MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[DenisonFan]

Great job NCAC!

Kept rhe ride alive!!

Go Witt/Woo

[wooscotsfan]

Here is the breakdown on Transylvania for Saturday's game:

Transy is 25-4 overall and 15-1 AT HOME so Wooster will be trying to give the Pioneers only their 2nd home loss this season.  Transy's only loss at home was to Wittenberg back on Nov. 27th by a 61-52 score.  Transy lost 3 road games this season to Maryville (TN), Mt. St. Joseph and Manchester.

Transy is a team with lots of experience (4 of their starters are Seniors and the 5th is a Junior).  Transy's Coach, Brian Lane, has been named the HCAC Coach of the Year for the last 2 years.

Transy's Starters:
5'10" Marc Bain  11.1 ppg, 56 three pointers made, 88% FT
6'1" Robert Pendleton  7.8 ppg, 51 three pointers made, 3.3 apg
6'2" Bryan Howard  12.9 ppg, leading scorer
6'5" Matt Finke  12.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg
6'6" Joey Searle  10.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 42 three pointers made

Transy's Bench (not deep):
6'5" Joey Verax  8.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg
6'4" Stephen Gabbard  4.3 ppg, 27 three pointers made (41.5%)
6'0" Tyler Smithhart  2.2 ppg, 90% FT
 
As a team, Transy shoots 48.3% from the floor and 37.6% on three pointers.  They take good care of the ball (~12 turnovers/game) but some teams can beat them on the boards (-0.2 rebounding margin) because Transy plays a 3 guard starting lineup.

Wooster will have to play a smart game with few turnovers to get the win.  The Scots may be able to beat Transy in the paint (with Vandervaart) and outrebound them if they attack the boards.  The Scots should also have Tom Port cover 6'6" Joey Searle because he is a three point threat.

GO SCOTS!!

[imderekpoe]

Good win for the Scots tonight.  Clearly the outside game was not working, but tonight it was a case of just not shooting well.  Against OWU and Witt (and Earlham early in the season) I thought that the outside game was limited by good defense, but not so much the case tonight.  The Scots worked the ball well on offense creating good looks, but just couldn't get them to fall.  Big efforts by Vandervaart, Cooper, and Port, and a very good defensive effort in the 2nd half made the difference.  The Scots were not doing a particularly good job on the boards until the tirade that was so appreciated by Augie_Superfan, but after that they really hit the glass and RMC got very few rebounds the rest of the game.  Also, once Hawley and Wansley were in foul trouble RMC had no answer for Port and Vandervaart and the Scots were able to pull away a bit. 

Wansley was a non-factor in this game.  He got into foul trouble early, but even when he was in didn't seem to be able to do much offensively.  I'm guessing that he doesn't frequently have to play against someone with the athletic ability of Tom Port.

The game against Transy should be a good one.  Transy does not appear to be as deep as the Scots, so hopefully the Scots can keep the tempo up and wear them out.  That being said, Transy looked pretty good tonight and has some good shooters from downtown.  The Scots will have to play good perimeter defense and will have to convert better from 3-pt range themselves.  I do think that the Scots are the best team here, but if the Scots play their best there probably isn't anyone that can beat them.  Unfortunately we haven't seen their best for a couple of weeks now and we're at the point where they need 40-minutes of good basketball every night.

[smedindy]

It's the nature of this tournament that teams of this caliber must meet now, but alas....so it goes.

[hope1]

when do they announce were the sectionals are going to be after the game saturday night please tell me

[MoneyBallSTL]

I think the Wooster statisticians may have fallen asleep a time or two....how do the Scots score 84 points and only have 6 assists??? Witucky with ZERO??? That can't be right. The kid makes produces more good dishes than the Lowry center dishwasher on a daily basis!

[woosterbooster]

I think the Wooster statisticians may have fallen asleep a time or two....how do the Scots score 84 points and only have 6 assists??? Witucky with ZERO??? That can't be right. The kid makes produces more good dishes than the Lowry center dishwasher on a daily basis!

I was wondering about that number myself.  Especially since Mike Breckenridge kept pointing out that even though the their shots weren't falling, the Scots were moving the ball well.

They did, though, get lots of points inside from Vandervaart, who generally makes 42 1/2 moves before shooting, negating most assists.  And Cooper mostly scores with one-on-one action.  So, it's possible they only had 6, since so many open-looked threes missed.  Plus, Wooster scored 24 of their 84 points from the foul line.

Alright, now I'm awake and psyched about this. :-)

Wooster made 32 field goals in the game.  Vandervaart had 11 and Cooper 9, which accounts for 20 of the 32.  It's possible that of those 20, only 1 or 2 were assisted; even maybe none. 

Brandon Johnson had 3 FGs, and if I remember, one was on a coast-to-coast play and the other two he beat his man off the dribble.  Probably no assists there, either.

Hmm.  Did the statisticians actually pad the Wooster assist total? 

[imderekpoe]

I think the Wooster statisticians may have fallen asleep a time or two....how do the Scots score 84 points and only have 6 assists??? Witucky with ZERO??? That can't be right. The kid makes produces more good dishes than the Lowry center dishwasher on a daily basis!

I'm thinking that 6 is probably a pretty accurate number.  At least I'm not remembering too many assists.  As pointed out by Wooster Booster, there were many potential assists but for the most part they were followed by missed jumpers.

[imderekpoe]

Is anyone else coming down for the game tonight??  There are 400 tickets allocated for Wooster fans, but I don't know how many were sold last night.  According to the Daily Record, those tickets are available between 4:00 and 5:30 tonight at the Beck Center.  The Transy crowd was good and loud last night, so we need as many Scot fans down here as possible!!

[woosterbooster]

Congratulations, derekpoe, on leading the NCAC prognosticators with 21 points and a current second place position!

[Pat Coleman]

Sunday afternoon the NCAA will announce where sectionals are.

[78rmc]

Congrats to Wooster!  I just wish you could have seen an RMC team at full strength.  Wansley has been battling a bad knee injury.  Plus both of our backup post men did not make the trip, as Irmer and Dixon were missing for illness/injuries.  Missing those two definitely handcuffed coach in the post rotation.  Without that depth, it seems that RMC could not maintain the game in the second half.

[imderekpoe]

Congratulations, derekpoe, on leading the NCAC prognosticators with 21 points and a current second place position!

I promise, it was pure luck!

[wooscotsfan]

At the Half:  Wooster 52  Transy 45

Wooster being led by Devin Fulk with 14 points (4 three pointers) and Tom Port with 12 points.  Marc Bain with 22 points (5 three pointers) is leading Transy.

Wooster has shot well and they made 8 three pointers in the half.

GO SCOTS!!

[aw11]

Witt up big at Half!!! Brady 18pts!!!