Post by Commissioner on Feb 5, 2022 0:34:19 GMT -5
Who: Northern Kentucky
What: Titan Basketball
When: Saturday, February 5, 7:00 p.m.
Where: BB&T Arena, Highland Heights, Ky
Why: You can't cancel every game for Covid
How: By the skin of our teeth
TV: ESPN+
Radio: WLQV 1500 AM & 92.7 FM
Just our luck. IUPUI at home? Cancelled. Wright State and Northern Kentucky on the road? As Ernie Banks would say, "let's play two!" After Friday's pasting at WSU, the Titans zip down I-75 to the Kentucky side of metro Cincinnati to face the league's hottest team, Northern Kentucky. Well, you gotta beat the good teams at some point.
The Norsemen of NKU have been one of the Horizon's dominant programs for the past half-decade, and were generally projected to finish 3rd or 4th this year in preseason projections. But like Friday's opponents from Wright State, the Norse were slow out of the blocks (or off the ship or something), going just 4-6 in non-conference (with two of the wins against non-D1 teams) and starting out at 2-4 in conference. Your dutiful correspondent wrote them off after they trailed the entire game and lost by 12 at Robert Morris on January 15. But that loss appears to have been theRalph nadir. Since then the Norse have won 6 straight, including wins over 1st place Cleveland State, 2nd place Oakland, and 3rd place Wright State. So not only do we get to play the Norse down in suburban Cincy, we play them when they're hot, and not when they were not.
The Norse's revival has been helped by the insertion of our old friend Chris Brandon into the starting lineup. Although Brandon started at the Robert Morris disaster, the Norse are, overall, 8-2 since he replaced another old friend, Adrian Nelson (ah, Adrain, we hardly knew ye) in the lineup, vs. 4-7 (again, with 2 wins over non-D1 competition) with Brandon coming off the bench. Somewhat oddly, Brandon's PT is up only a bit, from 17 minutes to 21 minutes per game. In 11 games off the bench he played between 10 and 22 minutes; with the exception of a 38 minute game against Milwaukee on January 1 (when Nelson was out), in 9 games as a starter he's played between 16 and 22 minutes. The decision to swap the two--who have largely the same skill sets--was not due to some stroke of genius by coach Darrin Horne--Brandon entered the lineup when Nelson had to miss a couple games, the team did OK, and he stayed there. Nelson's minutes are down only slightly, from an average of 23 as a starter to 22 off the bench. Anyway, the two of them combine for a strong presence at the #4 position, averaging a combined 11.6 points, 15 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks, while finishing at a 62.1% clip at the rim. When the ball goes inside to Nelson or Brandon, it's a good bet points will be scored.
Freshman guard Sam Vinson is the Horizon's likely freshman of the year, which may be a great trivia question in years to come--who beat out Patrick Baldwin, Jr. for HL Freshman of the Year in 2022? Vinson's has good top line numbers, but more importantly a veteran's presence, and has keyed some of the Norse's best wins.
In addition to the insertion of Brandon into the starting lineup, the Norse's turnaround corresponded with the return of junior point guard Bryson Langdon to the starting lineup. The Norse are 10-4 since, after a 2-5 start. Langdon's return allowed last year's Freshman of the Year, Marques Warrick, to worry less about ball handling and more about what he does best--score. He's gone from averaging 9.1 to 17.2 points per game since Langdon re-entered the starting lineup, and actually increased his assist totals in the process.
The final starter is veteran Trevon Faulkner, who is not having the star season some predicted. Last year Faulkner averaged 16.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists; this year those numbers are 12.2, 3.4, and 1.6. But while Faulkner has taken on less of the total load—mainly due to Vincent’s arrival—he’s been a much more proficient three-point threat, averaging nearly 6 attempts per game (vs. about 4 the last two seasons) and connecting at a 39% clip, versus 29% and 28% the last two years.
Other than Nelson, the key guy off the bench is sophomore Trey Robinson, a big wing likely to see the floor for 20 minutes or more. Lithuanian Freshman Hubertas Pivorius is a deadly three-point shooter who started a couple games early (including games with 20 and 19 points), but is struggling to regain his form after missing almost a month in late December and the first three weeks of January. If he’s on from deep, look out. Sophomore guard Jake Evans is likely to see 5-10 minutes. 6-9 soph David Bohm is also available, but after starting several games early, he’s pretty much disappeared, and hasn’t scored a point since January 1.
Northern Kentucky is a slow, deliberate team. The only slower tempo squad we’ve played is Green Bay, and we know how that turned out. Such squads often have good shooting percentages—they wait for the good shot—but not the Norse, who are one of the worst shooting teams in the country, the Brandon/Nelson combo notwithstanding. They make up for it in large part because Brandon and Nelson are beasts on the offensive glass, and if Detroit plays a ton of zone, they could be beastier than usual. As it is, the Norse are 11th in the country in percentage of offensive rebounds nabbed.
On defense, the Norse like to play a match-up zone. We’re going to have to do more against it than tonight’s dribble-drive-clank approach. Do we have anyone who can play a high post? We’ll also need to hit threes against one of the league’s best defenses against the three. Speaking of which, Antoine Davis picked the wrong time for a shooting slump—he’s 9-34 in the last two games (and, incidentally, relinquished the national scoring lead to Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas on Friday, 23.6 to 23.5 ppg).
We enter the game 1.5 behind NKU for the final first round bye (and second round home game) in the HL tournament, so a loss would leave us 2.5 and the tiebreaker behind. Meanwhile, we’re just percentage points ahead of Youngstown and Fort Wayne, who are tied for 6th. A loss could leave us waking up on Sunday to 7th place in the standings.
NKU Starters
PG: #11 Bryce Langdon, 5-9 Jr. (5.1 ppg, 3.5 apg)
G: #3 Marques Warrick, 6-2 Soph. (14.4 ppg, 2.2 apg, 31.9% 3Pt)
SG: #22 Trevon Faulkner, 6-3 Sr. (12.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 38.9% 3Pt)
SG: #2 Sam Vinson, 6-5 Fr. (11.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.7 apg, 36.4% 3Pt)
PF: #21 Chris Brandon, 6-8 Sr. (5.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Bench
G: #1 Trey Robinson, 6-6 Soph. (4.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
G: #34 Hubertas Pivorius, 6-2 Fr. (6.2 ppg, 44.6% 3Pt)
G: #24 Jake Evans, 6-1 Soph. (1.8 ppg)
PF: #4 Adrian Nelson, 6-7 Sr. (7.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
What: Titan Basketball
When: Saturday, February 5, 7:00 p.m.
Where: BB&T Arena, Highland Heights, Ky
Why: You can't cancel every game for Covid
How: By the skin of our teeth
TV: ESPN+
Radio: WLQV 1500 AM & 92.7 FM
Just our luck. IUPUI at home? Cancelled. Wright State and Northern Kentucky on the road? As Ernie Banks would say, "let's play two!" After Friday's pasting at WSU, the Titans zip down I-75 to the Kentucky side of metro Cincinnati to face the league's hottest team, Northern Kentucky. Well, you gotta beat the good teams at some point.
The Norsemen of NKU have been one of the Horizon's dominant programs for the past half-decade, and were generally projected to finish 3rd or 4th this year in preseason projections. But like Friday's opponents from Wright State, the Norse were slow out of the blocks (or off the ship or something), going just 4-6 in non-conference (with two of the wins against non-D1 teams) and starting out at 2-4 in conference. Your dutiful correspondent wrote them off after they trailed the entire game and lost by 12 at Robert Morris on January 15. But that loss appears to have been the
The Norse's revival has been helped by the insertion of our old friend Chris Brandon into the starting lineup. Although Brandon started at the Robert Morris disaster, the Norse are, overall, 8-2 since he replaced another old friend, Adrian Nelson (ah, Adrain, we hardly knew ye) in the lineup, vs. 4-7 (again, with 2 wins over non-D1 competition) with Brandon coming off the bench. Somewhat oddly, Brandon's PT is up only a bit, from 17 minutes to 21 minutes per game. In 11 games off the bench he played between 10 and 22 minutes; with the exception of a 38 minute game against Milwaukee on January 1 (when Nelson was out), in 9 games as a starter he's played between 16 and 22 minutes. The decision to swap the two--who have largely the same skill sets--was not due to some stroke of genius by coach Darrin Horne--Brandon entered the lineup when Nelson had to miss a couple games, the team did OK, and he stayed there. Nelson's minutes are down only slightly, from an average of 23 as a starter to 22 off the bench. Anyway, the two of them combine for a strong presence at the #4 position, averaging a combined 11.6 points, 15 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks, while finishing at a 62.1% clip at the rim. When the ball goes inside to Nelson or Brandon, it's a good bet points will be scored.
Freshman guard Sam Vinson is the Horizon's likely freshman of the year, which may be a great trivia question in years to come--who beat out Patrick Baldwin, Jr. for HL Freshman of the Year in 2022? Vinson's has good top line numbers, but more importantly a veteran's presence, and has keyed some of the Norse's best wins.
In addition to the insertion of Brandon into the starting lineup, the Norse's turnaround corresponded with the return of junior point guard Bryson Langdon to the starting lineup. The Norse are 10-4 since, after a 2-5 start. Langdon's return allowed last year's Freshman of the Year, Marques Warrick, to worry less about ball handling and more about what he does best--score. He's gone from averaging 9.1 to 17.2 points per game since Langdon re-entered the starting lineup, and actually increased his assist totals in the process.
The final starter is veteran Trevon Faulkner, who is not having the star season some predicted. Last year Faulkner averaged 16.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists; this year those numbers are 12.2, 3.4, and 1.6. But while Faulkner has taken on less of the total load—mainly due to Vincent’s arrival—he’s been a much more proficient three-point threat, averaging nearly 6 attempts per game (vs. about 4 the last two seasons) and connecting at a 39% clip, versus 29% and 28% the last two years.
Other than Nelson, the key guy off the bench is sophomore Trey Robinson, a big wing likely to see the floor for 20 minutes or more. Lithuanian Freshman Hubertas Pivorius is a deadly three-point shooter who started a couple games early (including games with 20 and 19 points), but is struggling to regain his form after missing almost a month in late December and the first three weeks of January. If he’s on from deep, look out. Sophomore guard Jake Evans is likely to see 5-10 minutes. 6-9 soph David Bohm is also available, but after starting several games early, he’s pretty much disappeared, and hasn’t scored a point since January 1.
Northern Kentucky is a slow, deliberate team. The only slower tempo squad we’ve played is Green Bay, and we know how that turned out. Such squads often have good shooting percentages—they wait for the good shot—but not the Norse, who are one of the worst shooting teams in the country, the Brandon/Nelson combo notwithstanding. They make up for it in large part because Brandon and Nelson are beasts on the offensive glass, and if Detroit plays a ton of zone, they could be beastier than usual. As it is, the Norse are 11th in the country in percentage of offensive rebounds nabbed.
On defense, the Norse like to play a match-up zone. We’re going to have to do more against it than tonight’s dribble-drive-clank approach. Do we have anyone who can play a high post? We’ll also need to hit threes against one of the league’s best defenses against the three. Speaking of which, Antoine Davis picked the wrong time for a shooting slump—he’s 9-34 in the last two games (and, incidentally, relinquished the national scoring lead to Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas on Friday, 23.6 to 23.5 ppg).
We enter the game 1.5 behind NKU for the final first round bye (and second round home game) in the HL tournament, so a loss would leave us 2.5 and the tiebreaker behind. Meanwhile, we’re just percentage points ahead of Youngstown and Fort Wayne, who are tied for 6th. A loss could leave us waking up on Sunday to 7th place in the standings.
NKU Starters
PG: #11 Bryce Langdon, 5-9 Jr. (5.1 ppg, 3.5 apg)
G: #3 Marques Warrick, 6-2 Soph. (14.4 ppg, 2.2 apg, 31.9% 3Pt)
SG: #22 Trevon Faulkner, 6-3 Sr. (12.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 38.9% 3Pt)
SG: #2 Sam Vinson, 6-5 Fr. (11.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.7 apg, 36.4% 3Pt)
PF: #21 Chris Brandon, 6-8 Sr. (5.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Bench
G: #1 Trey Robinson, 6-6 Soph. (4.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
G: #34 Hubertas Pivorius, 6-2 Fr. (6.2 ppg, 44.6% 3Pt)
G: #24 Jake Evans, 6-1 Soph. (1.8 ppg)
PF: #4 Adrian Nelson, 6-7 Sr. (7.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg)