Date: November 2nd, 2018

Time: 7:00 PM

Opponent: Southern Wesleyan (0-0, 0-0 Carolinas)

Place: Freedom Hall

Television: none

Webcast: none

Radio online: none

LIVE STATS: Click Here

SW 2018-2019 Schedule

SW 2018-2019 Roster

Southern Wesleyan doesn't even list us on their schedule.

They’re already trying to forget

[Previously posted on another thread, but it belongs here, so:]

The Bucs start their season Friday with a home game against a team calculated to give them an inflated sense of their current abilities. Then 4 days later visit a Sun Belt champion Georgia State team ready to knock them down several pegs.

Southern Wesleyan was 1-17 in Conference Carolinas (a DII conference headed up by King, Barton and Lees-McRae) and 2-26 overall.

They were dead last in this DII conference and are picked to finish 10th again. https://www.swuathletics.com/sports/mbkb...1024m5v6wp

What they lack in height (their 3 front court stalwarts are 6-5, 6-5 and 6-6 giving them a -3.8 rebounding margin) they make up for with turnovers (-3.9 t.o. margin) and lack of shooting (.412 from the field and .280 from 3 with 4.8 makes a game. Their best shooter, Kylie Blackett, hits only .310 from 3 averaging 1.0 makes per game). As for defense, their mostly DII opponents averaged .501 from the field and .377 from 3 to give them a -17.4 margin in points per game.
http://www.conferencecarolinas.com/sport...r=1&pos=sh

Key returnees are.

Front Court:
#25 6-6 220 Sr. DJ Dobson, 23 min., 14.7 ppg on .250 from 3 (0.1), 2.8 reb, 0.7 blk
#32 6-5 182 Sr. Jeremy Wert, 26.3 min., 9.4 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7), 3.9 reb, 0.7 stl
#33 6-5 225 Sr. Zalan Richards, 24.4 min., 6.0 ppg with no 3’s, 4.4 reb
#24 6-8 190 So. Kallen McDaniel 15 games, 4.2 min., 0.8 pts, 0.7 reb.
#11 6-2 160 Sr F Najarius Green, 7 games, 8.6 min., 1.7 ppg
#34 6-9 240 Jr. J.T. Noellert, 9 games, 3.9 min., 0.8 ppg, 0.4 reb.

Guard:
#5 5-8 158 Sr. Javon Hunter, 25.1 min., 8.0 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7), 3.3 ast, 2.0 reb, 0.7 stl
#22 6-2 180 So. Jalen Lowery, 25.3 min., 8.9 ppg on .287 from 3 (1.2), 1.7 ast, 2.4 reb
#23 6-1 160 So. Kylie Blackett, 20.8 min., 4.6 ppg on .310 from 3 (1.0) 1.8 ast, 2.3 reb
#3 6-1 165 So. Jacob Smith, 13.1 min., 4.1 ppg on .298 from 3 (0.8)
#21 6-5 185 So. Issac Ford, 13.1 min., 3.3 ppg
#12 5-11 So. Bryson Williams 7.8 min., 2.8 ppg
#2 6-1 Tr- Jr Diego Poore, 7 games at Tusculum, 3-7 from 3 on the season
#15 6-3 Fr. Chris McClean
#13 6-1 Fr. Lamont Smith
#30 5-10 Fr. Devon Brewster

I have no idea what their few new additions might bring. 6-2 Jr. transfer from Tusculum Diego Poore did hit a few threes in the 7 games in which he saw limited action: going 3-7 on the season. They also add 3 freshmen.

Their brand new coach Nick Pasqua has his work cut out for him.

The Bucs meanwhile will have to stay disciplined and focused to get something out of this game and not let things totally degenerate. We’ve got one of our toughest OOC challenges coming up only 4 days later in Georgia State and we don’t want to get into bad habits. It will still be awfully good to see the team on the floor. I won't miss it.

I do hope they try to at least stream this game on the Socon Digital Network.

It's that time again! Hopefully an injury-free game where everyone gets quality playing time. Is this one being streamed?

Thanks to etsubucs.com for finally having the schedule available for importing into calendar apps.

Ok, I’m over the initial shock of how bad the opponent is. It will be good to see everyone get some time and the coaches test some stuff out. So happy it’s that time of year again!

Almost any game at this point is beneficial

The game will not be streamed. Maybe we don't want to give Georgia State a look?

Looks like Pat edged out Tray for the starting SG spot, even though that distinction seems to be academic - Tray will get starter minutes, too: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Basketb...m&lp=5&p=1

To borrow again from Running_Fool, Tray bringing offense off the bench reminds one of Jalen Riley bringing instant offense off the bench. Doesn't hurt to have a guy who can spark things a bit.

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Basketb...&lp=12&p=1

Matt McGahey from ETSU's office of special projects on the radio this morning about parking for tonight's game.

- Lots A, G, B and C will be reserved for ETSU basketball.

- Everything else north of that including Lot J will be reserved for Science Hill which is playing a football game tonight.

Lol Chattanooga almost lost to Lee University.

good game to get things going. looks like we are deep

Can't tell a whole lot from a game like this. But it kind of went the reverse from expected with some effective hustling defense, and the Bucs struggling a bit with shooting.

In general, I liked the hustle, especially on defense. Forbes had them pressing much of the way, a 1-2-2 similar to UNCG's. Pun Tisdale and Kevon Tucker were especially effective at the 1 in that press, with Pun grabbing 3 first half steals. It reminds you that Indiana was looking hard at Pun because of his solid defense. Carlos didn't look too bad in brief minutes in that role. Southern is a weak offensive team, but they shot .412 from the field and .280 from 3 last year. The Bucs held them to 6.7% and 5.6% from 3 in the first half; 18.9% and 12.9% for the game. Yes, they were bad, but that's pretty stifling. The Bucs went man mostly, but showed a little 1-3-1. Forbes focused on getting everybody minutes and trying different combinations rather than trying to maximize his best lineup or go to the hot hands.

The Bucs were trying too hard from 3, 11-34 for 32.4%. Except for Kevon Tucker, who not only played fine defense but went 5- 10 from 3 to lead the Bucs with 17 points, Patrick Good 2- 6 and Isaiah Tisdale 1-2. Pun filled up the stat sheet the way he used to do in JUCO with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists (to 1 turnover) and 3 steals in 24 minutes of play. Tray Boyd was aiming his shots rather than stroking them at times, but still hit a patch in the second half where he suddenly ripped off 3 in a row, as if it were nothing. 3-11 on the night for 13 points with 3 assists (3 turnovers) and 5 rebounds, but he'll get his shot going. Kevon Tucker may be one of those scrappy players who turns out better in game action than in drills.

Inside, Mladen Armus and Jeromy didn't have much opposition, but Mladen still hustled for a remarkable 21 boards, Tommy Woods numbers on a night when Tommy's picture was featured on the ticket, going hard all night. Jeromy got cracked hard across the nose, and had to sit down a bit to stop the bleeding, but still got 16 points on 7-10 shooting, 3 assists with no turnovers (his passing was as advertised) and 4 rebounds. In fact the Bucs passing was pretty effective all night (yes, again, the opposition was bad) getting 20 assists to 13 turnovers on a night when the outside shot was not falling.
But next time out Jeromy will be facing 6-6 225 athletic bruiser Malik Benlevi who can power to the basket or shoot .412 from 3! And Pun, Kevon and Bo will be trying to defend Sun Belt POY 6-3 195 D'Marcus Simonds who gets 21.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists (albeit with 3.9 turnovers). A different world entirely.

Bo had a rough night, getting into early foul trouble. Forbes left him in a lot and let him pick up a 3rd foul at the end of the first half. Ordinarily, he'd probably protect a guy with 2 fouls in the first half. Bo picked up number 4 pretty quickly in the second and never really got untracked, fouling out after only 14 minutes. D'Andre Bernard never really got going either, and James Harrison snagged 7 rebounds, but only got 3 points out of them. Octavion Corley suited up, coming back from concussion protocol, but did not see game action. Toward the end of the game Daivien Williamson got to flash some of his speed and quickness slashing to the hoop. He's an impressive open court player.

Would have liked to have seen better shooting, but maybe hustle and defense was more important to see on a first night out.

Any time we hold the opponent to under 40, I’m impressed.

I got to shoot a few out there tonight. Went 1 of 1 from the arc but missed the half court desperation shot. I’m pretty sure there was a pair of keys in one of those JC Honda boxes, too. Dang it!

(11-02-2018 11:18 PM)shampoo Wrote:  Any time we hold the opponent to under 40, I’m impressed.

I got to shoot a few out there tonight. Went 1 of 1 from the arc but missed the half court desperation shot. I’m pretty sure there was a pair of keys in one of those JC Honda boxes, too. Dang it!

One of the better performances of the night. Nice try!

I’m not concerned about the shooting from beyond the arc. I feel like the low percentage was due, in part, to nerves from Pat and Tray. You know Pat was feeling nervous to perform in front of his hometown fans for the first time and Tray desperately wanted to display his ability. I think we’ll see them much sharper next Thursday night. What I was the most concerned with (aside from the Bo no show) was something that plagued us last season— missed bunnies. Mladen could have had a monster game statistically but he missed several shots at point blank as did Harrison. I was hopeful James could have an Ike like senior season but last night did not inspire confidence for me. We need him to figure it out though because, to me, that reserve 4/5 position is our biggest weakness. I know that Corley is working his way back and may be able to provide a boost but, if Mladen and/or Jeromy get in foul trouble we will need Harrison to step up.

(11-02-2018 07:36 PM)etsuandpurdue3 Wrote:  Lol Chattanooga almost lost to Lee University.

When that score was announced I laughed and I laughed. This morning, out of nothing but meanness and spite I went to the UTC message board to bask in the glow of their fans' fury. Alas, their board is a zombie. The only contributor is their moderator. He spent 3 posts applying massive amounts of lipstick to the pig that was UTC's literally last second desperation drive to the basket to secure a 2 point win. As I said, meanness and spite.