South Dakota:
The Coyotes are 9-5 on the season, but just 6-5 vs. D1 teams and are coming off a loss to Utah Tech. And they have no noteworthy wins, all of their wins are vs. Quad IV teams. And they are currently ranked #205 on Torvik.
Starters:
6-4 point guard Chase Forte (15.9 pts, 3.6 assists, 26% from 3)
6-4 guard Max Burchill (5.4 pts, 43.5% from 3)
6-3 guard Kaleb Stewart (11.9 pts, 31% from 3)
6-4 wing Paul Bruns (9.6 pts, 4.4 rebounds, 33% from 3)
6th man: 6-4 wing Isaac Bruns (13.3 pts, 4.4 rebs, 33% from 3)
They Coyotes are very weak defensively (#355 on Torvik). They also start a small lineup which appears to be impacting their rebounding currently ranked #350 on Torvik in defensive rebound %.
This is a game where the Broncos should flourish on offense, attack the basket and take advantage of their significant height advantage and dominate the glass for 2nd chance opportunities.
Was good to see Bal have a strong game vs. Kennesaw; most important was his efficiency…there are only so many shots to go around and we don’t want or need him to be a high volume shooter.
As Patty notes below, hopefully O’Neil is the next to emerge from a serious slump and play to his ability.
Just keep building a streak and getting confident. Bal was just short of a career high last game on an efficient night. This will hopefully be the game for O’Neil to find himself again.
93-71 Santa Clara. O’Neil gets a much-needed double-double with 17 and 10. Ensminger gets another three ball to go down.
IF (big if) Herb lets Cam play the 4 with Tilly on the court playing 5, Cam could have an absolutely dominating rebound count, especially on the offensive side. He’s bigger than just about everyone else on SD who might play the 4.
He could also have a big scoring game. But Femme, you gotta tell your son that he needs to be able to finish at the rim. I’ve already seen six or seven instances (and I’ve probably only watched 1/4th of the total minutes played this season) where he’s missed really close-in scoring opportunities that were either uncontested or weakly contested.
Don’t take this the wrong way. Cam is one of my favorite players, but this is a part of his game that offers a lot of room for improvement.
I really hope we don’t just settle for 3-point shots and 1-on-1 isos. We should use the size advantage to play around the key and at the rim. If we shoot around 45% overall, I’d guess we end up with 17 offensive boards. Might be a stretch, especially if we shoot a higher %age than 45.
This SHOULD be a win. But we’ve seen “should” doesn’t necessarily mean “will”.
Bummer on Mahi. He is a key player for long term success of this squad; hopefully he heals up and will be ready for at least USF if not Pepperdine.
Bryant is starting. In Mahi’s absence I expect to see some of Akametu. Also possible that we see both Knapper and Stewart on the floor at the same time or maybe a few mins of Ensminger at the 3.
I agree 100% that Cam needs to focus on finishing!!! I have ridden him and his trainer about this. His trainer swears they work on it - well I am not seeing it.
But Herb will NEVER put Cam in the 4. I have learned that college ball is not about player development. It is about winning games. Putting a 6 ’ 6" guy at the 5 will never make sense - I am assuming Cams role has been reduced to giving Tilly a rest.
And with the officials bias against CAM, I have already turned off the game. Cam took a major shoulder drop and offensive charge from their big - and NO CALL. No problem. But in next set Cam tried to drive to basket - he was charged with a foul for a lot less contact. I just cant with the whole West Coast Conf officials, the system - I am just over it now.
I am sure this will be an easy win by what few minutes I watched. Congrats for the team. Good way to go into the mini break. Happy Holidays to all. Signing off.
Outstanding offensive 1st half.
But you can see why S. Dakota’s defensive rankings are so poor, they are terrible on D, the Broncos have zero trouble getting good offensive looks just doing vanilla offensive stuff.
And we may be getting our wish with O’Neil with a mini breakout…3/3 from 3.
It’s pretty hard to nitpick a game where the Broncos score 98 off of 31 assists and O’Neil breaks out of his slump. But I wish there were just a touch more defense. That’s all. Not that it was ever in doubt, but that’s a game where SCU could have won by 30+ if they just tightened a little on the defensive end.
Ah well. The prescription was for a dominant, wire-to-wire win. The Broncos delivered on that. Merry Christmas to all!
I thought we looked like it’s almost all clicked together. Should roll into conference nicely with Pepperdine before going on the road to a test at USF!!! Very excited about where this is headed
Agree Patty.
We had the the lead up to about 25pts, then it eroded the last 5+ mins with some sloppy play, turnovers and subpar D.
Wish we could have kept the lead at 25+, allowing the end of bench and walk-ons to play…a Christmas present for them.
