Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

59-53 IUP

7:50 left

[IUPbigINDIANS]

16:04 left

IUP on 11-0 run

IUP 50
Mercyhurst 38

Lakers (4) fouls so far 2nd half

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Sulaiman had a huge half with 6 points and being a menace. Polce had two big treys.

David got to the half with 2 fouls and sat a good bit. He should be good to go so long as he stays clean.

Demo ... time to go.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

38-33 IUP at half

Clean things up and up by 12

Drop the hammer. It's there.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

David 2nd foul. Whole game gonna change now.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Timeout Gary. He's not happy.

12-2 IUP to start.

Keep it up.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Good start


Note that GQ is one of the officials.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Is this game at 7pm or 730pm?

Schedule says 7pm

Broadcast says 730pm

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some keys and obstacles for IUP tonight at Mercyhurst:

* IUP isn't facing some young or also-ran coach tonight. Gary Manchel knows IUP's style better than probably anybody aside from Joe Lombardi. How will he try and exploit Joe's current lineup?

* IUP has won 9 of the past 12 meetings in the series. Most recently, the two split during the 2019-2020 season - with each winning at home. Of note, IUP was short-handed in its loss in Erie that year as Chucky Humphries was out. That gets mentioned because Manchel did a phenomenal job that day of exploiting IUP's lineup weakness. That could be a theme tonight.

* Manchel and Joe have shown over the years a notion to sell out on top scorers and essentially ignore other players on defense. I'd suspect they sell out on Armoni Foster tonight. They will likely 'dork' (as coaches call it) whomever is IUP's 3rd guard on the floor. That means others, in particular Tommy Demogerontas, need to exploit this match-up.

* The Lakers have been playing small-ball most the season -- starting (4) guards and (1) small forward (essentially another big guard in this case). This could backfire against a talented IUP post. IUP's starting bigs shoot more deep shots than most guards in the league. It's going to be hard for the Lakers' 6'0" guards to cover the 6'9" Ethan Porterfield and the 6'8" Demogerontas on the perimeter.

* Joe has been harping this the past several games, but IUP has to start strong tonight. Mercyhurst hasn't faced a whole lot of adversity this year. And, a fast start exploits that match-up zone a bit. A week ago, IUP made a huge comeback against California, but doing that against the Lakers' defense will be a whole different climb. Mercyhurst likes to get that lead and then suffocate its opponent.

* Clean the glass. Ethan, Tommy and Tomiwa Sulaiman need to get angry under there tonight. The outcomes of these IUP/Mercyhurst games typically come down to second-chance points.

* IUP's bench has to score 8-10 points tonight. This is a must.
- Polce has to stay clean. They need him on the floor tonight for 27 minutes.

* Joe's been wanting to play slow, but that's exactly what Mercyhurst wants you to do. It will be interesting to see how Joe has IUP push the pace.

* The things IUP can control:
- Limit the foolish turnovers. Mercyhurst will force turnovers. It's what they specialize in. But, don't give them any freebies (wild, long passes).
- No dumb fouls. There's not much of a bench. IUP gets in foul trouble in the starting lineup and, well, it won't end well.
- Don't let off the gas. IUP started hot against Lock Haven and then basically fell asleep.
- Get Sulaiman minutes. The more he plays, the better he plays. He's the bruiser (muscle) on this team. He's the next to explode -- much like David did over the past three games. They don't need him to score much, but he brings everything else. If he starts catching the fancy passes, his scoring average would likely be 6 points higher.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some updated stats for the new rotation (this does not count the Pitt-Greensburg stat-pad game ... only the five D2 games)

These numbers include the post-Shawndale games (Millersville, Shepherd, Shippensburg, @California and @Lock Haven).

PPG - 73.8
PPG Against - 63.8

Scoring breakdown:

PLAYER	PPG
Armoni Foster	19.4
David Morris	14.0
Kyle Polce	2.2
Ethan Porterfield	19.8
Tommy Demogerontas	11.0
REST OF BENCH	7.4

Some positives:

* After scoring just 6 and 5 points in the first two games of this stretch, Morris's output has exploded. The past three games he's went for 17, 22 and 20. So, it certainly appears he's transitioning to his new role as a scorer. His last three game films are going to make teams well aware he's capable of big nights.

* Many may not realize it, but Ethan Porterfield is leading the PSAC in 3-pt percentage -- hitting 50% on 56 attempts. That's a nice luxury to have in a 6'9" D2 Center.

* The obvious scoring dip is the 5th starter (Polce) and the bench, combined, are scoring just 9.6 ppg. Getting that up to even 15 ppg would be an incredible boost to the main four scorers.

* Team scoring has dropped about 25 ppg compared to the first (7) games. The defense was giving up in the low 60s during the first (7) games and has remained steady on overall average (largely due to holding Shepherd to just 46 points and Millersville to just 58 points). The last three outings they have given up 72, 71 and 72 points.

* IUP's FT percentage has improved to 80% during this span

* On the positive, a lot of this lineups defensive issues are correctable -- and have mostly been self-inflicted.

* Turnovers have actually come down to 13.8 per game, but that's mostly the result of a much slower pace and less possessions. They can easily cut 3-4 per game by reducing the high-risk long passes. These wild passes have been a disaster post-Shawndale.

[Scrub]

Unless about 80 of those 113 were all seated behind the cameras ... they must have counted the players, coaches and officials in that number.

Of course, a 1 p.m. tip on a work day isn't too likely to draw well.

I'm always curious about the counts. At some places it seems they have their thumb on the scale (like yesterday perhaps). Other times--such as most WLU games--it feels like they undercount. There are many WLU games where it's a virtual packed house and the number comes back at, say, 550 or something like that. It's almost like they counted tickets not heads (but students, staff, & VIP donors not needing tickets means that 550 tickets was probably more like 1200 heads). It'd be nice if there were a standard and that standard were followed.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It's funny that they weren't afraid to let all those rabid Clarion fans in the house. Lol

The box score listed 113 as yesterday's attendance, so if 120 show up for IUP, I guess it'll be a "packed house."

Unless about 80 of those 113 were all seated behind the cameras ... they must have counted the players, coaches and officials in that number.

Of course, a 1 p.m. tip on a work day isn't too likely to draw well.

[Scrub]

In a gym that size 60 fans can still make a difference.

Heck, 120 would be a big crowd at some PSAC schools. Lol

The timing, however, is very suspect -- especially when they had a home game today.

It's funny that they weren't afraid to let all those rabid Clarion fans in the house. Lol

The box score listed 113 as yesterday's attendance, so if 120 show up for IUP, I guess it'll be a "packed house."

[IUPbigINDIANS]

In a gym that size 60 fans can still make a difference.

Heck, 120 would be a big crowd at some PSAC schools. Lol

The timing, however, is very suspect -- especially when they had a home game today.

[IUPalum]