Post by Commissioner on Nov 14, 2024 8:04:00 GMT -5
Toledo
4:00 p.m. Saturday, November 16
Calihan Hall
This game is part of a double-header with the Lady Titans, who take on Bellarmine beginning at 1:00. A good chance to catch lots of basketball. It's also "Catholic Day," which makes sense because Bellarmine is another Catholic school, and Toledo is from a city named after a city in Spain, which was really Catholic at the time.
Sure, it's 3 games in, and largely due to a scheduling quirk. Still, haven't seen this in a while:
This will be the 63rd meeting of the two school, after Eastern Michigan the most common Titan opponent with whom we have never shared a conference affiliation (although we played 84 of our 88 games with Marquette when they were not a conference opponent). Toledo has won the last 6 matchups to take a 37-25 lead in the series.
Toledo hasn't had a losing season since 2011, Todd Kowalczyk's first at the helm, but although they've averaged nearly 22 wins and won the MAC regular season seven times in the last 11 years, they've made the Big Dance in that span. They last made the NCAA tournament in 1980, one of the longer dry spells in Division 1.
The Rockets enter the game 2-1 after Wednesday's 86-77 home win over Wright State. Earlier, Toledo had split a pair on the road, losing to Troy 84-74 in the opener, then bouncing back to defeat Marshall 90-80.
Probable Starters:
PG: #3 Sonny Wilson, 6-0 Soph. The UD Jesuit grad is averaging 17.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. He made the MAC's All-Freshman team a year ago after averaging 8 points and 2.8 assists.
SG: #11 Sam Lewis, 6-6 Soph. (13.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
SF: #7 Isaiah Adams, 6-6 Sr. (14.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
F: #1 Javon Simmons, 6-7 Soph. (15.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.7 apg). Last year's MAC Freshman of the Year.
F: #32 Javian Ouwinga, 6-8 Fr. (5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg).
The first four have all averaged more than 30 minutes a game. The freshman Ouwinga has started the last two games, but actually played fewer minutes in each than the man he replaced in the starting lineup, redshirt junior Andre Lorrentsen (#13), a 6-8 forward from Sweden. Lorrentsen, who started out at St. Louis and actually has two red-shirt years (Covid as a freshman in 2021, and an injury redshirt in 2022), averages 3.3 points and 4 rebounds in the young season. The only other player likely to see double-digit minutes is 6-4 junior guard Seth Hubbard, a transfer from Western Michigan.
I always kinda like to play Toledo, because coach Kowalczyk tends to play a traditional style that reminds me of my youth, with 2 guards and 3 forwards (including a big center if he can get one). They're always a good passing team that likes to build the offense around that center playing in the high post. They take few three point shots--they're currently 356th in three point attempts in the season, after ranking 337th a year ago. I always find them a pleasure to watch, and I hope one day Kowalczyk gets over the hump and snares that MAC tournament title and NCAA bid--just not starting this Saturday.
The Titans have to be feeling some optimism after coming from a double-digit deficit to beat a decent enough Niagara team in overtime on Sunday. Signing top-5 in-state recruit Lance Stone and seeing Nate Johnson nab freshman of the week honors on the Horizon probably adds to that sense of momentum. Toledo, however, will be sterner stuff than the Purple Eagles.
In the Niagara game, the juniors and seniors took over from the 4 freshmen who had dominated the first two games, with Orlando Lovejoy, Jared Lary, Emmanuel Kuac, and Mak Manciel all playing 30 minutes or more and Legend Geeter logging a season high 27. This team is still a work in progress, so it's hard to predict either how the starting lineup will look (though we can plan on Manciel, Johnson, and most likely Lovejoy there) or who will get the minutes once things get under way. Manciel, of course, is coming off the best game of his career (only so far, we hope), with 30 points on 9-15 shooting, including 6 of 7 from three, against Niagara. Did Geeter and Kuac earn starting slots on Sunday? Will the Titans go deeper into the bench, as they did in the first two games against Cleary and Loyola?
I'm stuck in Washington DC, but if you can make it, it should be a fun double header. Go Titans!
4:00 p.m. Saturday, November 16
Calihan Hall
This game is part of a double-header with the Lady Titans, who take on Bellarmine beginning at 1:00. A good chance to catch lots of basketball. It's also "Catholic Day," which makes sense because Bellarmine is another Catholic school, and Toledo is from a city named after a city in Spain, which was really Catholic at the time.
Sure, it's 3 games in, and largely due to a scheduling quirk. Still, haven't seen this in a while:
This will be the 63rd meeting of the two school, after Eastern Michigan the most common Titan opponent with whom we have never shared a conference affiliation (although we played 84 of our 88 games with Marquette when they were not a conference opponent). Toledo has won the last 6 matchups to take a 37-25 lead in the series.
Toledo hasn't had a losing season since 2011, Todd Kowalczyk's first at the helm, but although they've averaged nearly 22 wins and won the MAC regular season seven times in the last 11 years, they've made the Big Dance in that span. They last made the NCAA tournament in 1980, one of the longer dry spells in Division 1.
The Rockets enter the game 2-1 after Wednesday's 86-77 home win over Wright State. Earlier, Toledo had split a pair on the road, losing to Troy 84-74 in the opener, then bouncing back to defeat Marshall 90-80.
Probable Starters:
PG: #3 Sonny Wilson, 6-0 Soph. The UD Jesuit grad is averaging 17.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. He made the MAC's All-Freshman team a year ago after averaging 8 points and 2.8 assists.
SG: #11 Sam Lewis, 6-6 Soph. (13.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
SF: #7 Isaiah Adams, 6-6 Sr. (14.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
F: #1 Javon Simmons, 6-7 Soph. (15.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.7 apg). Last year's MAC Freshman of the Year.
F: #32 Javian Ouwinga, 6-8 Fr. (5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg).
The first four have all averaged more than 30 minutes a game. The freshman Ouwinga has started the last two games, but actually played fewer minutes in each than the man he replaced in the starting lineup, redshirt junior Andre Lorrentsen (#13), a 6-8 forward from Sweden. Lorrentsen, who started out at St. Louis and actually has two red-shirt years (Covid as a freshman in 2021, and an injury redshirt in 2022), averages 3.3 points and 4 rebounds in the young season. The only other player likely to see double-digit minutes is 6-4 junior guard Seth Hubbard, a transfer from Western Michigan.
I always kinda like to play Toledo, because coach Kowalczyk tends to play a traditional style that reminds me of my youth, with 2 guards and 3 forwards (including a big center if he can get one). They're always a good passing team that likes to build the offense around that center playing in the high post. They take few three point shots--they're currently 356th in three point attempts in the season, after ranking 337th a year ago. I always find them a pleasure to watch, and I hope one day Kowalczyk gets over the hump and snares that MAC tournament title and NCAA bid--just not starting this Saturday.
The Titans have to be feeling some optimism after coming from a double-digit deficit to beat a decent enough Niagara team in overtime on Sunday. Signing top-5 in-state recruit Lance Stone and seeing Nate Johnson nab freshman of the week honors on the Horizon probably adds to that sense of momentum. Toledo, however, will be sterner stuff than the Purple Eagles.
In the Niagara game, the juniors and seniors took over from the 4 freshmen who had dominated the first two games, with Orlando Lovejoy, Jared Lary, Emmanuel Kuac, and Mak Manciel all playing 30 minutes or more and Legend Geeter logging a season high 27. This team is still a work in progress, so it's hard to predict either how the starting lineup will look (though we can plan on Manciel, Johnson, and most likely Lovejoy there) or who will get the minutes once things get under way. Manciel, of course, is coming off the best game of his career (only so far, we hope), with 30 points on 9-15 shooting, including 6 of 7 from three, against Niagara. Did Geeter and Kuac earn starting slots on Sunday? Will the Titans go deeper into the bench, as they did in the first two games against Cleary and Loyola?
I'm stuck in Washington DC, but if you can make it, it should be a fun double header. Go Titans!
