MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Flying Dutch Fan]

FWIW - Preston Granger is currently 64 points shy of the 1000 point club.  At his current rate of scoring in the league, that's 3-4 games (of course posting this will likely put some kind of shooting curse on him ).

[HoopsCoach]

Hope 75  Kalamazoo 61 F

First half of this thing was one of the ugliest first halves I can remember.  Trailing 24-29 at the half I'm pretty sure Hope's halftime talk wasn't "hey guys go out and give up the first five points of the 2nd half", but they did.  But from that 10 point deficit on Hope "dominated" (in no way the right word) the Hornets and outscored them 51 to 27 with the bulk of the final margin coming in the final 2 minutes.   It was  a 4 point game when Kzoo's Tanner Blyly missed a three a few ticks under the 2 minute mark, it would be one of the 8 consecutive three's in the final 10 minutes the Hornets missed to close the game.

Evan Thomas was big down the stretch, Kzoo had few answers for Granger most of the night but Hope's hero was Joe Wilkins who seemed to be in the middle of every big defensive play and scramble for lose balls in the last 10 mins.  I'd like to think Hope did some good tings on defense in this one, Tre Humes had 16 first half points and Hope shut him down in the 2nd half where he scored just 2.  Otherwise whatever building K College is putting up across the street the bricks can be found inside the AAC. 

Hope:  Granger 26,  Thomas 24, Hackert 12, George 9
Kzoo:  Humes 18, Reiter 15, Blyly 10



Sidenote:  That's Hope's 46th consecutive win over Kalamazoo, Hope's women are at 55 straight.

Agree with these assessments. Will add, from a coach perspective three second half plays that I felt defined the comeback DEFENSIVELY.

1. Tanner Blyly cleared out the left side to try and take Gamm one on one. He thought size mismatch therefore quickness advantage. Gamm stayed low and hands off, kept him in front and blocked his shot. Key stop as momentum started to shift.

2. Mason Opple went full on quarterback and chased a loose ball past half court and with a headlong dive knocked the ball off a Kzoo player - except the ref didn't see that last part. Even thought the Hornets got the ball back his effort was contagious.

3. Wilkins got his hands on a lot of stuff late but the key was his help side rotation when Granger got turned around by Hamann on a baseline drive. He went up and two hand blocked the shot volleyball style and maintained possession.


Three huge plays that don't totally show up in a box score but underscore what it takes to win.

[sac]

Agree with these assessments. Will add, from a coach perspective three second half plays that I felt defined the comeback DEFENSIVELY.

1. Tanner Blyly cleared out the left side to try and take Gamm one on one. He thought size mismatch therefore quickness advantage. Gamm stayed low and hands off, kept him in front and blocked his shot. Key stop as momentum started to shift.

Gamm's block actually came immediately after Opple's hustle play.
1:24:54  https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8966097/videos/201064735

2. Mason Opple went full on quarterback and chased a loose ball past half court and with a headlong dive knocked the ball off a Kzoo player - except the ref didn't see that last part. Even thought the Hornets got the ball back his effort was contagious.

1:22:50   https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8966097/videos/201064735

3. Wilkins got his hands on a lot of stuff late but the key was his help side rotation when Granger got turned around by Hamann on a baseline drive. He went up and two hand blocked the shot volleyball style and maintained possession.


Three huge plays that don't totally show up in a box score but underscore what it takes to win.

1:42:50  https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8966097/videos/201064735 


Offensively, I'll add a 3 play stretch where Hackert hit a corner 3, Kzoo missed what would have been a big dunk, then George hit another corner 3 with a foul underneath.  Hope missed the FT, but retained possession and Hackert missed  a 3.  A quick 6 point swing that seemed to get Hope going (finally).    Next trip down Hope took the lead for the first time in a long time, then a minute or two later got it back and never relinquished it again.

sequence starts at. 1:09:55  there is a timeout after the 2nd 3.
https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8966097/videos/201064735

Watch George get trucked in the corner but the underneath ref call a foul on Cook.  Really should have been 2 fouls there.



Refs felt disconnected from this game quite a bit, missed travels (slippery floor that never got attention), missed numbers, several discussions between themselves, shot clock confusion etc.

Watch Hackert basically walk into this 3
1:36:00  https://livestream.com/KalamazooCollege/events/8966097/videos/201064735

[HoopsCoach]

You're right. Had 1/2 slightly out of order but the three of those stand. The sequence on O you called out really turned the tide on that end, indeed. Refs were not on the same page really at any point.

I tend to watch a lot of off ball. Can't stand Dan Dakich but he always implores people to watch away from the ball to get the backstory. Probably why I remember more on D, movement, etc.

Regardless, a nice road win for Hope because we all know any road win, especially on a Wed, is a good one.

[Dutchfan]

I'm heading over to Oliver for the Hope women's game. Does anyone know exactly where the game is being played?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Should be at Upton. That is where both Olivet basketball programs are playing while the Cutler floor is repaired. 

Confirmed via OC WBB tweet that the game is at Upton

[Dutchfan]

Should be at Upton. That is where both Olivet basketball programs are playing while the Cutler floor is repaired. 

Confirmed via OC WBB tweet that the game is at Upton

Thank you!

[wiz]

Curious strategy by Mitchell at the end of today's game with Alma.  Let the Scots run the clock down before they scored with a nice jumper by Kleiver from the elbow.  Granger's 40 points difficult to celebrate when coach let's the victory slip away.

[TUAngola]

Albion 88  Trine 82

Trine led most of the way but Albion was the better team in the 2nd half as they shot a scorching 64% in that frame.  I actually thought Trine played one of their better games of the year.  We defended well the 1st half.  The second half was all Jamezell Davis.  You knew that we weren't going to be able to hold him down the whole game.  As well as Davis and Ebeling played, I thought Albion's Cortez Garland was the player of the game for the Brits.  I didn't know much about him as Davis, Ebeling and Armstrong are studs, but Garland was silky smooth today.  And Albion could not miss at the FT line either, shooting at a 95% clip.

The last 3 minutes of the game were a disaster for us though.  Albion outscored us 14-3 over that stretch after we had taken a 79-74 lead.  We missed some easy ones inside and Albion just kept on scoring.  Then we had to foul and that was the ballgame.  For Trine we had a breakout game from Soph Bryce Williams as he is getting so much better and gives us another guy you have to defend from 3.  Really guys 1 thru 8 all contributed today for Trine, we maybe have a little more depth than Albion, but their starters 1 thru 5 are the best I've seen in the MIAA.

Good crowd at the game.  The boxscore doesn't give a figure but I'd say easily over 1000.  Just wish the students were more into the game.  In games like this you need a louder crowd and us old folk aren't going to give you much noise.    Not sure what happened to the "Blue Crew" of old.  Maybe it's the new arena.  With the intimate setting we had at Hershey Hall, the students were really a lot more into the games, standing and yelling.  We gotta get that back somehow.  The students would rather play on their phones and socialize.  Why come then?

Albion:  Davis 32, Garland 27, Ebeling 14
Trine:  Williams 18, Hunter 14, Johnson 12, Daniels 12, Cox 10

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Curious strategy by Mitchell at the end of today’s game with Alma.  Let the Scots run the clock down before they scored with a nice jumper by Kleiver from the elbow.  Granger’s 40 points difficult to celebrate when coach let’s the victory slip away.

Actually not curious at all IMHO. Down 3 with 36 seconds to play many coaches will defend rather than foul. A stop and you have a chance to tie. Fouling more than likely puts you down 2 possessions.  I’m good with relying on your D rather than the other team missing foul shots (especially when they are in the double bonus).

[sac]

Curious strategy by Mitchell at the end of today's game with Alma.  Let the Scots run the clock down before they scored with a nice jumper by Kleiver from the elbow.  Granger's 40 points difficult to celebrate when coach let's the victory slip away.

This is nothing more than ignorant swipe at rival. 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Crazy day of scoring across the league today with every game featuring at least one player scoring over 30.

Harris and Kalonji each with 31 for Adrian
Davis with 32 for Albion
DeVries with 34 for Calvin
Granger with 40 for Hope

[MaroonKnighty]

Curious strategy by Mitchell at the end of today's game with Alma.  Let the Scots run the clock down before they scored with a nice jumper by Kleiver from the elbow.  Granger's 40 points difficult to celebrate when coach let's the victory slip away.

This is nothing more than an ignorant swipe at our rival.

While Wiz's post seems to be a swipe at the rival it's really not that ignorant.

I fixed your post.

[pointlem]

Albion 88  Trine 82

Good crowd at the game.  The box score doesn't give a figure but I'd say easily over 1000.  Just wish the students were more into the game.  In games like this you need a louder crowd and us old folk aren't going to give you much noise.    Not sure what happened to the "Blue Crew" of old. . . . The students would rather play on their phones and socialize.

Great report, as always, TUAngola. Hope likewise had a great crowd (2628) . . . and also with a shrunken student section that you could just about count with your fingers and toes. Is student support down at other schools, too? (Kazoo seemed to have a much bigger end zone student section at their game with Hope on Wednesday.) If so, what gives?

[sac]

Alma shoots 78% from the FT line as a team, Alma had 3 players that shoot over 80% from the stripe on the floor a fourth that shoots 90+%.  Woodruff the only guy under 80% never comes close to touching the ball.  So the option is foul and make sure the game is over or play defense and maybe get another possession out of a tough situation.  Mitchel opted to play defense and hope to get the ball with around 10 sec left as any coach who sniffed a good scouting report would do.  Kleiver hit a great shot.

Wiz's assertion that playing a defensive stand wasn't the right call is purely a swipe and ignorant.