RE: Official Game Thread: @ Furman
FURMAN 9-3 overall, lost 83-80 versus Alabama. 3-0 in the SoCon: Merer 83-80; UTC 77-73; Citadel 94-88. Kenpom rating: #81; #54 Offense, #136 Defense
ETSU: 6-4 overall, lost 69-85 versus Alabama. 2-0 in the SoCon: WCU 86-78; UNCG 71-61. Kenpom rating: #162; #237 Offense, #106 Defense
ETSU has not played a game for 14 days, and has not even practiced much. Furman, with a 6 man core of Seniors and Juniors (and 1 freshman sub), got a tuneup game this week against The Citadel. Just when inexperienced ETSU put together a game where the offense seemed to be clicking (vs UNCG), and the guys learning to play together, Covid pulls the rug out from under us! Well, tough. That’s life in the pandemic, so deal with it – the rest of the country is dealing with it, too.
Furman is the consensus SoCon conference favorite largely because they have been playing well together as a team for several years. They played a better game than the Bucs did against Alabama, losing by 3 80-83 while ETSU lost 69-85. But they lost to physical, athletic Winthrop by 16, while UNCG only lost to the Golden Eagles by 8. And they have hardly been world beaters in a tough SoCon, just squeaking past Mercer by 3 and UTC by 4.
Kenpom rates them #81 in D1, excelling in offense at #54, but doing less well than usual on defense at #136. ETSU by contrast is rated better on defense at #106, second in the SoCon (UNCG is first), but is worst in the SoCon on offense at #237 for a total rating of #162. But ETSU has offensive talent. The problem is mostly just getting guys to find out how to make their offensive games work as teammates. An experienced Furman team learned that 2 years ago, and hasn’t forgotten how during Covid.
The ‘Dins like a high scoring game, averaging 86.5 ppg, 11th in D1. Their 3 point shooting is respectable at .358 (95th in D1), and they shoot a lot of them: they make 9.7 per game, 28th in D1. And when you try to defend the 3, they love the back cut to the basket, where they are even more deadly, averaging .635 from 2, a stellar 3rd in all of D1.
They run a disciplined game, making the good pass and averaging 18.5 assists per game, 12th in D1. The discipline shows in the ball handling too, with a turnover margin of +3.6, tied for 40th in D1 and tops in the SoCon. ETSU is mediocre at +0.2, 5th in the SoCon.
Free Throw shooting is a fine .737, 73rd in D1. And they get to the line a lot, with 15.2 makes a game, 77th in D1.
Rebounding is about even with ETSU: a margin of +2.2 for the ‘Dins and +2.1 for the Bucs
They put pressure on the ball in the half court and like to force teams to set up further out than they normally would, grabbing 9.5 steals per game, 12th in D1. But the defensive numbers are otherwise not as stellar as they have been the last couple of years: decent at holding opponents to .308 from 3 (92nd in D1), but not so good in allowing .515 from 2 (239th in D1).
6-3 Junior Mike Bothwell has made a big leap forward, increasing his stats by from 50% to 100% and having a POY type season leading the ‘Dins in scoring (17.7 ppg up from 10.9 last year) rebounding (5.7 up from 2.5), assists (4.0 up from 2.2) and steals (2.1 up from 1.1). 6-7 Sr Clay Mounce (16.2 ppg on .397 from 3 with 2.3 makes, 5.3 rebounds) and 6-8 Rs-Jr Noah Gurley (15.4 ppg, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks) are the other stars.
Preseason Bob Richey bragged about going 9 men deep this year, but in fact this has been mostly a 6 man team with Seniors Mounce and Hunter, and Juniors Bothwell, Gurley and Slawson and solid bench help from tough energetic 6-9 true Freshman Garrett Hein. Injuries to Jaylon Pugh and Marcus Foster haven’t helped. 6-0 Junior guard Jaylon Pugh can shoot 3’s when healthy (.563).
The Bucs need to see this as a step in a building process. With toughness and consistent effort they can compete with any SoCon team. With smart, unselfish play on offense they can gradually build to their potential, which is very high indeed. In fact, ETSU probably has a higher ceiling than anyone else in the SoCon – and that’s saying something, because several of the others are very good. Furman will tell us where we are at this point in the season. But not where we can be at the end. Kenpom has Furman by 9, 74-65.
Guards:
#03 6-3 190 Jr Mike Bothwell; 31.6min., 17.7 ppg on .340 from 3 (1.4 makes), 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.1 steals
#04 6-8 210 Rs-Jr Noah Gurley; 27.8 min., 15.4 ppg on .320 from 3 (1.3 makes), 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks
#10 5-11 175 Sr Alex Hunter; 30.3 min., 9.6 ppg on .386 from 3 (2.3 makes), 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals
#05 6-4 200 Rs-Fr Marcus Foster; 11.4 min., 3.5 ppg on .286 from 3 (0.2 makes), 2.9 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.6 steals
#01 6-0 170 Jr Jaylon Pugh; 6 games 11.3 min., 4.8 ppg on .563!! from 3 (1.5 makes), 1.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.3 steals
#22 6-0 170 Fr Joe Anderson; 10.7 min., 2.2 ppg on .375 from 3 (0.5 makes), 0.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.4 steals
#02 6-1 172 So Colin Kenney; 9 games, 8.6 minutes, 2.2 ppg on .250 from 3 (0.3 makes), 0.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.1 steals
Front Court:
#45 6-7 205 Sr Clay Mounce; 26.7 min., 16.2 ppg on .397 from 3 (2.3 makes), 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.8 stls
#20 6-7 210 Jr Jalen Slawson; 26.2 min., 8.8 ppg on .188 from 3 (0.3 makes), 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.3 blocks
#13 6-9 205 Fr Garrett Hien; 16.6 min., 5.8 ppg on 0 3’s, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.1 blocks
#12 6-10 205 Rs-Fr Jonny Lawrence; 5.6 min., 2.2 ppg on .353 from 3 (0.6 makes), 1.5 rebounds
#21 6-9 220 So Ben Beeker; 5 games, 4.4 min., 2.4 ppg on 0 from 3, 0.8 rebounds
(This post was last modified: 01-15-2021 11:59 AM by swvabucsfan.)
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Official Game Thread: @ Furman
