PSAC WEST

[IUPbigINDIANS]

He did well this year. I thought he was a stretch as a hire but he grew on me. He's a hot-head for sure.

[Golden89]

It was during live play. Must have been running his mouth pretty good.

The technical had awful timing. It was in one of GU's few runs in the game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Here you go, boys and girls. Straight from Las Vegas. Well, not really.


California at IUP - What a doubleheader at the KCAC tonight. Looking at the men's side, ... two tight, heated, chippy games this year. Yes, IUP won the first one by 17 points, but, that was a very close game with 5 minutes to play. IUP won the second meeting on the road by 9 points. That game was tied with a few minutes remaining. Round 3 should be no different. Both teams present a lot of challenges to the other. Both are well-coached. Both score from all levels. This game tonight comes down to the psychology. Can IUP match what's highly likely to be Cal's do-or-die intensity? Will Brent Pegram be able to keep the crowd out of his head (he didn't the first game). Without a doubt, this is the toughest game to pick on the board tonight -- IUP is certainly on UPSET ALERT. If it was last year's IUP team, there would probably be much more to worry about, mentally. This year's team is pretty resilient and mentally tough. This is a big stage for many of Cal's younger players -- for most, the biggest game of their college careers. Will they handle the bright lights? In what should be a legit 'playoff atmosphere' ... IUP finds a way to survive. They've been in these games before -- many times. It won't be easy. Crimson Hawks -3

Millersville at Shippensburg - It's hard to find an angle to favor Millersville in this game. Any. At all. The Marauders have been awful on the road this season. They were pretty much awful in both games against the Raiders, too. If the 'Ville can cling to something, it's the old adage of it being hard to beat a team three straight games. That's probably the Marauders' lone ray of hope. That said, Shippensburg just has too much to play for tonight. Aside from hosting the Final Four this weekend, the Raiders are in pretty good shape for an NCAA bid. A loss, however, could make things a bit messy. Pending something miraculous, Shippensburg should role in this one -- likely the easiest bet on the board. Raiders win. Big. Ship -14

UPJ at Mercyhurst - The trendy saying ... the worst team possible to play in a one-and-done is Mercyhurst. Add to it, having to play the Lakers in the MAC Bar and Grille is basically a death sentence. UPJ can be a dangerous team. They can score the basketball. However, nobody scores much in the offensive graveyard in Erie. The Mountain Cats won't get blown out tonight, but they won't win, either. Lakers pull away in the final 10 minutes. Mercyhurst -6

West Chester at East Stroudsburg - We just saw California turnaround on short notice after a loss to Gannon and then beat the Golden Knights. Can West Chester do the same? Perhaps, but, they better play a little defense. The Rams got torched by ESU this past Saturday. West Chester has a talented, deep roster. But, the Rams have been far too inconsistent to think they can go on the road and beat a hot Warriors' team. The odd, twisted tale of the 2019-20 Rams finally comes to a close tonight -- at the hands of a bitter rival. ESU wins comfortably. Warriors -12



Final Four predicition:

East Stroudsburg vs. IUP
Mercyhurst vs. (at) Shippensburg

[Ship69]

Round 2 of the men's tournament has some intriguing match-ups.

Interesting stat regarding the 'home' and 'away' records: The 'home' teams tomorrow night are 49-8 combined on their floors. The 'away' teams tomorrow night are a combined 25-29 this season on the road. These hosts ... aren't very good hosts to visitors. Also, all four games tomorrow were 'sweeps' in the regular season. Third time is the charm, right? Sometimes. It's never easy beating a team three straight.

California at IUP
- Crimson Hawks swept season series (86-69 at KCAC and 79-70 at Angelo Dome)
- The Vulcans blew an early 18-point lead in Indiana and ultimately lost by 17
- IUP is 15-0 at home this season. Cal is 9-7 away from Angelo's dome.
- The Hawks have all but officially clinched an NCAA bid. California is still technically alive but must keep winning.
- Both games this year - particularly the first one - have been pretty chippy
- Danny Sancomb is 0-4 career vs Joe Lombardi
- IUP has won the past 13 meetings in the series. Cal's last win was on Jan. 18, 2014.

UPJ at Mercyhurst
- Lakers swept the season series (82-74 in Johnstown and 73-64 in Erie)
- Last 15 meetings: Mercyhurst is 8-7 against UPJ
- In the earlier game inside the MAC, the Lakers hit 14-26 treys while UPJ hit just 6-18.
- UPJ has averaged just 69 ppg against the Lakers this season - 13 ppg below its season average of 82
- Lakers are 12-2 in the MAC this season. UPJ is 7-5 on the road.

Millersville at Shippensburg
- Raiders swept the season series (76-65 at Ship and 87-66 at Millersville)
- Neither meeting was very close. The Raiders blew out to a huge lead in the first one prior to the Marauders making it look a little better in the end).
- Shippensburg is 11-4 at home this year. Millersville is 3-11 on the road (and 11-3 at home).
- Millersville has lost 5 straight in the series

West Chester at East Stroudsburg
- ESU swept the season series (91-85 at WCU and 103-87 at ESU)
- The latest win was this past Saturday
- Warriors have won 3 straight in the series -- and 21 of the past 30 meetings
- ESU is still alive for an NCAA bid
- Warriors are 11-2 at home this season. WCU is 6-6 on the road.

Ship breaks your trend somewhat in that they actually have a better record away (11-2) than at home.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Well, good for Sancomb for getting his players to believe it because it certainly worked to get his players fired up. I'm sure they are being told that Lombardi said that they will win by 40 and has scouts at the WC / Stroudsburg game.

The players didn't say Sancomb told them anything. They said THEY personally heard it from KJ. That's a big difference.

Maybe they are lying but idd Sancomb (as the coach) didn't interrupt them at all. Odd press conference.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

KJ got a technical halfway through the second half, maybe it has something to do with that. Does anyone know why ?

It was during live play. Must have been running his mouth pretty good.

The technical had awful timing. It was in one of GU's few runs in the game.

[ironmaniup]

Well, good for Sancomb for getting his players to believe it because it certainly worked to get his players fired up. I'm sure they are being told that Lombardi said that they will win by 40 and has scouts at the WC / Stroudsburg game.

KJ got a technical halfway through the second half, maybe it has something to do with that. Does anyone know why ?

[Golden89]

Extremely interesting comments made at the Cal post-game press conference last night. At the table was Danny Sancomb, Zyan Colins and Brent Pegram.

Pegram really called out GU coach Kelvin Jefferson. He said KJ said GU was supposed to beat Cal by 30 points and that they heard GU had already started prep work for IUP. Collins said KJ was disrespectful to Cal's players. Sancomb sat right beside them while they said this stuff and didn't say anything. It was real clear they all three had some serious animosity toward KJ.

Sancomb (paraphrase) said they are coming up to IUP to win the game tomorrow night and that they will be loose ... all the pressure is on IUP. He said they've played IUP very close both games and just haven't been able to finish. He complimented IUP's program saying that to beat them you really have to beat them ... they don't give any games to you.


It was a good press conference ... not the typical blah blah blah coach and player speak. It's not often you hear players take shots at an opposing coach. You can watch the full interview on Cal U Athletics Twitter.

Well, good for Sancomb for getting his players to believe it because it certainly worked to get his players fired up. I'm sure they are being told that Lombardi said that they will win by 40 and has scouts at the WC / Stroudsburg game.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

More feisty comments from last night ...

This one from Slippery Rock AD Paul Lueken (via his Twitter page and re-Tweeted by Rock Rowdies):

"Hard to win in PSAC when they make it a foul shooting contest for one team. Good year @RockBasketball. Sometimes officiating in our league just leaves you scratching your head. And as officials say, stop fouling, and my reply, call it when Micah (Till) gets smacked, but not all year."




Inside the boxscore:

FT's
UPJ (25-27)
SRU (11-14)



Here's a little conspiracy theory for ya ... the head official from IUP vs. UPJ this past Saturday night took a two-hour smack-down on the court from Bob Rukavina during UPJ's loss to IUP. Guess who worked the UPJ game last night? And, guess who allegedly got all the calls? Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.


It is very poor official scheduling. They should NEVER work the same team twice in a row.

[CALUPA69]

Extremely interesting comments made at the Cal post-game press conference last night. At the table was Danny Sancomb, Zyan Colins and Brent Pegram.

Pegram really called out GU coach Kelvin Jefferson. He said KJ said GU was supposed to beat Cal by 30 points and that they heard GU had already started prep work for IUP. Collins said KJ was disrespectful to Cal's players. Sancomb sat right beside them while they said this stuff and didn't say anything. It was real clear they all three had some serious animosity toward KJ.

Sancomb (paraphrase) said they are coming up to IUP to win the game tomorrow night and that they will be loose ... all the pressure is on IUP. He said they've played IUP very close both games and just haven't been able to finish. He complimented IUP's program saying that to beat them you really have to beat them ... they don't give any games to you.


It was a good press conference ... not the typical blah blah blah coach and player speak. It's not often you hear players take shots at an opposing coach. You can watch the full interview on Cal U Athletics Twitter.

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1mrGmQjQEnkGy

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Extremely interesting comments made at the Cal post-game press conference last night. At the table was Danny Sancomb, Zyan Colins and Brent Pegram.

Pegram really called out GU coach Kelvin Jefferson. He said KJ said GU was supposed to beat Cal by 30 points and that they heard GU had already started prep work for IUP. Collins said KJ was disrespectful to Cal's players. Sancomb sat right beside them while they said this stuff and didn't say anything. It was real clear they all three had some serious animosity toward KJ.

Sancomb (paraphrase) said they are coming up to IUP to win the game tomorrow night and that they will be loose ... all the pressure is on IUP. He said they've played IUP very close both games and just haven't been able to finish. He complimented IUP's program saying that to beat them you really have to beat them ... they don't give any games to you.


It was a good press conference ... not the typical blah blah blah coach and player speak. It's not often you hear players take shots at an opposing coach. You can watch the full interview on Cal U Athletics Twitter.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Round 2 of the men's tournament has some intriguing match-ups.

Interesting stat regarding the 'home' and 'away' records: The 'home' teams tomorrow night are 49-8 combined on their floors. The 'away' teams tomorrow night are a combined 25-29 this season on the road. These hosts ... aren't very good hosts to visitors. Also, all four games tomorrow were 'sweeps' in the regular season. Third time is the charm, right? Sometimes. It's never easy beating a team three straight.

California at IUP
- Crimson Hawks swept season series (86-69 at KCAC and 79-70 at Angelo Dome)
- The Vulcans blew an early 18-point lead in Indiana and ultimately lost by 17
- IUP is 15-0 at home this season. Cal is 9-7 away from Angelo's dome.
- The Hawks have all but officially clinched an NCAA bid. California is still technically alive but must keep winning.
- Both games this year - particularly the first one - have been pretty chippy
- Danny Sancomb is 0-4 career vs Joe Lombardi
- IUP has won the past 13 meetings in the series. Cal's last win was on Jan. 18, 2014.

UPJ at Mercyhurst
- Lakers swept the season series (82-74 in Johnstown and 73-64 in Erie)
- Last 15 meetings: Mercyhurst is 8-7 against UPJ
- In the earlier game inside the MAC, the Lakers hit 14-26 treys while UPJ hit just 6-18.
- UPJ has averaged just 69 ppg against the Lakers this season - 13 ppg below its season average of 82
- Lakers are 12-2 in the MAC this season. UPJ is 7-5 on the road.

Millersville at Shippensburg
- Raiders swept the season series (76-65 at Ship and 87-66 at Millersville)
- Neither meeting was very close. The Raiders blew out to a huge lead in the first one prior to the Marauders making it look a little better in the end).
- Shippensburg is 11-4 at home this year. Millersville is 3-11 on the road (and 11-3 at home).
- Millersville has lost 5 straight in the series

West Chester at East Stroudsburg
- ESU swept the season series (91-85 at WCU and 103-87 at ESU)
- The latest win was this past Saturday
- Warriors have won 3 straight in the series -- and 21 of the past 30 meetings
- ESU is still alive for an NCAA bid
- Warriors are 11-2 at home this season. WCU is 6-6 on the road.

[bballfan03]

Scorers. He has shooters, he needs scorers.

[bballfan03]

After gannon lost to UPJ and Hurst and both teams hit halftime buzzer shots, I marked down their record when that happened... finished season 0-5 when opposing team his a a shot to end half and 1-0 when gannon did so.

[Golden89]

Anybody know what time the Saturday games will be played this weekend?