MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

David Collinge · December 13, 2009, 01:54:49 PM

There will be Live Stats for the Wooster/NCWC game here (in addition, of course, to WQKT's audio coverage.) Tip time is at 4pm. It doesn't look to me like there will be video for this game, and furthermore it appears that there is a charge for the video when they do use it. See here.

wooscotsfan · December 13, 2009, 04:39:32 PM

At the Half: Wooster 43 North Carolina Wesleyan 38

Wooster leads this game because they have outrebounded NC Wesleyan 23-15 in the half. Scots are being led by Ian Franks with 15 points, Justin Hallowell with 12 points (4 three pointers) and freshman Josh Claytor with 7 points. Wooster canned 8 three pointers in the first half.

NC Wesleyan is being led by Trey Drake with 12 points (3 three pointers) and Jarmel Arrington with 11 points.

David Collinge · December 13, 2009, 04:53:12 PM

Unless my ears are deceiving me in a particularly horrible way, I believe that Wooster has brought the bagpipes on this trip!

David Collinge · December 13, 2009, 05:36:00 PM

Wooster's shooting today -- over 50% from the floor, and under 40% from the line -- calls to mind the scene at the tin mine in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the Kid, who can't hit anything while standing still, says "can I move?" He then spins, draws, and hits the coin multiple times. "I'm better when I move."

Unfortunately, I haven't the YoouTube skills to dredge up this video clip...

wooscotsfan · December 13, 2009, 05:37:51 PM

Final: Wooster 87 North Carolina Wesleyan 69

Wooster won the rebounding battle 47 to 28 and made 14 three pointers to notch this victory.

Scots were led by Justin Hallowell with 24 points (7 three pointers), Ian Franks with 15 points and 10 boards, freshman Josh Claytor with 15 points and Nathan Balch with 12 points. 50% three point shooting by Hallowell and a nice double, double from Franks.

Wooster had 21 assists and 16 turnovers for a positive A/TO ratio. Brandon Johnson led the Scots with 7 assists.

NC Wesleyan was led by Trey Drake with 26 points and Jarmel Arrington with 14 points.

Wooster is now 5-3, 2-0 NCAC

Next up is the Randolph Macon/Alvernia winner tomorrow night.

GO SCOTS!

smedindy · December 13, 2009, 05:55:17 PM

Quote from: David Collinge on December 13, 2009, 05:36:00 PM
Wooster's shooting today -- over 50% from the floor, and under 40% from the line -- calls to mind the scene at the tin mine in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the Kid, who can't hit anything while standing still, says "can I move?" He then spins, draws, and hits the coin multiple times. "I'm better when I move."

Unfortunately, I haven't the YoouTube skills to dredge up this video clip...

Well, DC, better than this one for the same movie:

QuoteMorons. I've got morons on my team. Nobody is going to rob us going down the mountain. We have got no money going down the mountain. When we have got the money, on the way back, then you can sweat.

David Collinge · December 13, 2009, 08:53:30 PM

Macon prevails over Alvernia, 92-64, and will face Wooster tomorrow at 7pm.

ScotsFan · December 14, 2009, 10:49:11 AM

I have a feeling that Wooster's going to have to play by far, their best game of the season to beat R-MC tonight.

The Jackets look to be a very balanced team. They have 4 different players averaging 12 ppg and a fifth just under double figures at 9.3 ppg. And Macon's top 2 scorers aren't even starters!

Macon could have a size advantage on the inside if they choose to exploit it. Other than that, Wooster appears to matchup fairly well with Macon size-wise at least in the starting rotation. In the Jacket's starting rotation they have a 6-9 C/F. Then they go with a pair of G/F combo players at 6-5 and 6-4 and finish off the starting lineup with a pair of 6-0 guards. Off the bench is where Wooster might struggle to match up with R-MC. As I stated, Macon's 2 leading scorers come off the bench and are a pair of forwards checking in at 6-4 and 6-6. The Jackets look to round out their 9 man rotation with a 6-3 guard and a 6-8 center.

Shooting will be a huge key for Wooster as it always is. If Wooster can knock down 14 treys like they did yesterday, I like their chances. If they struggle to find their range like they did in that 3-21 effort at JCU, it could be a long night.

Also, turnovers will be another huge key as usual. Wooster still committed 16 turnovers yesterday which is too many for my liking. Even though they overcame those 16 to's with 21 assists, you can get away with 16 to's against a 2 win team like NCW, but not against a top 10 opponent like Macon.

Another key will be which big man can stay out of foul trouble. It would be nice to see Wick be able to keep himself on the floor and get the R-MC big man into foul trouble early. If it goes the other way and Wick finds himself in foul trouble yet again, it could make it tough sledding for the Scots.

R-MC has been pretty much on cruise control so far this season winning by an average MOV of nearly 19 ppg and no one has come within 12 points of beating the Jackets through their first 7 games! But, I also think it could be said that Wooster will be arguably one of R-MC's toughest opponents to date. Meanwhile, Wooster has already played a pretty tough schedule so far this season. So, they should be used to the type of talent that the Jackets will put out on the floor. Hopefully, the Scots can put a complete game together and not only knock R-MC from the ranks of the unbeaten, but also notch their first win over a highly ranked opponent for the first time this season!

David Collinge · December 14, 2009, 04:24:58 PM

Oberlin's recent no-kidding-they're-playing-great stretch has produced a little hardware, as sophomore guard Marcus Johnson picks up the NCAC Player of the Week award. Johnson chipped in 90% of the Yeomen's 20-point margin of victory over Kalamazoo, their largest margin of victory in the past 18 seasons (I didn't know that!

), and added 16 in their subsequent win over Alma. It remains to be seen whether Johnson will also cop the weekly honor from the MIAA.

Congratulations, Marcus!

wooscotsfan · December 14, 2009, 07:49:35 PM

At the Half: Randolph Macon 38 Wooster 30

Both teams shot poorly in the first half at less than 40%. Wooster only made 1 of their first 8 shots and trailed 13-4 early in the half. Scots rallied and cut the RMC lead to 2 points a couple of times. Wooster outrebounded RMC in the half by a 23 to 19 margin which has helped the Scots stay in the game.

Wooster had 11 turnovers in the half vs. only 4 for RMC which explains most of the RMC lead.

Wooster is being led by Justin Hallowell with 8 points and Ian Franks with 4 points.

RMC is being led by David Carlson with 10 points and Jordan Brown with 9 points

David Collinge · December 14, 2009, 08:06:27 PM

If Wooster is going to turn the ball over like this, they'll have troubles with Denison and Oberlin, never mind Randolph-Macon and WashU.

wooscotsfan · December 14, 2009, 08:48:40 PM

Final: #6 Randolph Macon 72 Wooster 65 $:-\$

Wooster lost this game by committing 19 turnovers. The Scots fought hard in the 2nd half and cut the lead to 2 on several occasions including 67-65 with only 1:39 remaining. Wooster had a chance to tie the game with ~1 minute left and instead committed their 18th and 19th turnovers on their next two possessions!!

The Scots are not going to beat tough opponents by committing critical turnovers in the last 2 minutes. This ending was eerily similar to the end of the John Carroll game.

Wooster was led by Nathan Balch with 15 points, Justin Hallowell with 11 points, Bryan Wickliffe with 10 points and Ian Franks with 9 points.

RMC was led by Jordan Brown with 20 points, Eric Pugh with 14 points and David Carlson with 10 points.

Wooster is now 5-4. 2-0 NCAC.

GO SCOTS!

David Collinge · December 14, 2009, 08:50:51 PM

Sickening.
I guess I should be happy that they played toe to toe with a top 10 team on their own court.
But I'm not.

David Collinge · December 14, 2009, 10:44:02 PM

Anyway....

A couple of Tuesday non-cons for your enjoyment:
Kenyon (3-5) at Grove City (4-4), 8pm -- Live Stats
Bethany (5-3) at Denison (2-6), ~8pm -- Live Stats and Audio -- Game 2 of a Bethany/Denison double-dip at Livingston Gym, with the women's game tipping at 6pm

ScotsFan · December 15, 2009, 10:35:38 AM

Quote from: wooscotsfan on December 14, 2009, 08:48:40 PM
Final: #6 Randolph Macon 72 Wooster 65 $:-\$

Wooster lost this game by committing 19 turnovers. The Scots fought hard in the 2nd half and cut the lead to 2 on several occasions including 67-65 with only 1:39 remaining. Wooster had a chance to tie the game with ~1 minute left and instead committed their 18th and 19th turnovers on their next two possessions!!

The Scots are not going to beat tough opponents by committing critical turnovers in the last 2 minutes. This ending was eerily similar to the end of the John Carroll game.

wsf,

I had the same thoughts wrt the ending of the game being almost dejavu to the JCU ending... $:-\$

Wooster's had four possessions after cutting the lead to 67-65 and that included 3 turnovers and a missed shot. Not what you'd call qualilty execution with the game on the line?!

This turnover epidemic is starting to become like a broken record. To Wooster's credit, they did seem to do a better job of taking care of the basketball in the 2nd half. I believe they had only committed 5 turnovers up until that forgettable final minute when Wooster went back to being Wooster...

While the turnovers were once again Wooster's ultimate undoing, I think the foul trouble of Ian Franks in the 2nd half can't be ignored either. Franks picked up his 4th foul less than 5 minutes into the 2nd half and sat for over 8 minutes before returning. And he picked up his 5th foul with over 2 minutes left in the game. I don't know if Franks' presence on the floor would have helped at all down the stretch, but it surely wouldn't have hurt to have your leading scorer out on the floor in crunch time...

Quote from: David Collinge on December 14, 2009, 08:50:51 PM
Sickening.
I guess I should be happy that they played toe to toe with a top 10 team on their own court.
But I'm not.

I hate to say I agree with you David, but it's hard not to. If Wooster takes care of the ball vs. both JCU and R-MC, they more than likely win both of those games. Macon had 22 freaking points off of Wooster turnovers last night! And Wooster was still only down 2 with a little more than a minute to go! This is starting to remind me of the frustrations I have with the Wooster baseball team and their high propensity of making fielding errors...

The thing I have to keep reminding myself is that Brandon Johnson is not even close to being at 100% and he probably won't be the entire season. But he has been away from the game of basketball for basically 2 full off-seasons and one entire regular season and it is showing in his play. He's been thrown right into the fire here in the opening month with this very difficult schedule and I think this will help him in the long run. Come February, the rust should be all but gone and he should be getting close to being the Brandon Johnson that we all remembered before his injuries.

And Wooster doesn't have any time to feel sorry for themselves as Wabash is coming to town this weekend for what will be a pivotal conference matchup. And as David mentioned, if Wooster can't figure out this turnover problem, they're going to have trouble beating anyone!