CSNbbs

This Thursday the ODU Monarchs will take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers at the Ted. This team was the preseason favorite in the coach’s poll and it’s easy to understand why. Last year they went 27-7 (13-3), lost in the championship game of Con USA tournament to WKU, and lost in the second round of the WNIT. That team lost three seniors, but only one of them was a starter. The team had all of it’s leading scorers return, so on paper they looked like a strong candidate to lead the conference. And even though they may not be in first place, they are still a very good team.

Blazers Schedule so far. They are 17-4 (6-3) in the conference with a 141 RPI ranking and a SOS of 319. That is the result of having five schools with a RPI of greater than 300 on your schedule, not counting FIU of course.
Vs Appalachian St W 80-61 Record: 11-9 RPI: 138
Vs Memphis W 85-54 Record: 9-12 (3-4) RPI: 213
@ Chicago State W 90-45 Record: 1-20 RPI: 345
Junkanoo Jam
Vs Oklahoma W 89-84 Record: 5-15 RPI: 147
Vs #11 Tennessee L 69-73 (OT) Record: 15-7 RPI: 59
Vs Alabama A&M W 82-47 Record: 9-11 RPI: 303
Vs Alcorn State W 80-53 Record: 2-16 RPI: 350
@ Samford W 66-41 Record: 5-15 RPI: 259
Vs McNeese State W 91-48 Record: 3-13 RPI: 314
@ Alabama State w 62-47 Record: 6-12 RPI: 216
FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Classic
Vs Coppin State W 86-61 Record: 2-19 RPI: 315
@ FGCU W 62-60 Record: 15-4 RPI: 91
Vs UAH W 83-58 (University of Alabama-Huntsville, a non-D 1 school. Does not count in RPI)
@ FAU W 89-64 Record: 4-17 (1-7) RPI: 288
@ FIU W 83-59 Record: 3-18 (0-9) RPI: 316
Vs La Tech L 68-73 Record: 11-11 (4-6) RPI: 158
Vs Southern Miss W 71-60 Record: 10-10 (4-5) RPI: 186
@ UTEP W 74-48 Record: 4-18 (1-8) RPI: 278
@ UTSA W 59-42 Record: 4-15 (1-8) RPI: 277
Vs North Texas W 70-60 Record: 7-10 (3-5) RPI: 176
Vs Rice L 43-55 Record: 18-3 (9-0) RPI: 37
@ Middle Tennesse St L 44-60 Record: 16-5 (7-1) RPI: 58
@ ODU Record: 16-6 (7-3) RPI: 67

Starting Five Blazers
00 Miryah Barnes PG 5’5” Jr 10.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 42.5 FG%, 27.2 3P%, 79.4 FT%, 33.5 mpg
20 Deanna Kuzmanic G 5’9” Sr 12.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 48.8 FG%, 40.3 3P%, 83.3 FT%, 32.2 mpg
13 Katelynn Thomas F 6’0” Jr 12.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 0.2 apg, 58.8 FG%, 55.9 FT%, 19.0 mpg
32 Rachel Childress F 5’10” Jr 14.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, 39.6 FG%, 40.5 3P%, 91.7 FT%, 30.3 mpg
03 Angela Vendrell G 6’2” Jr 3.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 40.7 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 60.0 FT%, 19.5 mpg
Top Bench
34 Imani Johnson F 6’0” Jr 7.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.1 apg, 47.9 FG%, 27.3 3P%, 81.8 FT%, 14.5 mpg
01 Margaret Whitley G 5’8” Fr 3.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 1.0 apg, 32.9 FG%, 27.9 3P%, 60.0 FT%, 10.7 mpg
12 Trista Magee G 6’1” Rd Jr 4.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 apg, 31.0 FG%, 30.0 3P%, 76.2 FT%, 18.1 mpg

Three ball. UAB averages a league high 8.6 3’s a game. I would expect lots of three between these two teams. They also have really bad control. With Barnes and Kuzmanic they average 9.0 apg. They have the most apg in the league and they have given up the fewest turnovers. On paper, this is a tall and experienced team. That is the kind of team that ODU doesn’t match up well with. In other words, this should be a good game to watch!

Inside the Stats
…………….UAB……..ODU
PPG……….73.9……..69.6
OPPG…….57.0……..63.0
FG%.........44.0…….39.9
OFG%.......35.6…….37.0
3P%..........35.0…….30.8
O3P%.......23.8……..29.3
3PMG……..8.6………6.9
FT%...........72.4…….61.9
FTMG……..11.8……..13.6
RPG…………38.8………41.5
ORPG……….38.3…….38.5
APG………….16.5……12.3
TPG…………11.4…….13.8
SPG…………6.1………7.8
BPG………….3.4…….2.7
AST/TO ratio:
UAB: 1.5, ODU: 0.9

Con USA Standings The top four teams in Con USA all receive a first round bye in the tournament. ODU is still in the run for one of those spots. Counting UAB, four out of the next six conference games will all be at home.
Rice 9-0
Middle Tennesee St 8-1
WKU 8-1
Marshall 7-2
ODU 7-3
UAB 6-3
Southern Miss 5-5
North Texas 4-5
Charlotte 4-6
La Tech 4-6
UTSA 1-8
FAU 1-8
UTEP 1-8
FIU 0-9

Going to try to make it to this one tonight.

Down 32-29 at the half.

Watching our ladies on ESPN+. Was up 5 in the 3rd quarter, then feel completely apart. UAB on a 16-0 run to complete the 3rd quarter. Wow, our youth is showing loud and clear. We have a ways to go. Very disappointing but not surprised....

Horrible foul shooting

Ladies come back, make a game of it, then not able to close out. They lose 61-69 to a good UAB team. We are getting closer, but without Morris tonight, tall order....

We lost by 9. We missed 17 free throws. That’s the game.


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This was a weird game. We had a 24-3 offensive rebound advantage, which translated into a 25-2 second chance points. Normally you look a metric like that and you think we would have it in the bag. But yowzer. UAB shoots 54.2% from the floor and 52.6% from beyond the arc. The only team that has shot better than UAB against ODU is St Mary's. ( Which is what they reminded me of when I did this write up...to be totally honest)

And then you have the FTs, which just killed us. You leave the game knowing that the win was there. Now for the season, our FT% sits at 60.7%. If you are curious, that would rank us about 325th out of 349 Division one teams.

Next game on Saturday. Middle Tennessee St, coming off a 62-55 win over Charlotte. Pink Game.