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Post by Commissioner on Dec 13, 2015 22:42:50 GMT -5
A note from Rogo Bob:
All veterans, along with a guest, will receive free tickets to the Detroit Titans game when they host Central Florida at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19, at Calihan Hall, 4001 W. McNichols Road in Detroit. Titan Basketball has joined forces with the Michigan Veterans Foundation to give tickets to all veterans with a proper ID. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or in advance by calling (313) 993-1700 or visiting detroittitans.com/tix.
If you have any veterans in your circle of friends or relatives, please let them know about this promotion!
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 14, 2015 17:05:03 GMT -5
Game 9: Central Florida
Military Appreciation Night -- veterans with ID get in free, along with one guest.
When: Saturday, Dec. 19, 1:00 Where: Calihan Hall TV: ESPN 3 Radio: 97.1 FM
The Titans haven't won four games in a row since a little streak that ended the first week of February, 2013. But Detroit can wrap up a perfect home stand and stretch their winning streak to four by beating Central Florida on Saturday at Calihan. It's Military Appreciation Night -- veterans with ID get in free, along with one guest -- and its also a chance for Detroiters to see the tallest player in the NCAA--7'6" Tacko Fall--in action.
This is another game I penciled into the "W" column before the year began, with the Knights generally picked to finish near the bottom of the American Athletic Conference. But UCF has been playing well and will arrive at Calihan with a 4 game winning streak of its own and a 5-3 mark on the season. The Knights 3 losses--at Davidson, at Miami of Ohio, and to Cal-Irvine in OT--have been by a total of just 7 points, or less than one-seventh our margin of defeat in a single game in Nashville. Their one good win is over Massachusetts in Orlando. The others are a pretty nondescript bunch, including a 30-point shellacking of Horizon member Illinois-Chicago.
This game will be a contrast in styles. Whereas our Titans are relatively small, fast, shoot the three well (16th in the country in percentage made, 15th in # per game), and score a lot (25th in the country), the Knights are tall, slow, don't shoot the three (236th in makes per game, 250th in percentage), and don't give up a lot of points (97th nationally). Should make for an interesting game. What you can't help but notice is that UCF, which runs 7-6, 6-9, 6-9 across the front line, will have a big size advantage, and that type of size advantage gave the Titans problems at Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. But do not despair, as UCF's bigs aren't so talented as those at Pitt and Vandy.
The biggest is 7-6, 300 lb. freshman Tacko Fall, with Cal-Irvine's Mamadou Ndiaye the tallest player in the NCAA ranks. Fall averages 9.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in just 19.8 minutes per game. Fall's game is limited but very effective. If he gets the ball in the low post, he's tough to stop. There's not a lot of nuance--his game basically involves stuffing the ball in the basket, making over 70% of his field goal attempts (79% when not playing against the 7-6 Ndiaye). Fall can be prone to foul trouble, he can be slow getting up and down the court, and his endurance is suspect. But within those limits, he's pretty close to unstoppable if he gets the ball in the block, and at the defensive end you're pretty foolish to take it at him--he leads the nation in block rate. But you know what they say: "The bigger they are ... "
Fall is supported by a pair of 6-9 forwards, Shaheed and A.J. Davis, who are not twins or even brothers. Shaheed, a senior, averages 10.4 points and 6.8 rebounds. A.J., a sophomore, averages a team best 12 points per game, plus 6.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He is coming off career highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday's win over Florida Atlantic. AJ is also a good ball handler, and can play the Paris Bass role (he's actually listed on the Knights' roster as "G/F"), though he lacks the shooting range of Paris. In any case, the trio make a formidable presence inside, and UCF is among the top 15 teams in the country in field goal percentage defense and blocked shots, and in the top 30 in rebounding margin.
There's even height at guard, where off-guard Adonys Henriquez (11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists) checks in at 6-6. The point is 6-4 freshman Chance McSpadden (7.6 ppg, 2.9 apg), who is 4-0 as a starter since wrestling the job away from senior Daiquan Walker (7.5 ppg, 3.8 apg). It seems to be an effective arrangement, and Walker has actually increased his scoring, averaging 10.3 ppg since he started coming off the bench.
Besides Walker, key subs are 6-5 junior guard Matt Williams (5.4 ppg), and 6-9, 255 lb. senior forward Staphon Blair (3.8 points, 3.4 rebounds). Blair started 17 games last season and is 5th on UCF's career blocked-shots list. Another big man off the bench is 6-10, 325 lb. junior Justin McBride (5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds), who started 11 games last year (including the game against our Titans) and is another good shot blocker. 6-6 junior forward Tanksley Efianayi also logs about 10 minutes per game.
UCF's game plan should be pretty clear. On the defensive end, the Knights use a lot of 2-3 zone. In fact, they play virtually all zone--we probably won't see more than 5 man-to-man sets in the half court, and maybe not even that. Although they'll disguise that zone and occasionally go with a 1-3-1 for a change of pace, that 2-3 zone is their norm. Their bigs smother anyone who goes down into the paint, and that allows the guards to stretch the zone out and put pressure on the perimeter, with the result that no one has had luck shooting the three against them (27.7% on the year). The Titans have had some trouble with zone defenses this year, so this is not encouraging. On offense, UCF just keeps going inside. As noted above, they are a poor 3-point shooting team (31.9%) and don't shoot many. Enriquez and Walker are the biggest threats. The backup guard Williams will shoot the three, and Shaheed Davis likes to step out and try 2 or 3 a game as well.
Detroit's big edge in this game should be in turnovers. UCF is 251st in turnovers per game, but that understates their problem because they play at a slow pace. And they rank 335th in turnover margin. So the Titans can get a leg up on UCF by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition, avoiding the zone and wearing the big men out getting up and down the floor.
These two teams have met just once before, last year in Orlando, with UCF winning 75-70. The box score shows a pretty even game in which Detroit shot well enough (47% overall, 44% from three, 73% at the line), committed just 11 turnovers, and held their own under the boards, but in fact Detroit looked flat and slo-footed that whole evening. UCF won by outscoring the Titans 22-8 from the foul line, perhaps with the help of some home cooking on the officials side. Henriquez and Blair were effective in that game, with 21 and 14 points respectively. Juwan Howard scored 25 and Paris Bass 11 for Detroit.
UCF poses a lot of match up problems for the Titans, and the zone worries me. We need to force turnovers, get out in transition, and hit three pointers. I think if we force 15 or more turnovers and hit 33% or more from three, we should win, but this ain't gonna be no picnic.
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 15, 2015 12:22:37 GMT -5
UCF is another big team with talented back court players. This will be another battle. UCF checks in at #96 on the most recent ESPN BPI. espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bpiPreseason predictions for UCF included the following: Athlon Sports: 11th (last) in the American Athletic conference. Lindy's: 8th in the AAC. Sporting News: 8th in the AAC.
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 21, 2015 12:45:12 GMT -5
The Titans won another exciting home game against a respectable opponent. While not a powerhouse, UCF is an American Athletic Conference team, and a win over team in a higher conference is always something to feel good about. As Moose and I kept saying while watching the game, it was key for the Titans to score in transition and from three. They were good in both areas. Josh repeated a feat from earlier in the season when he came up empty from the free throw line late, but got a big steal on the ensuring trip down the floor. My favorite part of the game when 6-10, 320 UCF center Justin McBride got loose for a dunk under the basket and Josh actually jumped up to try to block it. Of course, he bounced off McBride like a bug on a windshield, but I loved his effort, especially today when players are so reluctant to get dunked on that they don't even jump. That Chris Jenkins kid is REALLY good. ESPN's Boxscore, showing great Titans balance and contributions from everyone who played: espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400817646Gotta love Blackshear's seven rebounds in 15 minutes against that giant front line. The UCF Game Review from their Official site: www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/121915aaa.html
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 17, 2016 20:15:15 GMT -5
Reviving this thread just to comment that it's good thing we didn't have UCF on the schedule this year. Johnny Dawkins is the coach there now, and he has that team playing much better. They took apart SEC team Mississippi State today. Tacko Fall, the 7-6 kid who was obviously still learning the game last season, had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400910723
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Post by rbj on Nov 17, 2016 23:12:27 GMT -5
Reviving this thread just to comment that it's good thing we didn't have UCF on the schedule this year. Johnny Dawkins is the coach there now, and he has that team playing much better. They took apart SEC team Mississippi State today. Tacko Fall, the 7-6 kid who was obviously still learning the game last season, had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400910723Interesting, sometimes the right coach in the right place at the right time can make all the difference. I remember Fall towering over Hogan, I also wondered if Fall had conditioning problems, UCF's coach seemed to take him out at the game just when he was getting into the flow of the game. UCF has all the resources to be a powerhouse, good location, lots of students, etc.
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 17, 2016 23:29:35 GMT -5
Reviving this thread just to comment that it's good thing we didn't have UCF on the schedule this year. Johnny Dawkins is the coach there now, and he has that team playing much better. They took apart SEC team Mississippi State today. Tacko Fall, the 7-6 kid who was obviously still learning the game last season, had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400910723Interesting, sometimes the right coach in the right place at the right time can make all the difference. I remember Fall towering over Hogan, I also wondered if Fall had conditioning problems, UCF's coach seemed to take him out at the game just when he was getting into the flow of the game. UCF has all the resources to be a powerhouse, good location, lots of students, etc. I was surprised when they said on the telecast today that UCF has over 61,000 students. I think Johnny Dawkins will do well there.
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