AAC Tournament First Round: ECU

[Queens_NYC]

Thursday, March 10th, 2022
1:00 pm
Dickies Arena
ESPNU

Our 2022 postseason starts with a match-up against #9 East Carolina (15-14, 6-11 AAC, NET #179, KenPom #176) with a Thursday afternoon clash against #1 Houston on the cards for the winner.

Our most recent match-up in Greenville, a 60-59 win, caught ECU in the middle of a 6-game losing streak. The Pirates have since finished the regular season by winning 4 of their final 7 games where they've beaten Tulsa and USF two times a piece.

The Bearcats will need to find a way to slow down 6th-year forward Vance Jackson who is averaging 30 points/game against UC this season on 12/19 shooting from beyond the arc.

John Newman, who left last Thursday's game against SMU with an ankle injury, is expected to play.

 

[sedziobs]

Saunders and Hensley looked pretty good today. They combined for 17 pts, 5 assists, and only 1 turnover in 31 minutes. Saunders has been on fire from three. He's shooting 48% over the last 10 games and leads the team at 38% on the season.

The defense was good in the second half, especially from Newman. It was the first decent defensive game against a team other than USF that we've had since January.

MAW was terrible. Debaut had his left handed finish figured out and stuffed him repeatedly. It's hard for me to see how we can be a good offensive team if he is playing starters minutes.

I'm not sure why Madsen, Ody, and Lakhin didn't see much action. They were all contributing in the few minutes they had.

 

[Queens_NYC]

Saunders and Hensley looked pretty good today. They combined for 17 pts, 5 assists, and only 1 turnover in 31 minutes. Saunders has been on fire from three. He's shooting 48% over the last 10 games and leads the team at 38% on the season.

The defense was good in the second half, especially from Newman. It was the first decent defensive game against a team other than USF that we've had since January.

MAW was terrible. Debaut had his left handed finish figured out and stuffed him repeatedly. It's hard for me to see how we can be a good offensive team if he is playing starters minutes.

I'm not sure why Madsen, Ody, and Lakhin didn't see much action. They were all contributing in the few minutes they had.

Thought the performance hovered somewhere between mediocre and average. We played down to (or is the better word "at") their level for 38 minutes then made some big shots, got some stops, and made our foul shots to close the game out.

I agree that Saunders and Hensley looked solid.

I thought Ody and Lakhin looked a bit out of it but Madsen deserved to play a little more.

I have no idea what MAW's problem is other than his confidence is at an all-time low. He looked absolutely lost with the ball on the perimeter and his finishing at the rim could not have been more pitiful.