Bradley hung tight for a few last night, using the time-honored dent in the Virginia armor of a fast-paced, spread out offense to get quick shots (specifically threes), hitting four triples early to claim a 22-19 lead at the 7:39 mark and set the hot takes a-comin.’We answered (thankfully) by getting to the rim and to the line, hitting four straight free throws to reclaim the lead and tacking on 10 more consecutive points after that. The 14-0 almost-Cavalanche put us up 11 and ended the competitive portion of the proceedings, as after a short dip to nine, the lead stayed in double digits for the rest of the way and even reached 30 at one point late.
The defensive effort wasn’t perfect. Part of it is the continued adjustment to the new rules prohibiting (some/most/occasional/an undetermined amount) contact on the perimeter, and part of it is that we lack the ground-covering, rim-protecting instinctive big man who is capable of covering both his own man and everyone else’s. Darion and Akil may have led us to believe that those guys are easily replaceable, while the truth might be that we just lucked out by having one succeed the other. The final numbers were pretty good though, as things settled into a groove and stayed there once we showed the ability to close on shooters. Bradley scored 0.9 points per possession, and that number was blown up by 24 free throw attempts. They shot 38%, grabbed only 18% of their own misses, and logged seven assists to 13 turnovers, which are all numbers that are consistent with what we’re looking for.
The offense was great, but it’s supposed to be great when you’re playing a bunch of 18 year olds that don’t go to Kentucky or Duke. I liked seeing Gill emphasized as the first option more (and how he responded with 16) and how Malcolm seemed to naturally fall in line behind him.
London Perrantes turned things on late in the first half thanks to what was clearly a more decisive approach. He stopped dribbling into the lane because it’s there and you can dribble into it and instead drove with either scoring or distributing in mind, and it worked: he scored 12, making two drives, two threes, and two free throws, and dished eight assists.
Marial Shayok was inserted into the starting lineup and seemed revitalized, scoring a career-high 10 points and looking much more lively than he did playing a lesser role off the bench in games one and two. Shayok’s a great guy to have around. His long arms and good lateral quickness make him fun to watch at the top of the defense, and he can shoot it, is a willing passer, and can drive. I wouldn’t mind seeing this lineup stick around for a while.
Eventually, everyone — seriously everyone, as every scholarship player who saw time scored and seven of the 11 logged assists – got into the action.
Long Beach State is up next. The Fightin’ Snoops are not a Pomeroy darling (they’re ranked 235th as I type this), but they’ve beaten numbers 58 and 89 this week and only play two teams ranked outside the KenPom top 100 in 11 games over the rest of this calendar year. If they can keep pulling upsets, they’ll make their own luck.
LBSU plays a faster game (71.7 possessions per) keyed by 5’8” speedster point guard Justin Bibbins (36.7 assist rate, 6 apg) that has seen them take a lot of two point jumpers and contested shots in the lane, which can be a questionable strategy but works when you don’t really have any bigs (their tallest regular is 6’7′).
Their leading scorer and go-to guy is my old Maryland nemesis Nick Faust. I thought I was done with Faust — that he’d graduated and was somewhere overseas scoring 37 points per game on 39 shots — but I was wrong. He transferred when everyone else did, and is finishing out his eligibility in California. Faust is a Nick Young-type player, the type of guy whose confidence isn’t always based on anything, who always thinks he’s always open, and that his range extends to the opposing three point line. He’s scoring 13.3 points per game this season, but has made only 13 of 42 shots and seven of 12 free throws. The key to guarding him will be to run him off the three point line (he likes threes, going 7-19 so far) and to make him make a decision once he encounters help in or around the lane (he has four assists and five turnovers this season).
Our biggest advantage will come from our biggest players. 6’6” Roschon Prince can be a load (235 pounds) on the offensive glass (he’s grabbed 13.9% of chances) and as an interior scorer (12.3 per game) and 6’7,” 225 pound Gabe Levin can block some shots and even hit an occasional three, but those guys will struggle as nominal “bigs” against the size and strength they’ll face in Gill, Tobey, Wilkins, Salt, and company more than I think our guys will struggle with their quickness. LBSU opponents are grabbing 33.8% of available offensive boards this season, and I expect that number to go up after tonight.
Verdict:
A 12-18 point win. We might struggle some early, but things will settle in and we’ll win by a comfortable margin even if it’s not pretty.
