Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Apologies if this was already addressed, but is it possible Stewart wasn’t eligible for the fall semester for any reason? If not and Joe did just suddenly change his mind, could he be looking at this as a legit chance to win it all, perhaps his last best one at his age and he wanted to leave no stone unturned in putting out the best possible team to get that done? And Stewart having more collegiate experience than Bethea gives him the edge?

It was brought up briefly at the end of last year the possibility that Ethan and Tomiwa could look to finish their careers at D1 after this year. That would mean a pretty heavy reload job in store next year for Joe. While I don’t think IUP would ever fall too far under his leadership, it may still take some time to have a team this capable of winning the whole thing. And Joe’s in his 60s now. I don’t know, just a few thoughts I had.

Those are legit thoughts, Chuck. I've talked to a couple people who also follow the program and their theory also was he's trying to go all in for this year. It wasn't an eligibility issue. He's a very good student from what I've heard. You can tell watching Stewart that he's still in the 'thinking' rather than 'playing' mode ... but that will slowly wear off. It would have been great to activate him prior to PSU-Altoona. He then could have played 30 minutes.

As for winning it all this year ... I'm not sold yet. This team has some flaws. Well, maybe not flaws, but things that make me a little nervous. For instance, I think they need to spread the scoring around more. Polce and Dillard are legit players. They need a bigger leash / role. Tomiwa had 19 and 11 last night and they don't run a single play for him. That was 19 points the hard way. The overall 3-point shooting is alarming, but this could be a prolonged funk of sorts. I don't think they are getting Ethan enough outside shots -- something that was key a year ago. He's only taken 33 attempts. Conversely, Shawndale has put up 48 but is hitting just 27%. Knit picking, perhaps, but some of these things will be more visible against better opponents.

I'm trying not to think about Ethan and Tomiwa yet. I don't 'think' either is going to leave. If they both say, yes, business as usual next year. If they leave, along with Morris and Shawndale graduating, yes, massive rebuild. Thankfully we have a couple months until that comes up.

Big test awaits. One of the Mercyhurst players mentioned last night that IUP got them last year (IUP won all 3 meetings) and they are eager to redeem themselves. This is a really big game. Obviously it won't define either teams' season but the winner gets a real nice boost. Gotta win the big ones at home. And, as always, you have to start strong against Mercyhurst. They are extremely difficult to come back against.

[Chuck Norris]

Stewart nailed 4 treys in one game against IUP last year so he can definitely shoot. However, it appears he has a red light.

These whacky lineups aren't going to work Saturday.

I kind of suspect he plays 7-8 guys Saturday and that's it.

Apologies if this was already addressed, but is it possible Stewart wasn’t eligible for the fall semester for any reason? If not and Joe did just suddenly change his mind, could he be looking at this as a legit chance to win it all, perhaps his last best one at his age and he wanted to leave no stone unturned in putting out the best possible team to get that done? And Stewart having more collegiate experience than Bethea gives him the edge?

It was brought up briefly at the end of last year the possibility that Ethan and Tomiwa could look to finish their careers at D1 after this year. That would mean a pretty heavy reload job in store next year for Joe. While I don’t think IUP would ever fall too far under his leadership, it may still take some time to have a team this capable of winning the whole thing. And Joe’s in his 60s now. I don’t know, just a few thoughts I had.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm definitely on the train of not knowing why Stewart was activated. He seems like a good player but definitely the timing is odd. Can Stewart shoot?

Bethea getting no minutes baffles me. He was starting to adapt well on both ends. He has a lot of work to do shooting but what freshman doesn't.

Diop officially is just a big body Joe will use in dire need. He seems like he'll never have a role. If he ever was, last night would've been it with Tomiwa in foul trouble.

KJ... I just don't get Joe's love for him.

Brooks is very athletic but still raw on both ends. I understand him only getting 8 minutes.

IUP seeing zone yesterday will help Saturday BUT Hurst runs some very different zones compared to SH. That will be a war against Hurst.

Shawndale better start shooting better or stop shooting from deep.

Seems like we're kind of being left in the dark on several items -- the roster situation (Stewart), Dallis and Diop missing last week, etc.

Joe isn't doing his show this year and Tony hasn't written anything about these items.

That program has always kept things close to the vest but this is extreme this year.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm definitely on the train of not knowing why Stewart was activated. He seems like a good player but definitely the timing is odd. Can Stewart shoot?

Bethea getting no minutes baffles me. He was starting to adapt well on both ends. He has a lot of work to do shooting but what freshman doesn't.

Diop officially is just a big body Joe will use in dire need. He seems like he'll never have a role. If he ever was, last night would've been it with Tomiwa in foul trouble.

KJ... I just don't get Joe's love for him.

Brooks is very athletic but still raw on both ends. I understand him only getting 8 minutes.

IUP seeing zone yesterday will help Saturday BUT Hurst runs some very different zones compared to SH. That will be a war against Hurst.

Shawndale better start shooting better or stop shooting from deep.

Stewart nailed 4 treys in one game against IUP last year so he can definitely shoot. However, it appears he has a red light.

These whacky lineups aren't going to work Saturday.

I kind of suspect he plays 7-8 guys Saturday and that's it.

[IUPalum]

I'm definitely on the train of not knowing why Stewart was activated. He seems like a good player but definitely the timing is odd. Can Stewart shoot?

Bethea getting no minutes baffles me. He was starting to adapt well on both ends. He has a lot of work to do shooting but what freshman doesn't.

Diop officially is just a big body Joe will use in dire need. He seems like he'll never have a role. If he ever was, last night would've been it with Tomiwa in foul trouble.

KJ... I just don't get Joe's love for him.

Brooks is very athletic but still raw on both ends. I understand him only getting 8 minutes.

IUP seeing zone yesterday will help Saturday BUT Hurst runs some very different zones compared to SH. That will be a war against Hurst.

Shawndale better start shooting better or stop shooting from deep.

[Ship69]

Not a stellar performance last night but nonetheless it was a nice win. That game was pretty even, overall, for the the first 30 minutes.

IUP had a chance to really hammer SH in the first half but didn't capitalize. I thought IUP lost a lot of steam from the 10-minute mark of the first half through the 10-minute mark of the second half. The Griffins got some really fluke buckets in the first half which got them going.

While different, seeing at least a version of a 40-minute zone last night will help on Saturday.

IUP's outside shooting was off again last night. This is a problem area that has been a largely covered up by strong transition basketball. When you look at the stats they've only had two strong games from deep. They've had a couple average showings and a few awful ones. IUP shot an abysmal 6-27 last night -- which is the only reason that game stayed close much longer than it ever should have.

I can guarantee one thing ... the return game in Greensburg isn't going to be easy. Seton Hill, despite the final margin, left here with some confidence. They'll have the McKenna Center jam-packed for that game.

Switching gears, I'm still not clear on the Jaylen Stewart activation. The timing is odd. Nobody is injured. At most he's probably going to play 12-13 minutes. Don't get me wrong. It's a big help ... this is just very unlike anything we've ever seen from Joe in the past. Even stranger, Jaheim Bethea didn't play at all. Ousmane Diop also returned last night but didn't play. KJ logged 10 minutes and Brooks got just 8.

The minutes have been a strange bird this year. I suppose on one hand you could say Joe isn't used to having (now) 11 guys he can play. It makes the Stewart thing all the more perplexing -- especially since Bethea seemed to be coming on strong.

Yeah, the three-pointers can hurt you, especially if you meet a hot opponent as Ship did last night. East Stroud at one point was 9 of 12 from long-range land in the second half. At one point I think they made 5 or 6 in a row, almost all by different players. When Pepin, who killed Ship around the basket most of the night, went out and hit a couple of 3s it almost seemed unfair.

Interesting that Seton Hill used a zone for a while. Fite, of course, is a man-to-man disciple and that's worked for him, but I didn't think a zone look or two would have hurt against ESU last night, even if just to give them something else to think about a little bit. Ship usually has been able to overcome matchup problems in the past, but Pepin was just a step too far last night.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Not a stellar performance last night but nonetheless it was a nice win. That game was pretty even, overall, for the the first 30 minutes.

IUP had a chance to really hammer SH in the first half but didn't capitalize. I thought IUP lost a lot of steam from the 10-minute mark of the first half through the 10-minute mark of the second half. The Griffins got some really fluke buckets in the first half which got them going.

While different, seeing at least a version of a 40-minute zone last night will help on Saturday.

IUP's outside shooting was off again last night. This is a problem area that has been a largely covered up by strong transition basketball. When you look at the stats they've only had two strong games from deep. They've had a couple average showings and a few awful ones. IUP shot an abysmal 6-27 last night -- which is the only reason that game stayed close much longer than it ever should have.

I can guarantee one thing ... the return game in Greensburg isn't going to be easy. Seton Hill, despite the final margin, left here with some confidence. They'll have the McKenna Center jam-packed for that game.

Switching gears, I'm still not clear on the Jaylen Stewart activation. The timing is odd. Nobody is injured. At most he's probably going to play 12-13 minutes. Don't get me wrong. It's a big help ... this is just very unlike anything we've ever seen from Joe in the past. Even stranger, Jaheim Bethea didn't play at all. Ousmane Diop also returned last night but didn't play. KJ logged 10 minutes and Brooks got just 8.

The minutes have been a strange bird this year. I suppose on one hand you could say Joe isn't used to having (now) 11 guys he can play. It makes the Stewart thing all the more perplexing -- especially since Bethea seemed to be coming on strong.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I wouldn't call it pretty, but, nonetheless IUP hammered SH by 20+ and completely smothered its offense.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Seton Hill is a good team. Respect given.

[ironmaniup]

IUP 31
SH 25

Half

1) IUP out hustled
2) 8 of SH points were trash. 3 blocks accidentally went in and then the air ball rebound score at the half.

SHU’s screwy zone has iup confused too,

[IUPalum]

IUP 31
SH 25

Half

1) IUP out hustled
2) 8 of SH points were trash. 3 blocks accidentally went in and then the air ball rebound score at the half.

[IUPalum]

For what it's worth, IUP's game preview has Dallis Dillard back in the starting lineup.

Guess we’ll see in a few hours.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

For what it's worth, IUP's game preview has Dallis Dillard back in the starting lineup.

[IUPalum]

If IUP figures out that zone SH plays then IUP will win handedly. If not it will be a dag fight.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Seton Hill visits the KCAC tonight. This series has been a laugher the last several years, but tonight could be different.

This is the first Griffins' team since Tony Morocco retired that can punch back. Perhaps that isn't the right word to use, as we know Morocco's teams did like to punch and play dirty.

Interestingly, the stars of this '22-'23 team were largely their top players a year ago -- a team that finished 3-24.

Their new coach, Ben Wilkins, has completely -- and quickly -- elevated the program.

So, what will we see tonight? First and foremost, the Griffins feature three upperclassmen guards -- Drew Green, Samuel Tabe and Sean Dillon. Green and Tabe are both big (6'5" range) and Dillon is one of the top point guards in the PSAC. Ryan Meis is another guard who can get really hot from outside.

Under the basket, they have a strong combination with senior Jimmy Moon (6'9", 240 lbs) and freshman Gabe Gillespie (6'6", 215 lbs). Despite his size, Moon loves to play on the perimeter and is a strong shooter. Gillespie is a very aggressive small forward and is strong on the glass for his age.

Defensively, Seton Hill has switched this season to nearly a full-time zone. It seemed to catch teams off guard early in the season but as opponents are better-prepared, the Griffins have been giving up drastically more points of late (nearly 10 ppg more allowed in DEC compared to NOV).

Seton Hill enters the game a much-improved 6-5, but is just 1-4 in PSAC play. The Griffins, after a 5-0 start, have lost 5 of their past 6 games. The lone win, oddly, came against previously undefeated East Stroudsburg -- on a walk-off three-pointer by Dillon. Since the McKenna Center magic moment, however, Seton Hill has lost back to back games (both on the road at Kutztown and West Chester). They lost both by 14 points.

Here's an odd, but telling stat about their season so far:

In November, SH went 5-1 and scored 90.1 points per game.
In December, SH went 1-4 and scored 69.2 points per game.

You can't say it was all the level of competition because when they were rolling they had convincing wins against Notre Dame and Shippensburg. Nonetheless -- and whatever the reason -- their scoring took a nosedive the second month of the season -- 21 ppg less is a dramatic dip. In taking a deeper look in to the scoring decline, the glaring item is their deep shooting collapsed. They were on fire from deep in November but in December show 4-22, 5-24, 10-29, 11-27 and 2-24 from deep. Again, this could simply be their three-point shooting barrage caught teams off guard early in the season. As film came out, opponents were defending the trey much better.

Since the hot opening month -- and sprinkled around the ESU upset -- Seton Hill has lost all four games by double digits. My synopsis is the element of surprise vanished by December.

Regardless, this won't be a pushover. Joe hung some real big numbers on the Griffins the past several meetings. Add in the Jaylen Stewart transfer to IUP and this should be a highly motivated bunch tonight. Obviously winning inside the KCAC is a different matter -- likely the first actual crowd they've played in front of all year. If they can handle the heckling, etc., they should be able to hang around. Can their slumping offense hold up against IUP's relentless pressure? That will tell the tale.

Despite IUP owning a 16-1 series advantage, there's no love lost in this series. There's a history.