When: Saturday, November 23rd, 3pm
Where: Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Ken Pom: RMU 162, Cleveland State 175
Story line: The Colonials hit the road for their next four games, and that trip starts in Cleveland, Ohio as RMU will look to get to 4-2 against a Vikings team that is expected to battle for the Horizon League title this season.
Link: Colonial fans can catch the game on the Horizon League network. Here is the link: Rmu at Cleveland State
Getting to know the Vikings:
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| The Colonials will have to contain Bryn Forbes. (Photo: Cleveland State) |
The Vikings are an intriguing team. They beat Iona at home, out scoring them by 19 in the second half to erase a double digit deficit. They also beat the very Texas Arlington squad that RMU defeated Thursday night, only difference being the Vikings did it on the road. Another similarity, both RMU and Cleveland State lost to Eastern Michigan on the road. This should be an evenly matched game.
For the Colonials, there are three guys they really need to key on. Bryn Forbes leads the team in scoring at 20.0 per-game. He's shooting 48 percent (12-25) from three so he has some good range. He is also a perfect 20 for 20 from the free throw line, so it would behoove RMU to avoid putting him on the charity stripe.
Trey Lewis is another Viking to keep an eye on. He's getting 12.5 points-per-game, and is also a great foul shooter. He has made 21-26 from the line. Lewis has struggled to shoot the ball well from the field, making only 26.1 percent of his shots, including just 5 of 24 three point attempts.
Make him shoot jumpers, and RMU will contain him.
5-8 guard Charlie Lee is the engine of the team. He is scoring 11.8 points-per-game and leads the team in steal rate. His quickness is a big weapon for the Vikings on both ends of the court. Like the other Cleveland State weapons, he does a lot of his damage from the free throw line, making 19-24 (79 percent) so far this season. He isn't blowing the competition away from the field with his mediocre 31.4 percent field goal percentage.
Force these guys to make shots, and don't allow them to get to the free throw line, and the Colonials will be in good shape defensively.
Keys to the game:
This game gets my juices flowing. Two good mid-majors playing an early season game that will tell us a lot about each team. The Vikings are the home team, so you have to give them an advantage heading into the game. Cleveland State is tough to beat at home, evidence being their opening game win over a really good Iona team.
1) Finish at the rim. RMU can't miss bunnies in this game. There have been some shots at the rim over the past few games that RMU missed that they simply can't miss in this game. Against Kentucky, it wouldn't have mattered much, and against Texas Arlington Karvel Anderson and his 8 (!!!) threes saved the team. The Colonials have the 329th best two-point field goal percentage at 39.9 percent. That is, in one word, bad. This game, RMU will need every bucket they can manufacture. I'm looking at you Aaron Tate! No messing up dunks and missing gimmes at the bucket.
Speaking of Aaron Tate, he's been RMU's best defender this season in my opinion. I really like his versatility on that side of the ball. He hasn't been as good on offense, but that's not why he's in the lineup.
2) FEED THE BEAST. I don't know if CTC is fortunate enough to have Karvel Anderson as a regular reader, but Karvel if you're reading, when you are that hot (8-10 from three) SHOOT THE BALL MORE (please, and Thank You). There aren't many shooters as good as this guy in all of college basketball. I personally would love to see over 15 field goal attempts per game out of Mr. Anderson.
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| More of this please. (Photo: Elkhart Truth) |
According to KenPom, Anderson takes 31.3% of his teams shots when he is on the floor, which is top-100 nationally. With that said, I'd like to see that number climb to 35% After the game Thursday, Toole talked about how he [Anderson] is such a good teammate that sometimes he isn't quite as aggressive as he could be when he's shooting it that well. Saturday, the Colonials need to find Anderson, and find him often.
While I'm on Karvel shooting the ball more, how about more Charles Oliver! We all thought Chuck would come in and "replace" Coron Williams but that isn't the case. Chuck is a different type of player, a player that I think could be a better fit for this team. He has shown the ability to score off the dribble and hit some tough floaters in the lane. He still has that three point shot in his back pocket, but I like Oliver's ability to score in different ways.
3) Bench Play. It's became pretty clear just how deep the Colonials are. No player is playing over 66 percent of the overall minutes. Most teams have one or two players over 80 percent. RMU is 22nd in the country with their bench playing 39.7 percent of their overall minutes. All of this with Kavon Stewart (By the way, He's still suspended for at least this game. We might see him against Buffalo), the backup point guard, suspended the past four games. In all three of RMU's wins this season, they have worn down their opponent and used late runs to put them away.
Cleveland State does not have near the depth that Andy Toole has access to. They have three players playing over 73 percent of their minutes, an their bench only plays 30 percent of their overall minutes. If the Colonials can keep bodies fresh, they will have an advantage the last five minutes of the game, and if the game is as close as expected, that could pay huge dividends.
Prediction: I sense a big game for Charles Oliver and that bench. Chuck played a very solid game for RMU Thursday night, and Juanie Newton, Jeremiah Worthem also played great. All three continue to play well and RMU pulls out a 74-69 victory.
Lee Kunkel (@Kunkel5)
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