Ashland

[Queens_NYC]

Saturday, December 18th, 2021
1:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Ashland University Eagles are a D2 program located 2 hrs and 45 min away from Clifton off I-71 in northern Ohio. They play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and are 5-3 on the season.

Their only game against D1 competition this season was a preseason exhibition against Valparaiso (NET #239) where they lost 87-78.

This game will not count towards our NET ranking/NCAA tournament resume and with it being against our (most likely) overmatched opponent of the season, it will hopefully allow for us to establish an offensive rhythm early in the game.

Hoping to see the end of the bench get extended minutes and build their confidence.

 

[waterhead]

Saturday, December 18th, 2021
1:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Ashland University Eagles are a D2 program located 2 hrs and 45 min away from Clifton off I-71 in northern Ohio. They play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and are 5-3 on the season.

Their only game against D1 competition this season was a preseason exhibition against Valparaiso (NET #239) where they lost 87-78.

This game will not count towards our NET ranking/NCAA tournament resume and with it being against our (most likely) overmatched opponent of the season, it will hopefully allow for us to establish an offensive rhythm early in the game.

Hoping to see the end of the bench get extended minutes and build their confidence.

Lovely start. If we cant get the ball and score in paint on these guys…we aren’t going to.

 

[Queens_NYC]

We're going through the motions on both ends of the court and look horrible.

 

[skyblade]

I just started watching. Apparently we're down 10-2 for points in the paint, which isn't a great sign.

 

[waterhead]

I just started watching. Apparently we're down 10-2 for points in the paint, which isn't a great sign.

Not even trying to get it inside at all

 

[skyblade]

We've got a nice lead now and the defense has been fairly good (though Ashland misses a lot of open shots and FT's) but still haven't been running good offense. Our offense is pretty much let DDJ iso or Saunders score on the fast break. If we can't run real offense against Ashland, it's not a good sign. DDJ iso isn't going to cut it against Houston.

 

[skyblade]

Around the 10 minute mark of the second half, Lakhin got up to go in and Miller told him to sit back down and sent Koval in instead. A few minutes later Lakhin went to the locker room and then came back out with a trainer, looked to be limping a bit. My guess is he aggravated his ankle again, probably not too bad, but enough to keep him outfor the remainder of the game.

 

[Bearcat_Z]

Ado had 0 FG attempts. That tells me all I need to know about the offense they are running. The post players should have had numerous attempts and there should not have been any 3s attempted. They have no idea how to exploit the advantages they possess.

 

[Queens_NYC]

The good:
-Confidence and shot-making by Davenport and DeJulius
-The outcome was decided at the 12 minute mark of the 2nd half once we went up 25.

The bad:
-Couldn't get the bigs involved offensively
-MAW had his worst game of the season
-Outside of a few buckets from Saunders the bench gave us nothing

 

[skyblade]

The good:
-Confidence and shot-making by Davenport and DeJulius
-The outcome was decided at the 12 minute mark of the 2nd half once we went up 25.

The bad:
-Couldn't get the bigs involved offensively
-MAW had his worst game of the season
-Outside of a few buckets from Saunders the bench gave us nothing

Really no one other than Davenport and DDJ gave us anything on offense. They combined for almost 2/3rd of our points. Only 4 guys scored more than 4 points and only 2 more than 8 points. Really scary how lacking in options our offense was. Teams like Houston are going to be able to take away our top couple of options.

 

[waterhead]

Really no one other than Davenport and DDJ gave us anything on offense. They combined for almost 2/3rd of our points. Only 4 guys scored more than 4 points and only 2 more than 8 points. Really scary how lacking in options our offense was. Teams like Houston are going to be able to take away our top couple of options.

Yah that seems like trouble. Although I think JD can get his shots off in just about any game and unless DD get's doubled or hedged...he can still score. Or he will need to find the open man if doubled.

Mike's speed should be just fine against any team...just has to connect on some shots. And we NEED to get the ball to the post and Vik will have to step up his game. Newman can probably have a normal night against most opponents (which isn't much on offense). I thought Hensley played pretty good defense but not sure how that will translate to better opponents.

All in all I thought they had a decent team all things considered. I thought the other team played better than a couple others we have faced. Some of their guards were fairly quick and athletic. The big was decent on offense and he never really had to worry about defense. They were thin and not great at shooting...but they were pretty fast and tough to guard. They passed the ball pretty well on back cuts. Speed wise other than the big guy I thought they matched up pretty well.

Wes has to figure out a couple of things and adapt. I hope he is not bull headed about a preferred style. Letting kids make decisions on when to shoot will result in a lot of hero ball. We have to crash boards better, box out better, and get the ball in the paint better. We can't really improve shooting at this point so we have to work on the controllable aspects.