RMU (3-4) fell to Buffalo
by a score of 81-66. RMU started off pretty well again but got dominated by Jevon
McCrea and gave up too many three’s as the game went on. A quick breakdown:
The good
-Lucky Jones was outstanding, going 6-13 for 19 points. RMU
should have kept looking for him as the game was winding down. There were a few
times in the game where Lucky should have gotten some open looks from kick outs
but didn’t for whatever reason. He may have forced it a little at the end, but overall
that was his best game of the season.
-Jeremiah Worthem was a tank again. Grabbed boards, went to
the basket, and did other Worthem-like things. His aggressiveness was
outstanding. 13 and 4 for the frosh tonight.
The bad
-Rough go for Karvel Anderson. He was in foul trouble early
and forced up bricks in the second half. His shot selection was just not what
we were used to from him. One thing that is really clear about this team: it
goes as Karvel does. When he isn’t making shots, RMU doesn’t win.
-The defense wasn’t just good the first ten minutes of the
game, it was outstanding. Rotations
were crisp, the guards were moving their feet on the perimeter and the double
teaming was well-timed and effective in the low post. Then… it just wasn’t. I’m
not exactly sure why. There was random fouling (again), the bigs couldn’t
defend anything, and RMU got crushed on weak side back screens that gave Buffalo some wide open
corner looks. We even went to a 2-3 zone for two possessions in the second half
which predictably yielded two three pointers. That’s just the type of night it
was. More on this later.
The type of bad that
makes me want to kick my dogs down several flights of stairs
-Bad game for Chuck Oliver. Went 0-5 from three and 0-6 from
the field plus had one really bad turnover. He’s one of the guys who’s
struggling away from home this year. Chuck will bounce back, but tonight just
wasn’t his night.
-Rebounding is always going to be a problem but tonight it was
a huge reason why RMU lost. The rebounding margin was 44-32 in favor of Buffalo but it felt much,
much worse. What I noticed is RMU seemed to never have enough guys crashing the
boards. Several times someone like Mike McFadden would be engaged with one
defender and no one else would be around. The positioning was awful.
-Speaking of McFadden, the play of him and Stephan Hawkins
was atrocious. That may have been Hawk’s worse game as a player here. They
brought nothing to the table on defense and rarely ever grabbed a rebound. The
offense was just as bad; Mike went 0-2 and Hawk 0-4 from the field. McFadden
didn’t start and didn’t play a whole lot. I’m not sure if he’s injured or just
in the doghouse.
-Another aspect of the defense that drove me nuts was the
fouling. It’s definitely an adjustment for these guys with the new hand check
rule but no one seems to have a clue how to play any defense without senseless
fouling. The over/under for McFadden to commit a foul upon entering a game is
something like four seconds. It’s just sad/frustrating to watch.
Big picture right now is through seven games RMU has gotten
a whole heck of nothing from the point guard position and the big men. Even
though I liked Myers-Pate’s game today, he is struggling to make any shots. Another
small note; Andy Toole was in the building and brought the energy but was
battling kidney stones and had Joe Gallo doing a lot of his in-game duties.
That’s all for now, more to come tomorrow.
--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella
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