The Cougars are set to play their second game in two days at 12:30, as they face the Hampton Pirates of the MEAC at the Moon Palace Resort, which may as well be on the moon, since there won't be any video feed or live stats.
Thank god for Twitter.
The Cougars (0-3) are in this consolation game because Robert Boyd buried a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds left in regulation to lift Lipscomb past them yesterday. Hampton, meanwhile lost 76-70 to Sacred Heart in the second game of the afternoon.
The Pirates are one of the better teams in a very poor conference. Hampton is a HBC, as are most of, if not all of the schools in the MEAC if I am not mistaken. Last year, they made the second (okay, it's really the first) round of the NCAA tournament by virtue of the MEAC tournament title and a 24-9 record. Their year was good enough to help them avoid the opening round, earn a 16-seed and get blown out 87-45 to Duke.
The Pirates do bring back their two biggest weapons from that tournament team. Darrion Pellum averaged 17.5 ppg last season and Kwame Morgan averaged 16.1.
Does it matter that Hampton made the NCAA tournament last year? No. It's hard to really gauge this game, because we don't get to see Hampton. Still, they honestly don't scare me very much.
If I could point out one player to watch out for besides Pellum and Morgan it's got to be David Bruce. He has averaged 22 minutes per game this year and is nearly putting up a double-double every game averaging 10 points and 8.5 rebounds. What's worse is he is 6'10. The Cougars will be undersized in this game, but are probably tougher physically than Hampton if they can execute.
Keys to the game:
Be physical and eliminate the size advantage.
Share the basketball. Get everyone involved.
Play loose, start fast. For once, I want to have a 2-0 lead. Just once.
Stay out of foul trouble. The big guys are even more important when undersized.
Get Derian Shaffer going. He is better than he has shown.
Take smart shots.
Limit turnovers. 18 against Lipscomb probably cost them the game.
Will probably recap this game Friday folks. Hope you all have a great thanksgiving holiday. Feel free to tweet @AllanjLewis.
0 comments:
Post a Comment