Re: Iup basketball
Uh-oh! The large dorsal fin has just broken above these placid waters! LOL.
-
-
Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
The tough 3-game road trip starts tomorrow night in the infamous Mercyhurst Athletic Center -- perhaps the oddest venue in the entire PSAC.
The Lakers don't lose at home a whole lot. The place takes some getting used to due to its claustrophobic feel, sight lines, etc. Most visitors take 10 minutes to adjust and then they are buried in the Triangle and Two. Luckily the majority of IUP players have played there in past seasons.
Over the past 5 years, IUP owns a 9-3 record against Mercyhurst (including 1-1 in the PSAC Tournament -- with each winning on the road). All the games have been close -- the largest margin being about 9 points.
The Lakers enter the game with an 8-3 record -- having dropped two straight (by a combined 3 points).
Mercyhurst has lost at East Stroudsburg, at Shippensburg and at home to Slippery Rock (2 OT). Their best wins are against Daemen (11-2), Lake Erie (8-6) and Kutztown (by 30 points in Erie).
Unlike most Lakers teams, this one can score the ball. A lot. As usual, they aren't giving many up, either. On the season, Mercyhurst is scoring 80.3 ppg while giving up just 61.3 ppg.
Stats:
3PT: 43% on 248 attempts.
FG: 49%
Rebounds: 36 per game to opponents' 33 per game
TO's: Lakers have forced 187 turnovers while committing 132. They also have 100 steals.
FT: 71%
They aren't an overly big team. IUP will have a huge size advantage on paper. But, they have a lot of guys who get after it hard. They are also deep. Nine players are averaging double digit minutes. In their losses at ESU and Shippensburg, they shot well below their season averages from outside and also lost the rebounds in both games. ESU jumped them in the first half and they didn't recover. That's typically what they do to people in their building.
Make no mistake, this is a huge game for both teams.
On a side note, the IUP ladies have had some struggles at Mercyhurst in the past.Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
God I'm glad those tools stay away from basketball talk!Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
I hate to break it to you but Joe is the leader of the alley-oop! Joe has them in the play book so they will continue whether you guys like them or not.
As far as as the "sharks in the water" that won't happen. They were up 22, you guys want them to go for the kill but guess what... won't necessarily happen. They don't lose focus boys, when they get up like that, these boys work on things that they might need down the road. All great teams do it!Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
That was a nice crowd of 2,222 last night.Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
Cut the low percentage plays and they can be an elite team. There's no weakness 1-8.
Willem putting that game together last night just gave opposing coaches yet another headache to prepare for against IUP.
He's also finally started going to his left and has adopted the Sleva head-down spin. Almost impossible to defend at his size and strength. He'll score or get fouled every time.
This is actually the second time I've posted about the alley-oops this year. I'd bet they are about 2 for 30 on the season -- two made and 28 turnovers. Joe should implement a new law that they are banned unless up more than 20 points. Lol.
Chucky also played well last night despite the relatively empty stat sheet. He is very quick and disruptive of defense. Personally I think he'd be a Day 1 starter at WR on the football team. A star, actually.
Let's not forget Greg Bearer. He's become an assassin. He's shooting 60 percent from trey land on the season.Leave a comment:
-
Re: Iup basketball
Just remember UPJ scores 90 ppg.
They were over-matched. Josh Wise was more concerned with his crowd battle than the game. The crowd had him rattled. And, it's pretty hard to score with Malik and Armoni on you all night. He's a great player but as I said today he's too emotional.
Willem was fantastic. That was the performance we've been waiting for out of him. He's capable of taking over like he did tonight. Cut him loose.
They were sloppy. Put the freaking alley-oop to bed. IUP kept UPJ in that game. Not the other way around. They should have hung a big number on them. I'm not being greedy. They just were real sloppy. It didn't matter tonight but a day will come that it does.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: