is 1st at 10.1
4th- forced turnovers 20.27 Nova se is #1 at 26.2
5th - Scoring margin 20 Nova se 1st at 30
14th - offensive rebounds per game 14
47th - FG % 48.22
78th - Rebound margin 4
115th - FT % 72.16
119th - 3 pt % 35.5

[Columbuseer]

FYI

WLU is sharing the ball much better this year:
Dec 19 national ranking individual assist to turnover ratio:
1. Steve Cannady 4.62
26. Cmont Montague 2.94
77. Alex West 2.12
167. Bryce Butler 1.58

[Columbuseer]

FYI dec 20
Bryce Butler has earned this THIRD MEC player of week award this season.
Well deserved Bryce!
https://hilltoppersports.com/news/20...eek-honor.aspx

[Columbuseer]

Fyi
link is now up so we can watch broadcast of bowie state at 4 pm today. Looks like wlu is going to stream it, not bowie state.

https://hilltoppersports.com/sports/...ll?path=mbball

[Layton]

No offense to this announcer but he probably chose the wrong career path

[Columbuseer]

WLU vs Bowie State Recap


Bowie State had a week to prepare for the West Liberty pressure. Their strategy was to attack the rim after breaking the press as they were a tall, athletic team who could finish at the rim in transition. They had success in several areas:

• They limited WLU to only two steals (live ball turnovers). BSU had 15 turnovers, only 4 more than WLU, which is less than the 20 turnovers that WLU often forces.
• They had 12 fast break points.
• They played WLU relatively even on the boards, winning offensive rebounds 17-16 and losing defensive rebounds 17-21.
• They out shot WLU from three – 45% to 40% and shot 49% FG to WLU’s 53%.

All in all, they took away most of the typical WLU keys to victory.

So how did WLU win 103-78?

• WLU pressure – WLU traps on makes and misses. In addition, WLU passed the ball very rapidly. BSU was getting spread out and all five players had to be actively engaged and could not rest on defense. Fatigue was making BSU one or two steps too slow on close outs. It also affected their foul shooting.
• WLU had open lanes to penetrate, which caused BSU to scramble to collapse in the lane. WLU adroitly avoided charges (a big improvement from early in the season) and kicked the ball out for totally uncontested threes.
• The second platoon is getting more and more efficient.
• BSU hit 5 of 11 threes, all from one great player – Drayton. WLU hit 15 of 37 threes, all wide-open looks.
• WLU got 9 more shot attempts than BSU.
• WLU was more efficient on offense scoring 23 points off turnovers versus 14 for BSU, even though WLU only had two steals.
• BSU got two technical fouls.

Areas for improvement

• Many of the WLU turnovers were unforced, as they were trying to make an unselfish pass, which is not as egregious a mistake as 5 second calls on inbounds plays. Commendable attempt, but something that can be reduced.
• Reduce the run-out home run pass against WLU press. That is becoming a staple play for our opponents.
• Earlier recognition of press break and sprinting back to stop 2 on 1 break.
• Defense is played with body position with respect to opponent. WLU is picking up fouls because they are trying to recover too late from being in a bad defensive position. They need to improve situational awareness.

[Columbuseer]

Michael Sampson made one of the most incredible shots to end the half. Unfortunately, it was so unexpected that the officials were not ready and waved it off. Replay shows it was good.
Scroll to timer at -1:11.15 for final 2 seconds.
https://mountaineast.tv/westliberty/?B=493524

[Columbuseer]

FYI more details...
Sampson hit one of the craziest shots to end the half that I have ever seen. WLU hit a foul shot. Bowie inbounds ball with 2 secs left under wlu basket. Sampson with his 6-9 arms was guarding inbounder. He tips inbounds pass, sprints to retrieve it on sideline across from foul line as the ball was going out of bounds. While still in the air, turns his body and shoots the ball while falling out of bounds 23 ft away, all in one motion. Swish. It was so incredible and unexpected that official wasn't watching and called it no good. I slowed video down to 1/4 speed and ball was at least 10 ft in the air when the half ended. Would have made sportscenter.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

FYI more details...
Sampson hit one of the craziest shots to end the half that I have ever seen. WLU hit a foul shot. Bowie inbounds ball with 2 secs left under wlu basket. Sampson with his 6-9 arms was guarding inbounder. He tips inbounds pass, sprints to retrieve it on sideline across from foul line as the ball was going out of bounds. While still in the air, turns his body and shoots the ball while falling out of bounds 23 ft away, all in one motion. Swish. It was so incredible and unexpected that official wasn't watching and called it no good. I slowed video down to 1/4 speed and ball was at least 10 ft in the air when the half ended. Would have made sportscenter.

How about more details on giving up 97 points to Concord? That doesn't sound like much defense to me. And, I've seen Concord in person.

[Layton]

How about more details on giving up 97 points to Concord? That doesn't sound like much defense to me. And, I've seen Concord in person.

Same could be said for only scoring 77

[Scrub]

How about more details on giving up 97 points to Concord? That doesn't sound like much defense to me. And, I've seen Concord in person.

My take is this, IUPbig. Concord was willing to run with WLU. That's a dangerous proposition for any team, but many have tried (Glenville is notorious for trying to run with WLU with pretty negative results). I'm sure Columbuseer will chime in with the actual number of possessions and points-per-possession stats at some point, but I'm assuming that because this game was played SO fast, there were simply more shots taken (and therefore more shots made) than is typical in a college basketball game. The pace was so frenetic at several points that the Concord camera operator simply couldn't keep up. We were left watching a blank end of the court while the audio told us what was happening on the other end. That was the fastest pace I've seen in a WLU game so far this year, and that's largely attributable to Concord trying to match WLU's pace rather than slow things down. That said, give a talented offensive team--and Concord certainly has some offensive weapons--that many possessions and they're bound to score some points. That's my take on it.

Only stat that matters is that WLU escaped Christie/Cox Court with a W, and we all know that that gym is known for being the site of some weird results, so I'll take it!