Tip-off: Wednesday, 7pm at Leavey TV: EPSN+ Line: Torvik- Broncos -16, 89% win probability; ESPN- 87% win probability, no line yet.
Kennesaw:
The Owls are 7-3 (5-3 vs. D1 opponents) on the season, currently ranked #213 on Torvik and are coming off a win over Georgia St. They have a solid win over Rutgers but their other wins are all Quad IV.
Starters:
6-5 guard Adrian Wooley (15.8 pts, 4.1 rebs, 4 assists, 41% from 3)
6-8 forward Rongie Gordon (5.7 pts, 6.1 rebounds)
6-6 wing Jamil Miller (10.2pts, 5.5 rebs, 44% from 3)
6-8 Braedan Lue (9.7pts, 6.6 rebs, 1 block)
6th man: 6-4 guard Ricardo Wright (8.6pts, 25% from 3)
The Owls field a young lineup starting 3 frosh: Wooley, Miller and Lue. They are aggressive and attack the basket and get to the FT line a lot, especially guards Cottle and Wooley. But they also turn the ball over a ton. Their profile is similar to McNeese…not overly big, with a short frontcourt but are athletic and play up tempo.
The Broncos need to bring the effort and energy, win the glass and 50/50 balls…if we don’t do those things, it plays in to the Owls hands and allows them to play up tempo and get out in transition.
Hopefully we continue to see some strong play from Stewart, Mahi and Tilly while the others guys come along and show some improvement.
Kennesaw State is the team that we thought NDSU was: not good but with enough firepower to knock off SCU if they come out catatonic. NDSU has actually shown themselves to be pretty good (now top-100 or so in KenPom, so not a justifiable loss given SCU’s strong lead but at least slightly less disastrous); I doubt that Kennesaw makes anything like that leap, Rutgers win notwithstanding.
These next few games should be the time to establish a strong lead and then let O’Neil and Bal work themselves out of whatever funk they are in. They will be needed against USF and OSU, let along the Gaels and Zags.
91-68 Santa Clara. Bal lets it fly and gets 27 points on 6-9 from three.
Bad shooting (except from the line) and too many offensive boards. Other than that, it’s all Santa Clara, as expected, but those too categories are keeping it closer than it should be.
Oh and SCU seems committed to fouling out every KSU player which…I guess would be an effective strategy if the zebras really do call that many.
10 assists on 10 made baskets, and only 5 turnovers. KSU is employing a similar dribble drive offense as Fresno did, with about the same limited success.
Does anyone have any update on Mahi’s condition? As noted, he was on the bench in a boot later in the game. He did walk through the postgame handshake line on his own.
After he came out the trainers were working on him and he was in pain. They retaped him, put on a sleeve and gave him some Advils. Then the doc came over and wanted him to run on it behind the stands. Then he came out wearing a boot. The doc must’ve seen something or hopefully just out of an abundance of caution. Mahi was joking and talking on the bench so in my mind if it was a serious injury his attitude on the bench might’ve been different