Iup basketball

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Armoni to the locker room again.

Looked like he landed weird on dunk.

Could be another cramp. First game and all. Hope so, anyway.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

94-79 Illini

Final

Great atmosphere ... not many sellouts in exhibitions..

Armoni came back at the end. LOOKED to be walking fine.

[IUPalum]

[Chuck Norris]

Great showing. Good to have IUP basketball back.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Think we avoided two major injury scares with David and Armoni. Thank goodness.

I didn't look at the box yet. Certainly some Game 1 items. FTs were bad. Deep ball got better in second half. It was pretty competitive when IUP had starting lineup ... which was less than half the game.

Tough opponent for first game lol.

Guard depth is a little concerning at this stage. IUP did force a ton of TOs.

Shawndale with 25. He played great. David had 15 ... strong outing.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some really nice performances Friday night against Illinois.

Shawndale Jones went for 25 points (10-18 FG, 5-7 FT) while grabbing 4 rebounds and 2 assists. This was his first game since his PSAC Tournament MVP performance in 2019.

Dave Morris, my opinion, had his best game as a Crimson Hawk -- putting up 15 points, 5 assists, 7 rebounds. He looked in complete control, poised and also played a strong defensive game. Most importantly, he avoided a late-game injury that looked pretty bad when it happened. He has really evolved in to a floor general.

Armoni Foster went for 13 points in just 17 minutes -- and looked like one of the best players on the floor early in the game. He had a tough night with some fluke injuries. Hopefully he's healed up for the opener.

Ethan Porterfield had the toughest assignment likely of his career in monstrous Illinois center Kofi Cockburn. He did well, finishing with 10 points, 4 steals, 5 rebounds 2 blocks and 2 assists.


Looks like the rotation (my opinion) is pretty much set.

Starters: Armoni, Morris, Porterfield, Shawndale and Demo.

Subs: Diop, Sulaiman and Radford


Of note: K.J. Rhodes only got 4 minutes (at the end) so unless he's banged up it doesn't appear he'll be in the regular rotation this year. Kyle Polce actually came in ahead of him. Polce is a redshirt candidate so we'll see how that develops.

All in all, I don't think Joe could have asked for any more for an October game against a superior opponent. Very promising.

[Scrub]

I just hope none of your guys bought any memorabilia off of Kofi after the game!

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...el-memorabilia

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I just hope none of your guys bought any memorabilia off of Kofi after the game!

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...el-memorabilia

First two games won't matter but that third one at Marquette they will miss him.

Kind of a messy situation and I can see Illinois' beef. He did declare for the draft. Then he entered the portal. Then came back to Illinois. So, they were trying to say he wasn't in the program during that period, etc.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Not much buzz around town for opening weekend. Not sure many people know the season starts in 4 days.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Now that rosters are known, polls are out, exhibitions have been played, etc., ... taking a quick re-visit to the non-conference and crossover schedule.


West Virginia Wesleyan - Picked last in the MEC. Certainly appears to be a 'tune up' game.

Concord - Picked mid-level in the MEC. Well-coached with many upperclassmen returning. Some nice guards and size. Won't be an easy one. Past two visits have been tight.

Le Moyne - Traditionally a very strong program and a tough game.

@ Bowie State - Picked 3rd in CIAA poll with (2) first place votes. Never an easy game down there.

Virginia State - Picked 4th in CIAA poll with (2) first place votes. Previous two meetings have come down to the wire with the teams splitting. Expect no different this year. Very well-coached program.

Salem - Went 6-6 in an abbreviated schedule last year ... went 18-8 in 2019-20. Some big boys on the current roster.

CROSSOVER

@ Kutztown - Bears being picked 5th in East may turn in to a what the heck moment. Looked very strong in 2-point loss to Rider. Moe Williams is elite (27 and 11 vs. Rider).
@ West Chester - Tough back-to-back road trip. Rams are always tough in their building.

Shepherd - IUP struggled with the Rams in 2019 before pulling it out late.
Shippensburg - Preseason East/West favorites.

@ Lock Haven - Lot of new faces.




This isn't an easy first 6-7 weeks. I'd say at least (7) opponents with legit postseason hopes.

[IUPalum]

Not much buzz around town for opening weekend. Not sure many people know the season starts in 4 days.

Joe better start spreading the word and pack the house!!!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Joe better start spreading the word and pack the house!!!

I'm interested to see what the attendance does. It was really rolling there in 2019. Joe had a streak of (6) straight games over 3,100+

The 2019 Opening Weekend (against these same two teams) had a bad gate. They got 2,123 Friday night for WVW but it dropped to just 675 for Concord. IUP did have a home football game that same day so it certainly played a part. That won't be an issue this year as they are away (and, far enough away that few will travel ... not to mention out of the playoff race).


If I had to guess, I'd say they get over 2,000 for both games -- but, barely. IUP has done next to no marketing for this season. It's been awful, actually.

[IUPalum]

I'm interested to see what the attendance does. It was really rolling there in 2019. Joe had a streak of (6) straight games over 3,100+

The 2019 Opening Weekend (against these same two teams) had a bad gate. They got 2,123 Friday night for WVW but it dropped to just 675 for Concord. IUP did have a home football game that same day so it certainly played a part. That won't be an issue this year as they are away (and, far enough away that few will travel ... not to mention out of the playoff race).


If I had to guess, I'd say they get over 2,000 for both games -- but, barely. IUP has done next to no marketing for this season. It's been awful, actually.

I ws there that weekend in 2019. It was actually pretty darn good competition. I got 4 games in that weekend. Steelers/Panthers Thursday, 2 IUP basketball and IUP football. Great stuff...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I ws there that weekend in 2019. It was actually pretty darn good competition. I got 4 games in that weekend. Steelers/Panthers Thursday, 2 IUP basketball and IUP football. Great stuff...

Yeah I remember that first half against WVW. They came out and dunked five on IUP in the first half and had the lead at intermission. I'd guess the big guy wasn't real happy. IUP ended up blowing them out.

Year before when Tommy Bolte was a senior at Concord that was a great game. IUP won late. May got T'd up at the end. Crowd rode him hard all night.

[IUPalum]

Is there going to be a TV broadcast for the games this weekend??? I see no links and I don't even see links for a radio broadcast. Any insight???