Iup basketball

[Ship69]

Well ... Fite wanted to recruit Sleva to IUP. Joe didn't want him. Fite left and signed Sleva.

Imagine Cobo Diaz and Dustin Sleva as teammates. Joe may have won two national titles.

It almost happened. Literally. It was real close.

In Joe's defense ... Sleva was like 6'4" in high school and weighed about 90 pounds. He had an incredible growth spurt in college.

Well, that was certainly a case where Fite's philosophy worked out. Other times not as well. There are certainly different ways to build a good team, and IUP's way obviously has worked out for them. Fite's major task next year will be finding a replacement for Castello, who is a prime example of a player whose value doesn't always show up in the box score. He might have to find another transfer to do that.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Central Missouri just added Marshall grad transfer Ante Sustic (6'11", 230 lbs). One semester to play. When there was talk of a mid-year transfer ... he's exactly what they could have used.

[Ship69]

Central Missouri just added Marshall grad transfer Ante Sustic (6'11", 230 lbs). One semester to play. When there was talk of a mid-year transfer ... he's exactly what they could have used.

That's certainly more size than you usually see in the PSAC.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's certainly more size than you usually see in the PSAC.

He's a big boy. However, at that size ... they come down here for a reason. The mid-year transfer is a risky proposition in regard to team unity, etc. But ... sometimes you really need to do it.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

A look ahead to Lock Haven's visit tomorrow night ...

Record: 4-5
PPG: 80.2 (70 ppg allowed)

As Joe eluded to last week, this is an interesting game. Forget the 4-5 record. It's deceiving. This will be a formidable test.

Lock Haven has had some bad showings this season against weak competition, but it has played its best against good teams. For instance: tight losses at Cal (73-70) and Slippery Rock (75-70), along with a tragic, 96-92, OT loss to Pitt-Johnstown in their last outing. Tragic, because the Bald Eagles blew a 26-point lead.

This game will be a scorekeepers dream. Each team only plays 6-7 guys.

Lock Haven's weakness is its bench. They hardly use it at all. But, the starting five is very strong. Two 6'4" upperclassmen guards lead the way. Matt Cerruti (18.4 ppg) and Christian Kelly (20.3 ppg) have played as well as any duo in the league so far this season -- and both play nearly 40 minutes a game. The Bald Eagles also have two big, physical post players in Jesse McPherson (6'7", 215 lbs) and Nasir Campbell (6'7", 225 lbs). McPherson plays both guard and forward and is putting in 12 points a game. Campbell is averaging just under a double-double. As a duo, they are going to cause IUP some headaches under the basket. Cerruti and Kelly smoked UPJ for 27 and 28 points.

And, of course, the fifth starter is an old 'friend' of the IUP program ... Seton Hill cast-off Trevor Lecuona. For those with short memories, he was the instigator of the famous 'goon game' in Greensburg two years ago. He is a serviceable point guard and is a documented Grade-A agitator.

The weaknesses:

* Short bench - They don't go to the bench a whole lot and when they do not much scoring comes from it. Key reserve guard Eli Washington was getting about 19 mpg but has missed the past two games.
* 3-point shooting - Much like IUP, the deep shot has been pretty bad thus far. And, much like IUP, they keep chucking it regardless. LH is hitting 29% for the season on 213 attempts.
* Turnovers - 15 per game. IUP's stingy defense should be able to create a lot of turnovers in this one. LH likes to run and get 'playground-ish' during games. That said, they get to the FT line a ton.

Quick Notes:

* First of two home games in a four-day stretch. Mercyhurst visits Monday night.
* IUP has won (at least) 10 straight in the Lock Haven series
* IUP is 13-50 from deep in its past two games. IUP's most dominant win this season (80-56 over East Stroudsburg) ... was the game IUP shot its least amount of 3-pointers (7-16)
* The Hawks were called for 24 fouls at Shippensburg -- nearly 10 more than their season average. Ship went 27-31 at the line. IUP was just 12-16.
* IUP had its worst shooting performance of the year at Shippensburg, hitting just 40% from the floor and 6-25 from deep.
* Shawndale Jones scored just 6 points (combined) in his past two games. He's playing out of position but they need him more involved in the offense.
* Speaking of more involved, David Morris has been shooting the ball really well ... think it may be time to cut him loose a bit more. He also had 0 turnovers in 33 minutes at Ship. The team had 13 but the point guard had none. Odd stat.
* Chucky is another one with a nice shot and he's a strong finisher at the basket. He could be getting more scoring opportunities. IUP has hit just 83 of 257 (32%) deep shots. Perhaps it's time for a change of strategy a bit. Let Morris play to his strength. This roster right now could be an elite drive and pop team. Malik may be the best creator in the league.
* These games are all big the rest of the way. This is a must-win game for IUP with Mercyhurst, at SRU and at Gannon on tap for next week.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Inside the resume ... a look back on IUP's season to date and how its opponents have done up to this point. This graph will also include IUP's opponents' best wins on the season (recall there is a category or O.O.W.%). Bethany, D3, is not calculated in the record below.

OPPONENT	RESULT	Record	Best Win
West Virginia Wesleyan	W	4-7	@ West Liberty
Concord	W	4-7	UPJ, Charleston
@ Le Moyne	W	8-4	@ New Haven, @ Mercyhurst
Bloomsburg	W	5-6	UPJ
East Stroudsburg	W	7-3	Virginia Union, Mercyhurst
Felician	W	4-7	Dominican (NY)
@ Mansfield	W	3-7	No wins over .500 teams
Bethany	W	D3	D3
@ Shepherd	W	6-5	Bowie State, Slippery Rock
@ Shippensburg	L	8-3	Virginia Union, SRU, Cal, IUP
TOTAL	9-1	49-49	@ Le Moyne, ESU, @ Shepherd

This was definitely a lighter schedule than years past. Keep in mind, Lake Erie College and Bridgeport were both scheduled -- and both bailed out. Lake Erie is currently 9-6 after cancelling on IUP and taking a game at Clarion instead. Bridgeport is currently 9-2. So, those two cancellations really swung our opponents' overall record. Essentially, those two games were replaced at the last minute by Felician. Fairmont State was also listed on the first schedule IUP released, but the game quickly was deleted. FSU then played a D1 exhibition on that date.

But, with the strength of the West this year, SOS isn't a concern. Consider they have Slippery Rock, UPJ, Mecyhurst and California each twice. Le Moyne is past its tough non-conference schedule and should cruise through its league. ESU is putting together a nice run and the win at Shepherd was a strong road victory. West Virginia Wesleyan's record is just baffling.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe wins a run-away, 93-68 ... not near as close as that final score.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lecuona got shutout in his final game against IUP.


Somewhere Anthony Glover is smiling.

[ironmaniup]

Lecuona got shutout in his final game against IUP.


Somewhere Anthony Glover is smiling.

Pretty sure I saw him at the Rite-aid yesterday, so maybe he enjoyed that in person.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Chucky had four blocks last night -- three of which were highlight film worthy. Those three came on three straight Lock Haven possesions.

Ethan really bounced back night with a huge game on both ends. He finished with 17 but likely would have been around 25 had Joe not made the smart decison to get those guys on the bench as much as possible in the second half.

It's amazing how different they look when Shawndale is involved in the offense. He went for 19 last night after being a non-factor in the previous two games.

Armoni and Malik went for 20 and 19.

Only complaint of the night is Shawn Ulrich should have played more than 15 minutes. He's a beast on the glass. The area he needs work is his first reaction once he gets the rebound. With his jumping ability and size (6'8", 245 lbs) he's quite a load down there.

Anthony White was not at the game last night. That makes a short bench even shorter.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

For better or worse, Mercyhurst comes to town tomorrow.

People talk about games with other programs as rivalry games. Some are to an extent, but, for the past decade anyway, no team has been a bigger thorn to IUP than Mercyhurst. And, of course, IUP has been a major pain to them, too.

Since 2011, IUP leads the series 14-9 (including postseason). IUP has won 8 of the past 10 meetings in the series. A year ago, each team won on the road during the regular season. IUP defeated Mercyhurst at the KCAC to win the PSAC Championship. A week later, Mercyhurst knocked IUP out of the NCAAs in Round 2.

Both teams are very different this season. Ironically, both lost their top post player early in the season (for the season).

The Lakers are off to a somewhat shaky start at 6-4. Losses: at Daemen (67-65), at West Chester (83-80), Le Moyne (76-66) and at East Stroudsburg (83-64).

Mercyhurst blew late (very late) leads against nationally ranked Daemen and West Chester.

The Lakers are scoring 78.5 ppg and giving up just 68.6. The 68.6 ppg allowed is actually a little high for them compared to past years.

The facets of the game they will cause IUP the most problems in are very familiar -- The Lakers are hitting about 42 percent from deep (and seemingly always shoot the lights out inside the KCAC), and, of course, the Triangle and Two defense (which has caused IUP issues for 10 years). Proof? IUP has scored just 63 ppg against Mercyhurst in the past 23 meetings. Amazingly, they've won 14 of those games.

The biggest difference between this edition of the Lakers compared to previous years is this unit isn't dominating the boards. Mercyhurst is just +0.6 on the glass.

This series has become one of those 'throw out the records' type.

These two teams go to war every time they play. It's probably the only coaching rivalry left in the West. Aside from Kevin Reynolds, no visiting coach gets the KCAC as excited as Gary Manchal. And, of course, Manchal has out-coached Joe here in a couple games. Remember the infamous ending at the KCAC last year during the regular season?

Usually I say whichever team gets to 65 points will win this game. I'll be a little more bold with this one. First to 68. Maybe 67.

[Scrub]

Yikes--is your feed always this difficult to watch? It's jumping all over the place--totally unwatchable. (Plus, your student announcers should probably at least know their own players' names--even I know his name isn't Amari Foster and I don't attend IUP).

[IUPalum]

It's been bad the last few games. Don't know the issue all of a sudden and yes, the announcers stink!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe just Mercyerhurst'd the Lakers. Fantastic defensive effort.

[IUPalum]

Big win... couple things stick out to me. Malik 8 turnovers, 26% from 3.