West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

WTF happened to your football team? 70-7?

[Columbuseer]

Observations from a Dummy: WLU vs Charleston

Sheer tenacity and effort won the game for WLU. We got most 50-50 balls, and we had guys getting put-backs on their teammates' misses. Case in point: Patrick intercepts a pass and takes off down the court. If there was ever a time for someone to take a breather, it would be to watch Patrick sprint down the court to finish at the rim in transition. Instead, there were not one, but two teammates sprinting with him. Patrick missed the highly contested shot, but WLU was there to get the rebound. Impressive! We got most 50-50 balls too.

Our half court defense was outstanding:

1. We had an offensive rebounding % of almost 40% to only 17% for UC, who is a much bigger team. WLU was willing to mix it up on the glass, regardless of their size disadvantage. Some of UC's more athletic players appear to feel more comfortable standing out around the 3 point line.
2. We held UC to 0.98 PPP. WLU had an incredible 1.26 PPP against a top 20 team.
3. WLU had 1.11 assist to turnover ratio to 0.92 for UC, who normally takes very good care of the ball.
4. WLU held UC to 20% from three while we shot a typical 37%. Owen's threes forced McManus to leave the paint which opened the lane for drives and offensive rebounds.

This game really illustrated how effort and teamwork can overcome size and athletic disparities.
Great win!

Statistic	West Liberty Regular Season	CHARLESTON (WV)
POINTS	82	63
FGM	32	22
FGA	64	48
FGPCT	50.0%	45.8%
3FGM	9	4
3FGA	24	20
3FGPCT	37.5%	20.0%
FTM	9	15
FTA	11	21
FTPCT	81.8%	71.4%
REBOUND OFFENSIVE	13	5
REBOUND DEFENSIVE	24	20
REBOUND TOTAL	37	25
ASSISTS	10	11
TURNOVERS	9	12
BLOCKS	2	2
STEALS	7	5
Num Possessions	65	64
Points per Possession	1.26	0.98
Assists per 100 Possessions	15.4	17.2
Assists / FG Made %	31.25%	50.00%
Assist to Turnover Ratio	1.11	0.92
Turnovers per 100 Possessions (< better)	13.8	18.8
Opponent Defensive Rebounds	20	24
Offensive Rebound Efficiency %	39.4%	17.2%
Effective FG %	57.0%	50.0%
Effective FG% Difference (team- Opp.)	7.0%	-7.0%
FGA % Diff ((team FGA-Opp.FGA)/Opp.)	33.3%	-25.0%
Forced Turnovers	12	9
Opponent Possessions	65	64
Forced Turnovers % of Opp. Possession	18.8%	13.8%

[Columbuseer]

Be interesting to see if hillsdale plays zone. If they do, rasile may play a pivotal role. Patrick at top, Dalton on wing, Zach in corner. Can't guard all three.
Rumors of curry like accuracy and range for zach. We have seen glimpses in past games, such as 6 for 6. You don't become 2nd highest scorer in ohio history at >3000 points without good mechanics.

[boatcapt]

Imho Keys for wlu

-push, push, push the ball in transition. We must run them until they drop. Bigs tend to foul when you make them move in open court
- make guards work hard and keep them from throwing over us in the trap
- rotate the ball and get a great shot
- shoot over 40% from three
- our bigs must avoid foul trouble
- hit the glass hard. Position more important than height
- be ready to pass the ball on a drive when bigs defend the shot. Malones butler hurt them doing that.

Remember Malone beat them.

+1

We have to "stick with the plan" and remember that the game is 40 minutes long. Keep "choppin' wood" so to speak. Against a good rebounding team like Hillsdale, shooting % is sooo very important. That said, our inside players need to fight and scrap for every rebound they can get. The temptation when you get an offensive rebound is to put it back up...probably a better idea against Hillsdale to kick it back outside for a new play. If/when we drive inside, got to fight the temptation to finish with some sort of highlight reel layup. Hillsdale collapses their D well and with those tall trees inside, you are probably going to get blocked...drive, pull the D to you and kick to the open man.

This game is tailor made for trading 2 for 3. When Hillsdale makes a 2, get the ball in quickly, and attack in transition looking to get an open 3. To make this work effectively, we need to shoot 40+% from 3...for some unknown reason, we seem to struggle doing that sometimes.

An additional potentially critical metric...Free Throw shooting! We need to shoot at least 70% from the charity stripe. Those "free" points could be the difference between moving on and going home.

[Columbuseer]

Congrats! That was quick!

[Layton]

I snagged three tickets, they sold out in one minute!

[Columbuseer]

Imho Keys for wlu

-push, push, push the ball in transition. We must run them until they drop. Bigs tend to foul when you make them move in open court
- make guards work hard and keep them from throwing over us in the trap
- rotate the ball and get a great shot
- shoot over 40% from three
- our bigs must avoid foul trouble
- hit the glass hard. Position more important than height
- be ready to pass the ball on a drive when bigs defend the shot. Malones butler hurt them doing that.

Remember Malone beat them.

[Scrub]

Both are hard games for different reasons. Toppers wouldn't be favorites against either. Much will depend on which WLU team shows up. If the team that showed up today, they will be hard to beat...If it is the team showed up against Malone or in their three regular season losses, it will be hard for us to beat eather.

But if I had to pick, I'd say I'd rather play Hurst.

Well said, Boat. I agree that the Toppers are a clear underdog on Tuesday night. I don't mind having a shot at Hillsdale. Hurst has seen WLU before and knows how to handle it. My only hope (likely in vain, but a guy can hope) is that WLU's speed and pace will shock Hillsdale and they get down early. Their methodical offense won't be able to be as patient if they're down. But the Toppers are going to have to bring their A-game on Tuesday--that's for sure.

[Layton]

Hillsdale it is

[boatcapt]

Both are hard games for different reasons. Toppers wouldn't be favorites against either. Much will depend on which WLU team shows up. If the team that showed up today, they will be hard to beat...If it is the team showed up against Malone or in their three regular season losses, it will be hard for us to beat eather.

But if I had to pick, I'd say I'd rather play Hurst.

[Layton]

[Columbuseer]

How about Sarson getting run? That came out of nowhere. Did he play much dstrangeuring the regular season? He gave some good minutes

There is no mention of Sarson technical, either in play by play or the box score, which only lists Dyer's technical. Sarson Foul occurred at 15:05 of second half at the time Malone called a timeout. So it might have been a dead ball foul or maybe it was incorrectly listed as a non technical foul.

[Layton]

[boatcapt]

The shortcomings you mentioned will get us beat against the remaining teams in the region. This is not the time for them to reappear.

I agree. Charleston has already proven they can beat us when we play like that. After seeing this reoccur a number of times this year, I can't help but wonder how much the players are listening to Ben? I can't imagine he is sitting on the sideline saying, got to have us some more dribble-drive in our game...YEA, that's EXACTLY what we need! Yet, when the team goes on the court, some of the players are clearly saying, F what coach told us, I can take MY man to the rack!!!!

I've said before, WLU needs to make 12 3 pointers a game. They get to 12, and they are going to win most nights. Less than 12 and they will struggle. Against Malone they had 9. I know it seems counter intuative to keep taking 3 pt shots when they aren't falling at a praticularly high clip, but WLU needs to keep moving the ball and looking for and taking those shots.

Free throw shooting problems that have poped up here lately I've got no solution for. It is a head scratcher but it is definently real. It cost us the Fairmont game and almost cost us the game tonight.

[Columbuseer]

Was the Malone victory really "bad?" I don't think so. Certainly all the WLU warts that have popped up this season were on full display in this game (desire by some to play AAU ball, 3 pt shooting struggles, Inability to shoot free throws,...). But even with those warts on full display, WLU found a way to lead from the 13 minute mark of the first half through the final Malone 3 at the closing horn. Only five times after WLU gained the lead at the 13 minute mark in the first half did Malone come within a shot of gaining the lead. Did they keep it close? obviously yes. But except on one occasion, I never really thought WLU was in danger of losing.

Was this game frustrating? ABSOLUTELY! For a collection of players that we accuse of having such high "basketball IQ's," they play REALLY, REALLY stupid for extended periods of time!

The shortcomings you mentioned will get us beat against the remaining teams in the region. This is not the time for them to reappear.