MBB: University Athletic Association

[Gregory Sager]

Oy gevalt!

[WUPHF]

Wash-U defeats Augustana 68-61 on the road.  Bears led by as many as 16 points in the 2nd half, before Augie pulled within 3 with :57 left.  Vikes had a chance to tie but turned the ball over in its half-court, and Wash-U made free throws the rest of the way.

Boom!

Just a few random thoughts on the game...

Absolutely no complaints other than late game free throw shooting.  The Bears shot 11-15 from the line, but four of those five misses came in the last 5-6 minutes including three front-end misses on the 1 and 1.

It was great to see Washington University close out a big game on the road.  This team is better than they were a season ago when they had a better Augustana tied with five minutes left.

My starting line-up for the next game against a UC Santa Cruz team which has less length at the guard position would be Kucera and Knupp along with Bregman, Sanders and Schmelter.  Clinton Hooks would play a few less minutes.  Matt Highsmith would play a few more minutes.

Matt Highsmith is oh so quietly averaging 10 points (60% shooting) and 7 rebounds per game in 20 minutes of play.

The answer to the question of who would back up Kevin Kucera seems to have been answered.  Freshman Matt Nester played 7 minutes with only one turnover...  Freshman Devaughn Rucker also got four minutes of playing time. 

Andrew Sanders struggled yesterday, but it looked as though he had his thumb or hand taped.

As much as I complain about the officials, I should say that I thought they did a good job yesterday.

Augustana has a beautiful campus...the football stadium is gorgeous.  A road trip to the Carver Center was on my basketball bucket list, but I did not expect such terrible weather for the drive home.

[WUPHF]

Yeshiva came in at 1-3, NYU was 3-0.... of course, NYU wins were against a sad schedule of Marywood, Drew and John Jay

NYU...LOL

The team is Ross Udine and a big batch of freshmen.

OK, a few reserves, but this is one of the bigger rebuilds I have seen since I started paying attention to the UAA.  Just a season ago, this team had the UAA Player of the Year, UAA Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team conference player.

[WUPHF]

Brandeis nearly gets the upset over No. 3 Tufts at home after scoring twice as many points in the second half as they did in the first.  The final Waltham, Tufts over Brandeis, 74-72.  Brandeis was coming off a 65-62 win over UMass-Dartmouth.

Rochester improves to 7-0 on the season after the win 77-66 win over St. John Fischer.
__________

Washington University gets the 84-69 win over UC Santa Cruz to advance to the championship of the Lopata Classic tomorrow night where they will play No. 21 UW-Eau Claire.

Washington University played a good game for the most part but turnovers were a big problem, with 20 overall for the game.  The starters were responsible for 15 of those.  The Bears were downright sloppy at times.

Andrew Sanders and Matt Highsmith were money shooting 23 and 16 on 8-10 and 7-8 shooting.  Sanders struggled from the charity stripe, but otherwise had a great game. 

Eau Claire set a few tourney records, but I swear the Banana Slugs may have set a record for on-ball screens.

Tomorrow should be a great game...still lookimg at those stats from the first game.  The Blugolds shot 72% in a game the featured 159 field goal attempts and 42 fast break points.  Eau Claire had 48 rebounds, but they were only +8.

[jaybird44]

Very much in agreement with your assessment, WUH.  Certainly room for improvement before tonight's game vs. Eau Claire.

Sanders also had a career-high 7 steals, and Kevin Kucera added a tough double-double of 15 points and 10 assists.

Also agree that the rebound margin will be a very important stat to look at tonight.  Eau Claire's +8 vs. Rhodes pales when compared to Wash-U's +21 and +7 offensive boards vs. Santa Cruz.  The Bears improved on their 9th-best D3 rebound margin, but they will have a tough mirror-image team to face tonight, in order to extend their Lopata Classic winning streak of 35 games.

[WUPHF]

I am glad you mentioned the stats for Kevin Kucera from last night...I have really been impressed with his play so far.

Rebounds have definitely been a strength a great game on the boards may be required to cover for one of our weaknesses: three point shooting.  Our best three point shooter is not taking shots from the perimeter (averaging a little over one per game) and our second option is only shooting 25% (7-28).

I know No. 23 gives up a few inches, but I would still like to see him get in the game much earlier.  Just my novice opinion...

If we get the crowd we had last night, this game may feel a lot like March.
__________

Incidentally, congratulations to the Washington University Women's Soccer team who defeated Brandeis 2-1 last night to advance to the championship game in Salem.  They will yet again play the Five Times National Champions in Messiah College at 4:00 pm today.

Last year, the best goal keeper in the game worked a miracle to help WUSTL advance to the championship.  Should be a great game.

[WUPHF]

Update: Washington University Women's Soccer defeats Messiah for the National Championship after the Bears win in the shootout!  Bears win!

[WUPHF]

Washington University leads UW Eau Claire at the half, 26-20.

If you love defense, this is the game for you...

[WUPHF]

Washington University falls to No. 21 UW Eau Claire in the championship of the Lopata Classic, 64-50.

The Blugolds took the lead at the 6 minute mark and led by 4 points with just two minutes left before capitalizing on the Bears desperation and poor execution, pushing the lead to 14.

In the first half, Washington University played one of the best defensive games I have seen in a long time.  In the second half, the Blugolds turned that around. 

Eau Claire shot 28% from the field in the first half, but turned that around too, shooting 68% in the second half.  Washington University was unable to match that offensive intensity.  The Bears were 3-13 from three point range.  Dreadful.

The Blugold press also might have had an effect on the Bears offense.  The Bears had no problem breaking it, but lost valuable time in the process.

Rebounds were more or less even.
Turnover were more or less even.
Assists were more or less even.
Steals were more or less even.

Matt Nester may have had his best game yet and scored 5 on 2-2 shooting after only scoring on one previous occasion.  The only other positive I can think of is the fact that our Women's Soccer team won the national championship!

[dcahill44]

Have seen Rochester 4 times and they are legit. They have all the pieces and I think they are Top 10 in the country good. Depending on matchups a chance to be a final four contender if they stay healthy.

[WUPHF]

Have seen Rochester 4 times and they are legit. They have all the pieces and I think they are Top 10 in the country good. Depending on matchups a chance to be a final four contender if they stay healthy.

I have been unable to watch them play this season because they have played 7-8 games at home and I am not paying to watch them play.

As far as match-ups are concerned, the Yellowjackets lost Jared Seltzer and Dylan Peretz to graduation leaving them a bit guard-heavy on paper, though potentially the conference player of the year and another first-time all association...

Rochester has not exactly played the most difficult schedule to date, but Zack Ayers, Tucker Knox and others have seemed to step up.  Curious on your take...

[Gregory Sager]

Chicago upped its record to 6-1 by beating Kalamazoo on Saturday, 83-69, over on the other side of the lake. Noah Karras, who has improved tremendously this season, had a big 5-9 day from beyond the arc, en route to a game-leading 27 points. Tyler Howard had a really nice 17-6-6 game as well for the Maroons.

[WUPHF]

Washington University leads Fontbonne at the half, 52-36.

I was curious about Brandeis vs. Amherst after that close loss to to Tufts but it looks like the Judges got beat by 20 or so in the road.

[hopefan]

WUH... two big positives in the Wash U vs Fontbonne box score.... the lines of Clint Hooks (he made some shots!!) and Marcus Meyer (a positive contribution may build confidence)...

You know what I mean....

[WUPHF]

Definitely two big positives and one more...

Clinton Hooks scored 19 points on 8-11 (3-4) from the field in just 19 minutes...much improved over his 2-10 and 3-10 efforts over the weekend.  Marcus Meyer scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting...

Earl Austin Jr. said DeVaughn Rucker would be a big player at Washington University and we are beginning to see that.  Remember the name DeVaughn Rucker.
________

Next up for Washington University in the non-conference schedule:

Central College (5-1)
No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan (5-1)
Ohio Wesleyan (3-3)
No. 17 Wooster (4-2)