12-04-2015, 10:15 AM
We go on the road tomorrow night against an opponent very familiar to our program. This will be the 3rd time we've played Illinois State during Coach Haase's tenure. We are 0-2 against the Red Birds during his time.
Our first loss was in Haase's first year at the South Padre Island Tournament. We dropped that match 77-65. We went on to lose the next day to TCU and continued to poop the bed many more times that season.
Last season, the Red Birds came to Bartow Arena and escaped with a 78-74 win. The Redbirds return 3/5 of their starters from that team. However, it wasn't a starter from that team that led them in scoring in our game. MiKyle McIntosh came off the bench and scored 18 points. Most recently, McIntosh (who is a starter this season) scored 14 points at Kentucky.
In my opinion, their best offensive player is DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell. He's averaging 16.6 PPG with his season high of 22 coming against Kentucky. Akoon-Purcell is a 6'5 F who has accumulated 133 points this year (only 9 points coming from 3's). Compare that to Cokley's 101 and you can see he is a volume scorer. He's averaging 27 minutes per game compared to Cokley's 24.
Illinois State does not bring a lot size. In fact, they only have one player listed over 6'8 and he is averaging 5 minutes per game. They average 34 RPG versus our 38.
If we can get easy buckets in the paint and hit some timely 3's, we should win this game. Norton/Watts/Brown must take care of the ball. Illinois State likes to press and plays a very physical guard oriented man defense.
I'm not going to say this is a must win because barring a 1-2 loss run in conference, I think our at large chances are a pipe dream. However, this would be a solid top 150 RPI win that could give us some confidence going in to an easier home game stretch.
The game can be viewed on ESPN 3. GO BLAZERS!
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Just got word that Iron City will be streaming the game in the grill!! They are showing the SEC Champ game at 3 then will stream our game immediately after at 7. If you get the chance, thank them on Twitter and or Facebook. They are the best!
Our first loss was in Haase's first year at the South Padre Island Tournament. We dropped that match 77-65. We went on to lose the next day to TCU and continued to poop the bed many more times that season.
Last season, the Red Birds came to Bartow Arena and escaped with a 78-74 win. The Redbirds return 3/5 of their starters from that team. However, it wasn't a starter from that team that led them in scoring in our game. MiKyle McIntosh came off the bench and scored 18 points. Most recently, McIntosh (who is a starter this season) scored 14 points at Kentucky.
In my opinion, their best offensive player is DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell. He's averaging 16.6 PPG with his season high of 22 coming against Kentucky. Akoon-Purcell is a 6'5 F who has accumulated 133 points this year (only 9 points coming from 3's). Compare that to Cokley's 101 and you can see he is a volume scorer. He's averaging 27 minutes per game compared to Cokley's 24.
Illinois State does not bring a lot size. In fact, they only have one player listed over 6'8 and he is averaging 5 minutes per game. They average 34 RPG versus our 38.
If we can get easy buckets in the paint and hit some timely 3's, we should win this game. Norton/Watts/Brown must take care of the ball. Illinois State likes to press and plays a very physical guard oriented man defense.
I'm not going to say this is a must win because barring a 1-2 loss run in conference, I think our at large chances are a pipe dream. However, this would be a solid top 150 RPI win that could give us some confidence going in to an easier home game stretch.
The game can be viewed on ESPN 3. GO BLAZERS!
*******************
Just got word that Iron City will be streaming the game in the grill!! They are showing the SEC Champ game at 3 then will stream our game immediately after at 7. If you get the chance, thank them on Twitter and or Facebook. They are the best!