Post by Commissioner on Feb 5, 2016 7:58:16 GMT -5
Youngstown State
When: Saturday, Feb. 6, 7:05 p.m.
Where: Beeghly Center, Youngstown
TV: ESPN 3
Radio: 97.1 FM
The Titans finally got a road win on Thursday night, and have a chance to get back to .500 if they can knock off YSU in the Beeghly on Saturday. The game is listed as #3 in the Titans' pending 7 game winning streak.
Nobody expected YSU to be good this year, and when Bobby Hain went down in their final non-conference game, it was hard to take them seriously at first. We were all pretty dismissive when the Titans struggled to beat the Penguins in the conference opener on January 2. But the Guins have some sting (or bite, or whacking you with their flippers or whatever), as we saw when they ambushed Oakland two days after the defeat in Detroit. Since then it's remained mostly, but not entirely, bad for YSU. Though just 4-7 in conference, they've beaten a second upper division team, Green Bay, and demonstrated that they are better than UIC and CSU -- there will be no cellar finish for the 'Guins this year. And if they beat the Titans on Saturday they'll move ahead of us in the standings by virtue of the league's tie-breaker formula.
Four starters look pretty certain. Sophomore guard Cameron Morse, from Flint, has emerged as a rising star in the Horizon, among the top 50 scorers in the nation (19.4 ppg) and second in the Horizon to Kahlil Felder. Since moving into the starting lineup 12 games ago, he has scored at least 20 points nine times and no fewer than 14 in any game. Included in there is a 44 point effort in YSU's upset over Green Bay. He'll be joined in the backcourt by sophomore point guard Francisco Santiago (8.2 ppg, 4.1 apg), a walk-on who has emerged as the #3 man in the conference in assists and who scored a season high 22 points against Oakland on Thursday. 6-7 junior Matt Donlan (13.2 ppg) and 6-5 freshman Jordan Andrews (7.2 ppg) give them a couple of deadly three point shooters in the forward slots. Donlan is 6th in the nation in 3-point shooting at 48.9%, and Morse (40.8%) and Andrews (36.7%) are no slouches.
The fifth starter will probably be 7-0 junior center Jordan Kaufman (6.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg). Kaufman moved into the starting lineup 5 games ago when sophomore Sidney Umude (7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg) was injured. Umide got back into the action on Thursday against Oakland, but it was just a cameo 2 minutes. My guess is he'll still be limited on Saturday and Kaufman will start again, with Umude getting a 10-12 minutes of spot play.
Junior Brett Frantz (3.5 ppg, 1.3 apg), who lost his starting job to Morse near the end of the non-conference season, remains a key part of the rotation, the first guard off the bench, and Bryce Nickels (3.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg), a 6-9 soph, has seen his playing time increase in Umude's absence. We'll probably see Ypsilanti freshman Latin Davis (3.5 ppg, 1.2 apg) as well.
The Penguins weren't a slow team when they had Hain, and without him they've become a very up-tempo bunch. 183 points were scored when these two teams met in Calihan, but they're both capable of scoring more. YSU is simply not as good as the Titans, at either end of the court, but when hot they are capable of raining threes on opponents, as they did in the first OU game. They opened that game hitting 9 of 13 three pointers to open a 12 point lead. If we see something like that Thursday, it may partly, but probably won't be entirely, the fault of the Titan defense. YSU is a team that can simply go into the zone. If that happens, you've just got to weather the storm, knowing that you can always score against the Penguins, and hence come back once they've cooled off. My guess is that YSU will play a fair bit of zone, both because they usually do but also to protect Kaufman from foul trouble and fatigue against the faster Titans. We may see quite a bit of Nickels, too, because I think our guys can run past the slower Kaufman.
In the first game, Donlan gave the Titans fits, hitting 6 of 10 three pointers. But Morse and Andrews were just a combined 2-12 from deep, and the Titans came back from 6 down at halftime with a 59 point second half. Anton Wilson scored 34 and the Titans crushed the boards, 53-20, to overcome YSU's 52% shooting for the game. YSU got just 3 offensive rebounds, the Titans 21. We also hit 25 of 29 foul shots in the 9 point win.
I don't think this game will look a whole lot different. We should win, even on the road, but as Green Bay and Oakland have learned, these Penguins can be very dangerous. If both teams are on, this should be a very fun game to watch, sort of a poor man's version of the epic 1990 NCAA game between Loyola and Michigan, won 149-115 by the former (I still remember sitting in awe for that one, as Michigan at one point scored on 6 or 7 straight possessions and still lost ground).
When: Saturday, Feb. 6, 7:05 p.m.
Where: Beeghly Center, Youngstown
TV: ESPN 3
Radio: 97.1 FM
The Titans finally got a road win on Thursday night, and have a chance to get back to .500 if they can knock off YSU in the Beeghly on Saturday. The game is listed as #3 in the Titans' pending 7 game winning streak.
Nobody expected YSU to be good this year, and when Bobby Hain went down in their final non-conference game, it was hard to take them seriously at first. We were all pretty dismissive when the Titans struggled to beat the Penguins in the conference opener on January 2. But the Guins have some sting (or bite, or whacking you with their flippers or whatever), as we saw when they ambushed Oakland two days after the defeat in Detroit. Since then it's remained mostly, but not entirely, bad for YSU. Though just 4-7 in conference, they've beaten a second upper division team, Green Bay, and demonstrated that they are better than UIC and CSU -- there will be no cellar finish for the 'Guins this year. And if they beat the Titans on Saturday they'll move ahead of us in the standings by virtue of the league's tie-breaker formula.
Four starters look pretty certain. Sophomore guard Cameron Morse, from Flint, has emerged as a rising star in the Horizon, among the top 50 scorers in the nation (19.4 ppg) and second in the Horizon to Kahlil Felder. Since moving into the starting lineup 12 games ago, he has scored at least 20 points nine times and no fewer than 14 in any game. Included in there is a 44 point effort in YSU's upset over Green Bay. He'll be joined in the backcourt by sophomore point guard Francisco Santiago (8.2 ppg, 4.1 apg), a walk-on who has emerged as the #3 man in the conference in assists and who scored a season high 22 points against Oakland on Thursday. 6-7 junior Matt Donlan (13.2 ppg) and 6-5 freshman Jordan Andrews (7.2 ppg) give them a couple of deadly three point shooters in the forward slots. Donlan is 6th in the nation in 3-point shooting at 48.9%, and Morse (40.8%) and Andrews (36.7%) are no slouches.
The fifth starter will probably be 7-0 junior center Jordan Kaufman (6.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg). Kaufman moved into the starting lineup 5 games ago when sophomore Sidney Umude (7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg) was injured. Umide got back into the action on Thursday against Oakland, but it was just a cameo 2 minutes. My guess is he'll still be limited on Saturday and Kaufman will start again, with Umude getting a 10-12 minutes of spot play.
Junior Brett Frantz (3.5 ppg, 1.3 apg), who lost his starting job to Morse near the end of the non-conference season, remains a key part of the rotation, the first guard off the bench, and Bryce Nickels (3.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg), a 6-9 soph, has seen his playing time increase in Umude's absence. We'll probably see Ypsilanti freshman Latin Davis (3.5 ppg, 1.2 apg) as well.
The Penguins weren't a slow team when they had Hain, and without him they've become a very up-tempo bunch. 183 points were scored when these two teams met in Calihan, but they're both capable of scoring more. YSU is simply not as good as the Titans, at either end of the court, but when hot they are capable of raining threes on opponents, as they did in the first OU game. They opened that game hitting 9 of 13 three pointers to open a 12 point lead. If we see something like that Thursday, it may partly, but probably won't be entirely, the fault of the Titan defense. YSU is a team that can simply go into the zone. If that happens, you've just got to weather the storm, knowing that you can always score against the Penguins, and hence come back once they've cooled off. My guess is that YSU will play a fair bit of zone, both because they usually do but also to protect Kaufman from foul trouble and fatigue against the faster Titans. We may see quite a bit of Nickels, too, because I think our guys can run past the slower Kaufman.
In the first game, Donlan gave the Titans fits, hitting 6 of 10 three pointers. But Morse and Andrews were just a combined 2-12 from deep, and the Titans came back from 6 down at halftime with a 59 point second half. Anton Wilson scored 34 and the Titans crushed the boards, 53-20, to overcome YSU's 52% shooting for the game. YSU got just 3 offensive rebounds, the Titans 21. We also hit 25 of 29 foul shots in the 9 point win.
I don't think this game will look a whole lot different. We should win, even on the road, but as Green Bay and Oakland have learned, these Penguins can be very dangerous. If both teams are on, this should be a very fun game to watch, sort of a poor man's version of the epic 1990 NCAA game between Loyola and Michigan, won 149-115 by the former (I still remember sitting in awe for that one, as Michigan at one point scored on 6 or 7 straight possessions and still lost ground).