West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Wlu missed enough shots underneath that had they made them, they would have broken record of 169 against a d2 opponent which was set in 1966!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

I actually plan to watch the On Demand tonight.

I have to see how it's actually possible to score 156 points in a college basketball game. How embarrassing ...

You could play IUP twice and probably be around 156 total.

[Dirtybird]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Oh I agree. When WL takes a loss it is usually because they scored in the 80-90s and the opposing team is also in the 80-90s. I am just going by vague memory, not looking at any stats.

[IUPalum]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

As impressive as WL's offensive performance was, watching Glenville's defensive effort was equally non-impressive. WL shot wide open 3s or easy lay-ups. All WL players had to do was pass and cut and they were wide open cutting to the hoop. Glenville has some athletes that can score it but they did not know what hit them with all the ball movement, unselfishness and of course all of the made shots. Game seemed like it was over after the first 10 minutes.

Ummmmmmmm, West Liberty hasn't lit it up on the defensive end either. They've given up over 100 in 3 of 4 games. Just sayin...

[Dirtybird]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

As impressive as WL's offensive performance was, watching Glenville's defensive effort was equally non-impressive. WL shot wide open 3s or easy lay-ups. All WL players had to do was pass and cut and they were wide open cutting to the hoop. Glenville has some athletes that can score it but they did not know what hit them with all the ball movement, unselfishness and of course all of the made shots. Game seemed like it was over after the first 10 minutes.

[IUPalum]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Play defense please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Sounds like a great plan against WL ... don't contest any treys. Lol.

They taking stupid pills down in Glenville?

They didn't fire him at halftime. They definitely should have after the game. No Uber money, either.

[Scrub]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Really, the story of this game was assist-to-turnover ratio (33:7). They were sharing the ball in mid-season form. In that particular way, I thought the Freshman Hill really grew up over the past few games. He didn't necessarily light up the stat sheet in the scoring column, but on every possession he was making a smart extra pass that resulted in so many of those open looks. He finished officially with 8 assists, but even more of the open looks were created by his smarts and vision (if basketball gave double-assists like hockey his stat sheet would have been a lot more stuffed). Hill was really impressive last night.

Interestingly, in the post-game presser, Howlett subtly called out another of the new faces. The quote was something like: "We didn't shoot a contested three all night until Watson entered the game." I suspect he was both highlighting the great ball movement that dominated the first 3/4 of the game and sending a message to one of his new guys about the expectation of a WLU point guard. If Watson--an undoubtedly talented kid with moves for days--is going to see time in the rotation this year, he's going to have to start sharing the ball. One-man iso stuff just isn't the West Liberty way.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

These young players are growing up and the team chemistry is improving very rapidly.

GSU has some great 3 point shooters but running with wlu and jacking up heat check shots with no passes left no one underneath to rebound. Wlu 2nd platoon jumped on them big time when they first came in.
Note. 3 point shots are normal shots for Wlu. GSU quit trying to defend last 10 minutes leaving folks wide open for uncontested 3s as part of normal ball rotation. Think they were hoping for a miss so they could get rebound and go pad their stats on the offensive end. Wlu was not trying to run up the score.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Much different team after the first game

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

WL breaks its own record for most points scored at 158, record was 157

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Glenville should have fired its coach at halftime.

[Layton]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

87 points in the first half.

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Saw Salem game. Rapid improvement in team play in both platoons. Hard to believe level of play with 2 fr. 2 sophomores and 1 sr. In starting lineup.

Hill - always been a scorer but his defense and pressure is rapidly improving. Has the physical skills to be a lock down defender eventually..

Yoakum- his comfort and performance is rapidly improving. He is a high flying player who also has great range. He will be a matchup nightmare in a couple of years.

Dyer- great assists and effort. More aggressive in attacking the defense.

Moore - hit 3s and provided strong defense and rebounding. High motor.

Watson- a scoring machine that I want to jokingly call earl the pearl based on his style. Just needs to work on every other part of his game. The good news is that imho being able to create your own shot is a gift that is hard to teach. The other skills can be learned if you have the desire to work really hard. Wlu is the perfect place for him to round out his game which is critical if he wants to play overseas.

FYI - If you missed a game you can view it here:

https://team1sports.com/hilltoppersports/
Then click on "On Demand" button and then select WLU versus Salem

[Columbuseer]

Re: West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

Saw Salem game. Rapid improvement in team play in both platoons. Hard to believe level of play with 2 fr. 2 sophomores and 1 sr. In starting lineup.

Hill - always been a scorer but his defense and pressure is rapidly improving. Has the physical skills to be a lock down defender eventually..

Yoakum- his comfort and performance is rapidly improving. He is a high flying player who also has great range. He will be a matchup nightmare in a couple of years.

Dyer- great assists and effort. More aggressive in attacking the defense.

Moore - hit 3s and provided strong defense and rebounding. High motor.

Watson- a scoring machine that I want to jokingly call earl the pearl based on his style. Just needs to work on every other part of his game. The good news is that imho being able to create your own shot is a gift that is hard to teach. The other skills can be learned if you have the desire to work really hard. Wlu is the perfect place for him to round out his game which is critical if he wants to play overseas.