Post by Commissioner on Feb 15, 2019 1:34:03 GMT -5
Green Bay
When: Saturday, February 16, 1:00 p.m. EST
Where: Resch Center, UW-Green Bay
TV: ESPN 3
Radio: AM 910
So far, so good on the Wisconsin road trip. It was a long, nail-biting finish, but the Titans made their free throws (indeed, free throw after free throw--31 in all) and nipped Milwaukee on Thursday. That just about guarantees our kids a spot in the HL tournament. Saturday's game with Green Bay will go a long way to determining just how good a position the Titans will be in come tournament time. A win guarantees the Titans emerge from this weekend at least tied for 4th place in the league standings--from the standpoint of tournament seeding, we'd be 5th if Oakland wins and 4th if they don't. A win would put us in a position of not having to rely much on other teams--we could pull clearly ahead of OU with a win at the McRena next weekend, and have a realistic chance of catching UIC for 3rd with a home win over the Flames after that. A loss, however, could drop us all the way to 8th, and would rejuvenate Milwaukee's hopes of overtaking us for the last tournament spot if they can beat Oakland on Saturday. And a Titan win and Milwaukee loss on Saturday mathematically guarantees us a tournament bid--though I'd prefer a Titan win and a MIlwaukee win over Oakland.
The Titans won the match-up with Green Bay last month in Calihan Hall easy, 101-83. We were probably playing our best ball of the year right at that time, and led the entire game, and by double digits the entire second half. Josh and Antoine each scored 29 as the Titans shot 53% from the floor, 45% from three, and forced 19 turnovers. Harrison Curry added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Kam Hankerson had a good game--as he always does when the Phoenix visit Detroit--but the Titans held Sandy Cohen to 7 points on 2 of 8 shooting.
Just to recap, the Cheeseheads play a fast, up-tempo game. In fact, they're 6th in the nation in tempo, according to the authoritative KenPom, and 8th shortest in average time of possession on offense. They want to be in transition all the time. They're a good passing team, a good shooting team, and--the game in Calihan not withstanding--they're not prone to excessive turnovers. If forced to drop into the half court set, they'll hike up a fair number of threes. On defense they play man-to-man, with occasional flashes of zone. Despite Linc Darner's billing it "RP40" (relentless pressure/40 minutes) the Phoenix don't press all game, but they will press more than most teams in the league. I was surprised they did not press more at Calihan, as the Titans have had trouble against presses all year.
Their weakness is defense (see 101 points at Calihan). KenPom ranks 'em 248th in the country in defensive efficiency, and they rank 279th in opponents' three point shooting percentage. And of course, that's how we sliced them up last time. But Darner has juggled his lineup a bit and they're coming off their best defensive effort of the year, in Thursday's game against Oakland. The last few games they've gone to a shorter, quicker lineup, including starting little-used Hunter Crist the last two games. As always, because Darner goes so deep into his bench the starters are less important than with some other teams.
This is a big game for the Titans. A win puts up even with Green Bay in the loss column, and a half game up overall, but controlling the tie-breaker. Their last 4 games are IUPUI and UIC on the road, and then NKU and Wright State at home. So if we win, they'll have their hands full catching us. At least as important ,we want to be set up well going into Oakland.
Probable Green Bay Starters
G: #30 Hunter Crist, 6-3 Soph. (1.2 ppg, 1.0 apg)
G: #21 Kameron Hankerson, 6-5 Jr. (9.7 ppg, 35.7% 3PtFG)
G/SF: #1 Sandy Cohen, 6-6 RS Sr. (16.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.0 bpg, 2.0 spg, 34.5% 3PtFG)
F: #33 Cody Schwarz, 6-9 RS Jr. (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 34.4% 3PtFG)
F: #10 Tank Hemphill, 6-6 Jr. (11.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 53.4% FG)
Key Bench
G: #2 PJ Pipes, 6-2 Soph. (7.0 ppg, 34.5% 3PtFG)
G: #11, JayQuan McCloud, 6-2 RS Jr. (13.5 ppg, 2.2 apg, 38.6% 3PtFG)
G: #13 Trevion Bell, 6-6 Soph. (4.9 ppg)
F: #15 Manny Patterson, 6-8 Soph. (5.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
F: #12 Josh McNair, 6-6 Jr. (4.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
When: Saturday, February 16, 1:00 p.m. EST
Where: Resch Center, UW-Green Bay
TV: ESPN 3
Radio: AM 910
So far, so good on the Wisconsin road trip. It was a long, nail-biting finish, but the Titans made their free throws (indeed, free throw after free throw--31 in all) and nipped Milwaukee on Thursday. That just about guarantees our kids a spot in the HL tournament. Saturday's game with Green Bay will go a long way to determining just how good a position the Titans will be in come tournament time. A win guarantees the Titans emerge from this weekend at least tied for 4th place in the league standings--from the standpoint of tournament seeding, we'd be 5th if Oakland wins and 4th if they don't. A win would put us in a position of not having to rely much on other teams--we could pull clearly ahead of OU with a win at the McRena next weekend, and have a realistic chance of catching UIC for 3rd with a home win over the Flames after that. A loss, however, could drop us all the way to 8th, and would rejuvenate Milwaukee's hopes of overtaking us for the last tournament spot if they can beat Oakland on Saturday. And a Titan win and Milwaukee loss on Saturday mathematically guarantees us a tournament bid--though I'd prefer a Titan win and a MIlwaukee win over Oakland.
The Titans won the match-up with Green Bay last month in Calihan Hall easy, 101-83. We were probably playing our best ball of the year right at that time, and led the entire game, and by double digits the entire second half. Josh and Antoine each scored 29 as the Titans shot 53% from the floor, 45% from three, and forced 19 turnovers. Harrison Curry added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Kam Hankerson had a good game--as he always does when the Phoenix visit Detroit--but the Titans held Sandy Cohen to 7 points on 2 of 8 shooting.
Just to recap, the Cheeseheads play a fast, up-tempo game. In fact, they're 6th in the nation in tempo, according to the authoritative KenPom, and 8th shortest in average time of possession on offense. They want to be in transition all the time. They're a good passing team, a good shooting team, and--the game in Calihan not withstanding--they're not prone to excessive turnovers. If forced to drop into the half court set, they'll hike up a fair number of threes. On defense they play man-to-man, with occasional flashes of zone. Despite Linc Darner's billing it "RP40" (relentless pressure/40 minutes) the Phoenix don't press all game, but they will press more than most teams in the league. I was surprised they did not press more at Calihan, as the Titans have had trouble against presses all year.
Their weakness is defense (see 101 points at Calihan). KenPom ranks 'em 248th in the country in defensive efficiency, and they rank 279th in opponents' three point shooting percentage. And of course, that's how we sliced them up last time. But Darner has juggled his lineup a bit and they're coming off their best defensive effort of the year, in Thursday's game against Oakland. The last few games they've gone to a shorter, quicker lineup, including starting little-used Hunter Crist the last two games. As always, because Darner goes so deep into his bench the starters are less important than with some other teams.
This is a big game for the Titans. A win puts up even with Green Bay in the loss column, and a half game up overall, but controlling the tie-breaker. Their last 4 games are IUPUI and UIC on the road, and then NKU and Wright State at home. So if we win, they'll have their hands full catching us. At least as important ,we want to be set up well going into Oakland.
Probable Green Bay Starters
G: #30 Hunter Crist, 6-3 Soph. (1.2 ppg, 1.0 apg)
G: #21 Kameron Hankerson, 6-5 Jr. (9.7 ppg, 35.7% 3PtFG)
G/SF: #1 Sandy Cohen, 6-6 RS Sr. (16.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.0 bpg, 2.0 spg, 34.5% 3PtFG)
F: #33 Cody Schwarz, 6-9 RS Jr. (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 34.4% 3PtFG)
F: #10 Tank Hemphill, 6-6 Jr. (11.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 53.4% FG)
Key Bench
G: #2 PJ Pipes, 6-2 Soph. (7.0 ppg, 34.5% 3PtFG)
G: #11, JayQuan McCloud, 6-2 RS Jr. (13.5 ppg, 2.2 apg, 38.6% 3PtFG)
G: #13 Trevion Bell, 6-6 Soph. (4.9 ppg)
F: #15 Manny Patterson, 6-8 Soph. (5.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
F: #12 Josh McNair, 6-6 Jr. (4.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg)