The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Big one at the MAC Center on Wednesday. The Flashes wrap up a 3 game conference home-stand against the Rockets. Toledo enters at 10-7 overall, 2-2 in the Mid American Conference. The Rockets have talent.

Three seniors, point guard Juice Brown, along with forwards J.D. Weatherspoon and Justin Drummond stir the drink for UT.

Brown averages just under 16 points per night and is among the MAC's top assist men with 77 on the season. Weatherspoon averages 13.6 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with a 7.7 average. Weatherspoon is tough match up for just about every team UT plays. He scored 14 against Duke on 6 of 8 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds in that game. Drummond (6'4 200) comes in scoring 12 points per game.

6'9 junior Nathan Boothe is one of my favorite MAC players. Boothe scores 8 per night, grabs 5 boards and is one of the best shot blockers in the MAC. 6'3 sophomore guard Jonathan Williams is another Rocket to watch (10 points per night/loves to shoot).

No doubt KSU will have their hands full vs. UT. Hall will be a key. Staying out of foul trouble and letting the game come to him will be a big part of the Flashes' success. It will also be interesting to see who KSU sends at Brown. I assume it will be DJ. If he gets hot defensively, Kent could be cooking with heat.

Here's to a KSU - K.O. How does 70-67 good guys sound? KB scores 15 and the news is good from the MAC Center.

Flashes open as 1.5 favorites.

Wonder if the KB haters will quiet down now. Kid is balling tonight.

I just want to say this team leaves a lot to be desired! Basically a 3 game lead right now over Toledo as we are 4-1 and they are 2-3 and we will own the tiebreaker.

Ball State is next!!!

We do play Toledo again, so we would need to win at UT to get a tiebreaker. Looks like we might rather have a tiebreaker with CMU!

(01-21-2015 09:14 PM)axeme Wrote:  We do play Toledo again, so we would need to win at UT to get a tiebreaker. Looks like we might rather have a tiebreaker with CMU!

Gotcha. I didn't consult the schedule. Looks like a team from NE Ohio may not be so lucky to leave DeKalb with a win.

Very nice win tonight. Hall had a rough night as the center from Toledo had some size and was able to shut him down. Brewer picked up the offensive slack though and pulled us through. The missed foul shots could have cost us but luckily Toledo missed a bunch also.

Anybody know why the local station didn't carry the game tonight (or at least the post game)? Never happened before. I left the game with 7 seconds left and when I got to the car a political talk show was on.

640 WHLO carried the game. I went to get dinner and was able to listen to the broadcast while I was away from my computer.

Evidently the broadcast cut off with about three minutes to go. The zips game also went off for a little while at about the same time. Very odd!

(01-21-2015 10:08 PM)FlashintheFan Wrote:  Evidently the broadcast cut off with about three minutes to go. The zips game also went off for a little while at about the same time. Very odd!

Thanks. That explains it.

This win was basically due to a fine defensive effort. You knew Jackson was going to make life tough on Brown but the guy I am most thankful for tonight (and at this time LY I was thinking he was here to simply fill out the roster) is Marquis Lawrence. This guy is one tough SOB as witnessed by his getting up into the grill on everyone he guards and swatting shots from all angles.

This team is now playing the tough brand of D that started with Gary Waters and basically put KSU on the BB map! I'm impressed!

(01-21-2015 10:37 PM)burden Wrote:  

(01-21-2015 10:08 PM)FlashintheFan Wrote:  Evidently the broadcast cut off with about three minutes to go. The zips game also went off for a little while at about the same time. Very odd!

Thanks. That explains it.

I think it was an IMG issue.

(01-21-2015 10:38 PM)Old School Flash Wrote:  This win was basically due to a fine defensive effort. You knew Jackson was going to make life tough on Brown but the guy I am most thankful for tonight (and at this time LY I was thinking he was here to simply fill out the roster) is Marquis Lawrence. This guy is one tough SOB as witnessed by his getting up into the grill on everyone he guards and swatting shots from all angles.

This team is now playing the tough brand of D that started with Gary Waters and basically put KSU on the BB map! I'm impressed!

Agreed. We are playing some really good defense right now. Although the other side of the coin, in an article I read yesterday, is that college basketball is at an unprecedented level of low scoring and bad offense. That said, as long as the wins keep coming, I don't care which category you want to throw it in!!!

the guys really did a great job last night. Showed a lot of heart.

KB might not be a traditional PG, but I think he's pretty damn good at what he does. He can set the table well, and can generate points by making the pass that leads to an assist.

Kowalczyk said after the game that if Toledo had played as well in its other MAC games as it did last night, they would be 4-1 instead of 2-3.

It was solid and deserved win against a good team. And what team wouldn't like to have a guy like Boothe? He's a handful. Smooth around the basket.

Speaking of Marquuiez Lawrence;

Last night he played 14 minutes grabbing three rebounds, blocking two shots and only attempting 1 field goal. His defensive energy is not listed in the box score but is evident from the game highlights and comments on this thread.

Against "OU" he played 10 minutes. Hit the only field goal he attempted, grabbed four boards and had a steal.

Going back to Eastern Michigan he played only 5 minutes as Akbar was used more for presumably matchup reasons.

Point is, I have enjoyed watching the rotations this season. Lawrence, like Brown and Akbar more or less know what to expect on a given night. This bench bunch, along with whatever guard doesn't start (Brewer) can be counted on to carry out their role.

Lost of good last night. Would be great to take one at Ball State who has come back down to earth a bit.

Ball St. is playing much better, but they have real depth issues, playing kind of shorthanded. Their lack of size inside and KSU's depth and physicality should play to our advantage. They can be worn down and really struggled last night, letting OU get many wide open looks from the perimeter. As the game wears on, it will be tough for them to protect inside against Hall, Spicer, Ortiz and at the same time not give Manley and our other 3 pt shooters room to shoot. I think we are a particularly bad matchup for them. But they have been playing with a lot of heart and grit, so that can keep a team in any game.

Was at the UT and OU games and I have to say that the defense was spectacular in both games! We have an inside presence now and that makes one heckuva difference. Jimmy Hall was very undersized going against Boothe, but our help defense from Spicer, Ortiz and Lawrence was outstanding. And, of course I really appreciated the job done by DJ on Juice. Another team win.....

When UT had the answer to Jimmy Hall, Spicer drove the lane and everybody thought he was going to dunk and made a nice up and under move to the hoop for an easy lay in, or we kicked the ball back out for a wide open look.

One thing that really struck me from last night was our guards ability to get to the basket. When Dev and the guys could have settled for three they drove to the hoop. We did shoot the three-ball, but KB and those guys made themselves tough to defend when they put the ball on the floor. Gary Akbar did a nice job as well! He played some strong on the ball defense and in one sequence forced Brown into a wild air ball on a three point shot, ran the floor, got the outlet and could have had a layup but instead made a great dish to Spicer for slam. Those kind of plays made the difference.

Getting on the floor for loose balls, KB saving the ball and tip toeing along the baseline to preserve a possession and get a new shot clock....we were pretty good the whole game!

KSU! KSU!! KSU!!!

(01-21-2015 08:25 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  Wonder if the KB haters will quiet down now. Kid is balling tonight.

Showed the skill of a wile veteran. Late in the game after a timeout, he took control on the in bounds and promptly broke a couple of Toledo ankles as we worked his way to the hoop and found a wide open Manley for a triple. He's everything we knew he could be......he was really in charge of the offense last night!

Here I go again, posting answers to my own posts!

I did, however, forget to mention that I was so impressed by our guard play last night and their will to get to the hoop....especially for perimeter players who could just have easily settled for jump shots! Dev, KB, DJ et. al. really attacked the rim and when it wasn't there did a great job of finding an open man.