GW's backcourt handing out another mugging.

Part II of perhaps the most intense on-court rivalry the Niners have had since joining the A10 is set to renew again Saturday night at 6 PM in Charles Dump Arena in Washington against the George Washington Colonials.  The Niners find themselves again in a must-win situation if they want to maintain any hopes of an at-large NCAA bid, a goal that seemed to be a distant memory until Ian Andersen and Gokhan Sirin erupted for 30 points as the Niners thrashed the Saint Joseph’s Hawks Wednesday in Halton Arena.  MASN, our favorite network to lose on, will provide TV coverage.

The last time these two teams met earlier this month it was a hard fought contest which left DiJuan Harris searching for one of CMPD’s finest to press charges for assault and battery.  The intense GW defense, which at times bordered on dirty, frustrated the Niners and had the game all but secured at the 1:25 mark leading by 5.  The Niner backcourt would have none of that, forcing a pair of turnovers and hitting clutch foul shots to secure a well-deserved 72-68 victory.

In the rematch, the key for the Niners is going to be pretty simple -contain Damian Hollis.  He’s an absolute Niner-killer and was certainly a handful scoring 23 points including 4 for 5 from 3 point land.  He’ll be a difficult matchup for whoever guards him, as he’s a bit too athletic for Braswell, Spears, and Jones, and a bit too tall for Wilderness and Dewhurst.  I would expect Lutz to again dare him to shoot from outside, although that’s increasingly becoming a bad idea has Hollis recently hit 6 of 10 from outside against Fordham.

Freshmen. Lasan Kromah and Dwayne Smith will also merit considerable attention as both appear to be improving their play as the season progresses, looking more like Sophomores than first years.  Smith in particular has steadily improved his scoring, hitting double figures in 5 of his last 8 games including 21 points against a depleted La Salle squad.

For more on the GW squad, visit the previous pre-game.

Looking at the Niners offensively, it’s a question of which team will show up.  The team dazzled fans with their shooting against an inferior Saint Joseph’s squad to reverse a trend of awful shooting recently.  Even Ian Andersen, who’s struggled throughout the season found the range.  Hopefully that will continue as the Niners absolutely need scoring off the bench, particularly from outside.  Though Ian’s struggles on defense are well-documented, he does know the offense well and if he’s hitting his shots, it’s worth having him out there.

This game is going to be war.  A lot will depend on how closely the refs call it.  The  Niners will prefer to score at the charity stripe and get calls for all the bumps and handchecks DiJuan Harris will undoubtedly receive.  For vets of the CUSA days, the Colonials play us a lot like UAB used to play us.  Constant bumping and reaching for the ball.  It also seemed that the refs would swallow their whistles and let our players get mugged.  Honestly I’m expecting nothing different.  It will be interesting to see if the zest for the game the team showed Wednesday against the Hawks can survive the physical and down-right dirty play of GW.  If it does, expect the Niners to gut out another victory.

The Hawks put up the white flag with 10 minutes left in the 1st

It’s nice to see someone else in conference pull a Kevin Bacon. Last night the Niners obliterated the Hawks to the tune of 95-58. That’s 37 points, in case you’re an English major. Protip: if Ian Andersen is in the game, it be would be wise to guard him, he’s out there to shoot the ball, that’s it.

Lutz stated in the postgame that the team was starting to get down on itself and wasn’t having any fun, so the assistant coaches put together a highlight reel of the season to get them in a good mood again. Whether or not said video included videos of the best GoldDuster moments, it worked. The team came out tonight and dominated every aspect of the game, including rebounding (43 to 35) and defense (8 steals). Hell, we even dominated in the rare statistic of “white guy makes awkward layup”, a stat we almost always lose. You could see the proverbial weight being lifted off our shoulders when the game got off to a good start, and we never took our foot off the throttle. Saint Joe’s? They stopped fighting with 30 minutes left in the game.

Other than Ian Andersen, the biggest surprise of the night was An’Juan Wilderness. Doing his best Eddie Basden impersonation, Wilderness ended with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, including two high flying dunks. It’s nice to see him coming back to form, and if he can continue to hit a jumper once or twice a game and stay healthy, he could be a big key component heading down the stretch.

Of course, we should note the play of DiJuan Harris. He stopped being Mitchell Baldwin and went back to being the warrior we’ve come to respect so much, driving the lane and making plays happen. If anyone can change the face of this team in a hurry, it’s him. We go as DiJuan goes, and hopefully he wants to continue to win.

All in all last night was a fantastic effort all around, time for some short observations. Look for the first ever edition of “Post Game Mine-Side Chats with NLP and J Felt” shortly. We’re still working on a name…

• Chris Braswell seems to have come out of his funk and is playing well, just wait until ALL those layups go in next year
• K.J. Sherrill is going to be awesome for us
• Derrio Green still drew heavy defensive pressure despite only scoring 5 points
• Gokhan Sirin, or “Goky” to some, is really good, every shot looks PERFECT
• Trevin Parks needs more PT opportunities, he reminds me of DiJuan
• Shamari Spears is a work horse, and the team hitting shots made his job 10X easier
• Phil Jones hit his trademark jumper again, defensives are going to have to respect him more
• Dewhurst, SHOOT THE BALL, we know you can

February is the make of break month for most teams with aspirations for at-large bids to the NCAA tournament.  Unfortunately for the Niners (18-8, 8-4), it’s been the latter case as they have dropped 3 straight A10 contests to drop to 2-3 for the month.  Wednesday night the  Niners hope to set their course back in a winning direction when they host the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (9-18, 3-10).

During the stretch of losses, a common theme has been a dichotomy of shooting.  In plain english the Niners are shooting like crap and opponents are shooing lights out, and there’s no in-between.  Never a good recipe during the stretch run of the season.  The last two losses have been especially difficult to stomach as they have come on the court of Halton Arena and both featured Niner leads that were put away with lengthy runs, with the opponent never looking back after ripping the lead away.

Perhaps Saint Joe's needs the cruel tutelage of Pai Mei.

The goods news is we’re playing Saint Joseph’s tomorrow (although I thought the same thing when we played Fordham… we know how that went).  The Hawks are struggling under Phil Martelli this season, who is typically billed amongst the best coaches in the league.  It’s surprising to see a team with a fair amount of upperclassmen leadership struggling so mightily, particular under Martelli’s leadership.

Statistically, the Hawks have done little well this season as they rank amongst the bottom of the nation in rebounding (minus 9 in this category, ouch), field goal percentage, and 3-point shooting.  Not a combination that’s particularly conducive to winning, though they do get to the line somewhat frequently.

Personnel wise, Saint Joseph’s gets most of its production from a trio of upperclassmen.  Darrin Govens leads the team in scoring as a 6’0 Sr. G, putting up 13.1 ppg. on 38.2% shooting from the field.  The bulk of his baskets come from behind the arc though, so his shooting percentage is somewhat deflated by his tendency to shoot the three-point shot.  Though he doesn’t particularly excel from long range, he hits 33.7% of his attempts and considering the volume he attempts, his perimeter game warrants considerable attention from the Niners “defense”.  Garrett Williamson is 2nd on the team in scoring and is the top assist distributor for the Hawks, averaging 12.1 ppg. and 3.7 apg. on the season.  The Sr. swingman is much more of slasher than Govens, preferring to score at the rim or drawing fouls and getting to the line -Govens leads the team in FTAs.  As this has been a particular weakness for the Niners this season, it will be interesting to see how Bobby Lutz divvies up defensive responsibilities to account for the contrasting styles of Williamson and Govens.

The top post player this season for the Hawks is 6’7 Jr. F Idris Hilliard.  Hilliard scores 10.2 ppg. on 47% shooting and is a marksman from outside, connecting on 1-7 from the arc.  Watch me jinx us and he goes 11-14 from 3.  I might have to bring some lighter fluid to this game in case self-immolation is required.

Though the Hawks have struggled mightily this season they do get regular contributions from some underclassmen that hope to be impact players going forward.  Todd O’Brien is a 6’11 So. C who leads the in rebounding (a modest 6.2 rpg.) and 5.6 ppg.  Carl Jones is also a frequent contributor scoring 9.3 ppg. on 35.4% shooting, with about half his makes coming from behind the arc.

To win this game the Niners need to follow a very simple but suddenly elusive recipe:  Make shots, and keep the other team from doing the same.  Against Dayton the Niners shot 25% from the field.  Dayton shot 48.1%.  In the following game against Duquesne the Dukes shot 48.4% to the Niners’ 32.8%.  On Saturday versus Xavier, the Niners shot 36.5% and the Musketeers 52%.  You won’t win many games that way.  One saving grace is the Niners tend to draw a lot of fouls, which can mitigate poor shooting; however, it seemed Shamari Spears despite his best efforts couldn’t get a whistle to save his life against Xavier.  Now I’m not one to cry sour grapes since we couldn’t hit a shot or stop Xavier, but if Spears can get some foul calls, perhaps a 12 point game is really a 6 point game going down the stretch and who knows what can happen

NLP after the game if Idris Hilliard has his way.

then.  Still, despite the difficult day I’ve been impressed with Spears’ effort on both ends.  Though not a natural defender by any means he’s rebounded better and even managed one hell of a block shot.  Keep it up Sherman!

One player who’s continued to struggle of late has been Derrio Green.  The dynamic Sophomore has been a revelation at the SG position but may have hit the wall a bit in his first season at DI play.  Though the future remains exceptionally bright for

Derrio,the present must seem like an abyss to him.  I do like his attitude and don’t think he’s really been forcing shots, so hopefully it’s merely a slump he can play his way out of.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s time to just set aside the idea of the NCAA tournament and focus on the immediate.  For anything good to come out of the remainder of the season, the Niners need to focus on Wednesday’s game and Wednesday’s game only.  The winning has evaporated and play on both ends of the court has suffered.  These are the times where a player needs to emerge from the pack and lead this team forward.  Whether it’s DiJuan Harris, Shamari Spears, or a newcomer, someone has to take on the onus of winning and bring the team along with him.  Can we do it?  At least tomorrow night, I say yes.

Can DiJuan rally the troops and turn the season around?

It’s time for our annual out-of-season Homecoming contest as the Niners set to host the Xavier Musketeers.  It’s been a rough two game stretch for the Niners as they’ve dropped games in the most painful of fashions, losing on the road to Dayton and again on Wednesday at home to Duquesne.  The struggles come at a critical time for the team as most squads are looking to cement their NCAA resumes.  For the Niners, another loss could instead be the death knell for any hopes of such a trip to the tournament, forcing the team to have to win what will likely be a highly-competitive A10 tournament.  In other words, Saturday’s game is an absolute must-win.

The formula for beating the Niners, which I’ve mentioned time and again, has become common knowledge amongst coaches.  It was clearly on display Saturday.  The Niners ran up a 10 point lead in the second half, and Duquesne responded with pressure, steals, forcing turnovers, easy buckets, and a 16-1 run to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.  Although Xavier isn’t the most defensively astute team, unless something drastic changes, they will be tomorrow if they play tough man-to-man defense and harass the Niner backcourt.  It’s becoming a sour realization in another otherwise very successful season and it threatens to undo all the hard work the team has put in this season.  But the path back is clear:  Just win baby.  This is the same team that ran Louisville off their court and thoroughly dominated Richmond on the road and Temple at home.  The talent is there, but will the execution?

In the first meeting the execution certainly was there… for Xavier.   The Musketeers hit 53% from the field overall and had a balance of inside and outside scoring, with 4 players scoring in double figures, led by Jordan Crawford’s 18 points.  The Niners for their part played smart basketball, but just couldn’t get the early shots needed to stay competitive.  They also suffered from abysmal outside shooting all game long, hitting just 2 of 22.  The bright spots were less turnovers than Xavier (15 vs. 16) and 59% shooting from inside the arc.

The recipes for both teams should be relatively simple:  For X, they should go true and tested and play tough man defense against the Niners and force turnovers.  It’s worked for teams all season long.  For the Niners, taking care of the ball is the most critical aspect of the game.  They have the talent to stick with Xavier, particularly with a noisy Halton Arena backing them up.  The question though is whether they can even get looks, since turnovers early in possessions has becoming a mounting problem for the team.

The Niners’ also need Derrio Green to snap out of his run of poor play.  He’s far too talented to continue to struggle this much, so part of it might be mental.  If it is, keep your head up Derrio.  Niner Nation believes in you and will have the Bat Signal on, waiting for yet another super human performance.  The Niners’ inside game should a field day -if the backcourt can get them the ball.  Spears, Braswell, and Wilderness all had success in the first matchup and there’s no reason to believe the Xavier defense should be any more stout should we manage to get them the ball down low.

Oh, and I departed from our normal scheduling since I’ve already talked about Xavier’s personnel.  As I’ve been droning on and on about, it’s the style of play that’s bothering the Niners the most right now.  It’s beyond who’s on the roster and more how teams deal with the Niners.  There’s no point re-hashing what we already know about Xavier.

Personally, I think we gut it out and win.  I still believe in DiJuan Harris, and I don’t see how he could allow us to lose a must win game, particularly home coming.  What do you think?  Post your predictions in the comments and I’ll highlight them on the game day post.  Anyone hits it on the head, and I’ll buy them a pitcher of beer (or some Green Kool-aid if you’re underage) at Picasso’s.

Ron Everhart is looking for his spit can.

It’s been a long week off for Niner fans following the dismantling the team experienced against the Dayton Flyers last Wednesday at UD Arena.  Fortunately the basketball gods (or the A10 office) have delivered salvation in the form of a hump day matchup against the Duquesne Dukes.  Gametime is 7 PM in Halton Arena and the contest will be broadcast by CBS College Sports Regional.

The week off probably was a good thing for the Niners.  When a team runs out to an 8-1 conference start and sole possession of 1st place only to see it come crashing down on the road in brutal fashion, the extra time between games is an opportunity to circle the wagons, regroup, and hopefully adjust.  The principal adjustment that needs to be made?  Clearly running the offense against strong man-to-man defense.  It’s been the Achilles’ Heel of the team all season long.  If you’re a head coach and you see Charlotte on the schedule, dial up the man defense.  Until the Niners can make that adjustment and handle the pressure, they will continue to struggle in the half court.  In particular DiJuan Harris and Shamari Spears, the two most experienced players on the team need to step and create opportunities for others to loosen the defense.  Spears for his part has to recognize *BROKEN RECORD ALERT* the defense collapsing around him and kick it out to open players.  Do it AS they collapse, not once they are already there.  Custard couldn’t pass out of his last stand, why would Spears be able to?

As mentioned earlier, the Niners’ opponent on Wednesday are the ever enigmatic Dukes of Duquesne.  The average fan (yes, I’m going there) might look at their 13-12 record and think mediocre team and expect a blowout.  The Dukes are instead a very dangerous, yet inconsistent opponent.  Most recently they exploded on La Salle with a blistering 103-82 victory; however, this performance immediately following a let-down 84-80 OT loss to UMass.  So the question begs, which Duquesne team will show up Wednesday?  If the 2-8 road record is any indication, most likely the team that last to UMass.  But as this season has illustrated, the Niners can ill-afford to take the Dukes, or any team, for granted.

These Dukes are led by head coach Ron Everhart, who when not chewing tobacky is a fun coach to watch.  He’s assembled a talented squad that while yet to transform into a consistent performer, has a lot of nice parts that can go off on any particular night.  The cog in the engine for Duquesne is Jr. F Damian Saunders.  On a contender, Saunders is probably the runaway A10 POY.  He’s a double-double machine (14.9 ppg and 12.2 rpg.) who’s achieved lofty individual heights in the NCAAs, ranking 3rd in the nation in rebounding, 4th in steals, and 8th in blocks.  Even more impressive is he does it all with just a 6’7″ frame.  Saunders will be a handful on both ends of the court, but it will be fun to see how he matches up defensively on Shamari Spears.  It’ll be a contrast of strength and craft versus freak athleticism.  Let’s hope Spears wins out.

If the Dukes through up some tough M2M will the Niners pull a France?

Joining Saunders in the “post” (using the term loosely) is fellow Jr. Bill Clark.  Clark is second on the team in both scoring (13.8) and rebounding (6.2), though the former comes at the expense of his arm practically falling off after every game.  In other words, he shoots the three-ball with reckless abandon and only manages to convert on 1 in 4.  For someone like him, 25-30 three pointers is a lot.  He’s taken 133.  Nice shot selection there, buddy.  Of course against La Salle he goes 11-14 and scores 34 points.  Wasn’t that supposed to happen against us?

Though Sr. guard Jason “Light” Duty has started much of the season, he will likely cede his starting role tomorrow to Melquan Bolding, who’s rounding back into form after a lengthy injury.  Bolding is a nice young player but again suffers from poor shooting selection.  He shoots overall at a 40.7% clip from the field, which is about the norm for a collegiate shooting guard.  But his numbers are dragged down again by poor shooting from the arc (25.5%).  On paper the Dukes remind me of the worst of the 08-09 team combined with the worst of the 02-03 team when it comes to three-point shooting.

B.J. Monteiro is touted as the Dukes best three point shooter.  Brace yourselves folks:  He shoots 33.3% from behind the arc.

Running the show for Duquesne is So. PG Eric Evans.  Evans, like the other 4 scorers averages over 10 ppg.  He also leads the team in assists and is 2nd in steals.

So there you have it, the Duquesne starters.  For all intents and purposes, they’re the entire team, as like the Niners the starters do the bulk of the scoring for Ron Everhart’s squad.  When looking at the teams stats, it’s easy to see where their struggles come from:  1)  They can’t shoot a lick from outside, hitting only 25.5% as a team.  2)  They’re awful from the line, hitting just 60.6% of their FTAs.  3)  They’re woefully undersized and it shows:  They’re tallest starter is 6’7″ Saunders.  After that they run 6’5″ 6’5″ 6’3″ and 5’11″.  This might be the first game since the scrub non-conf. games that the Niners have had a size advantage.

The Niners have a clear task at hand tomorrow:  Take a game that could be dangerous, since Duquesne has the potential to explode offensively, and dominate it.

Despite Saunders being a terrific talent and consistent top-notch performer, the Niners have the size and capacity to dominate the game on the glass, and I expect them to.  Sure Saunders will likely get 8-10, but the Niners need to have a sizeable rebounding margin, like +7 or greater and double-digit offensive rebounds.

Specifically I would expect to see plenty of zone again.  Duquesne is a poor shooting team, and it only makes sense strategically to sag off the “shooters” and keep Saunders from going off inside.

One difference from the Dayton to Duquesne game I would like to see is in Derrio Green.  He’s at his best when he’s both driving and shooting, not relying on the outside game.  He also needs to show he can handle tough defensive pressure all game long.

Well Niner fans, it’s crunch time.  The team simply can’t afford a home loss from here on out.  Let’s start with Duquesne and build momentum going into Saturday.

The Niners were all smiles as Derrio Green lit UMass up with 34 points.

Derrio Green week in the Atlantic 10 came to a close with a 34 point peformance as the Niners defeated UMass at the Mullins Center 72-58.  The win puts the Niners back in a three way tie (6-1) with Temple and Xavier atop the league and with a 16-5 record are off to their best start since 2004-2005 when they ran out to a 21-4 record before losing their last four.

Green was at his best, connecting from both inside and out as he topped his outstanding 26 point performance earlier in the week against Temple.  Green connected on 8-16 from 3-point land and 9-19 overall.  Phil Jones was the only other Niner in double digits with 12, 7 of them coming consecutively in a run that took a perilous 3 point lead in the second half and extended it to 10.  The run included a three pointer and another where he seemed to have just one foot on the line.

For UMass, it was another dreadful night shooting the ball.  The Minutemen managed just 4 makes from 28 attempts from beyond the arc.  Ricky Harris was the leading scorer for UMass, scoring 25 on 11-24 shooting including 3-10 from outside.  Anthony Gurley was the only other player for the Minutemen in double figures, scoring 11 on 4-11 shooting and missing on all five of his attempts from deep.  Former Niner recruit Sean Carter had a solid game on the defensive end, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 4 shots.

Both teams opened the game trading buckets early on with Gurley hitting a basket to give UMass an early 9-6 lead.  A Shamari Spears put back and a Derrio Green three pointer gave the Niners their first lead, one they would not relinquish.  It was this first half where Green did most of his damage, scoring 21 points, including 5 three-pointers and a dazzling drive and finish near the rim on a difficult scoop-shot layup.  The outburst gave the Niners an 8 point lead at the half, 34-26.

The second half opened up with a sustained run by UMass that cut the Niner lead to just one at 37-36 on a Ricky Harris layup.  The narrow lead persisted over the next two minutes as the teams exchanged misses, turnovers, and fouls until An’Juan Wilderness broke a 4 minute scoring drought with a tough layup.  That’s when Jones took over, scoring the next 7 points including a 3-pointer about 4 feet behind the arc as the Niners re-built the lead back into double digits.  A parade of free throws by Charlotte extended the lead to 17 with 6 minutes to go.  However, the Niners appeared to lose focus a bit in the closing stretch of the game, allowing UMass to shrink the lead to 10 with about a minute to go with miscues by Charles Dewhurst and a pair of surprising turnovers by DiJuan Harris.

Overall it was a solid win for the Niners as they showed the team can win the trap games on the road, something Derrio Green acknowledged in his post-game comments.  For fans, it’s comforting to see his development, as it shows teams will have to choose their poison against the Niners:  try to shut down the Niner perimeter game?  Shamari Spears and Chris Braswell will hurt you inside.  Focus on limiting the interior game like UMass did tonight (Spears had 4 points on 2-8 shooting, Braswell with 7 on 2-6 shooting) and Derrio will make you pay.

Though the Niners were outrebounded on the night by 5 and UMass managed 12 offensive boards, this should come as little surprise.  As we mentioned in the pregame, the Minutemen are tough rebounders, particularly on the offensive glass.  The Niners managed to secure a victory in my personal favorite stat:  foul shooting.  Charlotte hit 21 of 30 FTAs, the makes being 9 more than UMass even attempted (9-12).  An advantage like that is very difficult to overcome and is a hallmark of tournament caliber teams coached by Bobby Lutz.

Up next for the Niners are the George Washington Colonials on Wednesday in Halton Arena followed by a trip to the Bronx to take on the Fordham Rams next Saturday.  A pair of victories and the Niners could be looking at their first trip into the Top 25 in 5 years.

Potential 4-star recruit for Derek Kellog?

So while Charlotte is under siege from the white death falling from the sky, the Niners head up to Amherst to face the youthful and enigmatic Minutemen of UMass.

Personally I can’t stand UMass.  Actually I can’t stand their fans.  Last I knew universities themselves aren’t sentient.  Anyway their fans crapped on us when we joined the league and they crapped on Shamari Spears when he transferred to Charlotte.  It’s not all of them, but it’s the internet so I’m gonna exaggerate because I can.  And yes, that does make it right. I will give them this:  their band plays “Africa” by Toto and that’s pretty rad.

On to what’s important.  The Niners are on a roll and they look to keep their winning ways going Saturday evening against UMass, televised by ESPNU.

The Minutemen (8-12, 2-4) broke a 5 game losing streak with a win an 87-80 road against Saint Joseph’s  Wednesday.  UMass is the epitome of chuck-and-duck basketball many have accused the Niners of playing in years past.  Offensively they shoot the three.  Frequently.  As in 35th in the nation in attempts.  Couple that with only 29.9% three-point field goal percentage and you have a lot of misses.  A painful lot of them.  Perhaps counter-intuitively they rebound the ball extremely well on the offensive glass, snagging a top-10 in the nation 15.2 offensive rpg.  That makes for a lot of second chance scoring so despite the poor shooting percentages, they do manage to score a fairly impressive 71.2 ppg.  The problem is they are the French military on defense, giving up a whopping 74.1 ppg which puts them at 302nd best in the nation.  And sorry to any French readers out there.  If it’s any consolation I like your beaches.  One stat that really illustrates how awful they are on defense is the assist to turnover ratio for opponents (1.22, 333rd in the nation).  They’re also dreadful at blocking shots but that’s not an essential stat for success (just like our lack of dunks) but taken together with the assist to turnover stat, it’s pretty evident they play matador defense.

It’s not as if UMass is devoid of talent.  It’s actually quite the contrary.  Problem is Derek Kellogg hasn’t quite figured out this coaching thing yet, but since he’s a former player and a Squid disciple, he’ll get a free pass for a good while.  As for the personal, it’s hard to find a better guard in the A10 than Ricky Harris.  For the third year in a row, the 6’2″ Sr. guard is averaging over 17 points a game.  The problem is he’s taking far too many outside shots and hitting far too few (28.5%).  In comparison he’s hitting 50.6% of his shots from inside the arc.  Ricky, take it to the basket!  Just not Saturday.

His fellow gun-slinging backcourt mate is Anthony Gurley, who is in his second season at UMass by way of Wake Forest.  Problem is he’s more Barney Fife than Pvt. Daniel Jackson as like Harris he’s hitting less than 30% of his 3-point attempts.  Fortunately for him though he doesn’t take nearly as many outside shots as Harris, and gets the bulk of his 14 plus points from inside the arc and at the foul line.  Two other frequent starters of note are Sean Carter and Terrell Vinson.  Those names should be familiar to the Niner faithful as both were recruiting targets in the past for Charlotte.  Vinson in particular looks like he’s going to be a player for UMass.  The 6’7″ Fr. SF product of Baltimore is averaging 9.7 ppg. in his rookie campaign.  Unfortunately for him though Kellogg’s offensive philosophy might be detrimental to his development as he takes quite a lot of 3 pointers (is this a theme or what?) and misses nearly 75% of them.  It boggles the mind how any coach can be comfortable with a play that will 3 times out of 4 fail.  Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2009-2010 UMass Minutemen!

Sean Carter is a 6’9″ So. F/C who’s playing his first season with UMass after transferring from Oregon State.  Carter leads the team in rebounding at 6.3 rpg., with half of them coming on the offensive glass.   A modest scorer at just about 5 ppg, Carter is a 48.8% shooter who *gasp* hasn’t taken a three-pointer this season.  But before I go too far lauding his selectivity, I have to point out he’s just a 44.7% shooter from the FT line.  The top player off the bench is another impressive Fr. in Freddie Riley.  Riley is a 6’5″ swingman who’s averaging 10.5 ppg. who’s actually a respectable, if not great, three point shooter who converts on 37.4% of this attempts.

Although this is clearly a trap game for the Niners coming off the big win at Temple, this is a game they should and need to win.  One of the absolute keys is to rebound the ball well.  Chris Braswell, I’m pointing to you as our top defensive rebounder (ranked 11th in the country at defensive rebounding percentage according to kenpom.com).   Another potential danger is the UMass transition game.  Transition defense is an Achilles’s Heel for the Niners as they’ve struggled often to get back on defense against teams that like to get out into the open court.  One other fear is the temptation to get into a three point shooting contest.  Like with UMass, the 3 point shot is like heroin to Bobby Lutz-coached teams.   This year’s team seems to be more disciplined, however, and the departure of Shamarr Bowden has only seemed to fortify that sense of discipline on offense.  One thing I’d definitely like to see is more of Super Derrio.  You know, the one who gets to the rim like a speeding locomotive?  It’s been a joy to watch his balance of inside/outside play of late and I’m praying to see more of it.  Defensively I think we should expect a lot of zone:  force UMass to make some shots from outside, much like the case against Temple.  And just like the game against the Owls, some early makes shouldn’t deter the strategy.

Wilderness provided the heroics with the game winner against La Salle.

Well that was pretty much the definition of awesome.  D-Fo had his birthday wish delivered in the form of a game-winning runner delivered by the hands of An’Juan Wilderness as time expired at Tom Gola Arena.  The basket broke a 82-82 tie with the La Salle Explorers and gave the Niners another impressive road victory as they try to keep place with Xavier and Temple at the top of the A10 standings.  The win sets up a battle for first place Wednesday against #16 Temple  in Halton Arena (7PM tip.  If you don’t have tickets yet I’m gonna hunt you down).

Coming out of the opening tip, the Niners pulled out to an early 8 point lead thanks in large part to the hot shooting of Derrio Green.  Green scored 9 straight points for the Niners on three 3-point baskets and layups by Chris Braswell and An’Juan Wilderness put Charlotte ahead 15-7.  La Salle would battle back with impressive shooting for long range of their own thanks to sensational Fr. C Aaric Murray.  Murray, despite the offensive explosion in the first half, would be limited in action for much of the game due to foul problems, which exacerbated an already thin bench for the Explorers thanks to injuries to Ruben Guillandeaux and Kimmani Barrett, the latter finding out he will likely miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot.

The Niners would again build a first half lead, this time going to the inside game.  Shamari Spears, and in particular, Braswell scored often against the big La Salle frontcourt.  Braswell did his damage both on the floor and at the line, finish the game with another double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds and a very impressive 9-9 at the foul line).  The Explorers would again make a run to tighten the game at the half thanks to Yves Mekongo and Jerrell Williams, who found themselves frequently converting at the foul line in the latter minutes of the first half.  When the buzzer sounded to send the game to halftime, the Niners held a small 48-46 advantage.

The second half featured more of the same: the Niners building leads and the Explorers battling back.  The lead grew to as many as 11 points for the Niners, and they maintained a 5 point lead with just 2:03 remaining before the La Salle would make one last run.  A pair of Rodney Green free throws and a Yves Mekongo 3 pointer tied the game at 82 points apiece with just under a minute remaining.  A missed Derrio Green shot left the ball in La Salle’s hands with a chance to win and 25 seconds to work with -basically they could run the clock down and either win it or send it to overtime.

Not so fast.  An’Juan Wilderness played tough defense on Rodney Green on a pick and roll with Aaric Murray, causing Green to opt to pass to Murray who was cutting to the basket with possibly a dunk or layup to win it.  The pass however sailed off Murray’s fingers out-of-bounds giving the Niners one last chance with a little less than 5 seconds remaining.  The 49ers immediately inbounded the ball to An’Juan Wilderness who covered about three-quarters of the court an managed to get off a runner as time expired which found the bottom of the net, giving the Niners the stunning last second victory.  It was the 2nd win in 3 games that game on the last possession for the Niners who suddenly find themselves in the unfamiliar role of road warrior in A10 conference play.

The starters again shined for the Niners as they were responsible for 81 of the 84 points scored.  The lone bench points came from an Ian Andersen first half 3-pointer.  Leading the scoring charge for Charlotte was Shamari “Sherman” Spears who finished with 22 points on 7-12 shooting and 8-11 from the foul line.  Derrio Green was the third Niner to reach 20 points for the game, managing exactly that number on 6-14 shooting.  Derrio had another good game distributing the ball and leading the team with 7 assists on the game to go with just 1 turnover.  The provider of the last-second heroics, An’Juan Wilderness, also had a terrific game with 13 points on 6-7 shooting and adding 4 assists and 3 rebounds.  DiJuan Harris didn’t have his best game, fouling out in 33 minutes of action with 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists to go with 3 turnovers.  Credit Rodney Green for being a difficult matchup all game for Harris.

Despite being outrebounded by La Salle, the margin was not particularly bad.  Finishing just boards behind the Explorers, the Niners managed 11 offensive rebounds including 6 by Braswell.  Impressively, Charlotte handed out 23 assists on 27 made baskets as again the Niners did a fantastic job moving the ball on offense, including in transition.  Who is this team?  What have they done with my Niners of old???  Actually, don’t answer that question.  I just want to enjoy this.

In the end, the difference in the game was foul shooting by the Niners.  Most, if not all previous Niner teams under Lutz would have lost this game, but Charlotte coverted 23 of 28 foul shots, good for an 82.1% mark.  In contrast, La Salle only hit 16 of 23, which was good for 69.6%.

Next up, a first place tumble with the very tough and very well-coached Temple Owls.  Here’s to hoping we fill Halton Arena on Wednesday to give Fran Dunphy a not-so-warm welcome to the QC.  The average sports fan needs to know how good the Niners, Owls, and A10 are so be sure to get the word out!  See you on the 27th.

There was one casualty for the Niners tonight.  Charles Dewhurst went down late in the 2nd half with a leg injury.  No would yet from the team what the extent of it is, but rumors are an ankle injury.  We’ll update you when we get word on the extent of his injury.

The Forty Niners take to the road again Saturday to play the La Salle Explorers at Tom Gola Arena.  The Niners (13-5, 3-1) logged perhaps their most complete win of the season in their most recent game, besting Richmond on the road 71-59 to break a 4-game winning streak for the Spiders against Charlotte.  For La Salle (10-8, 2-2), the Explorers enter the game coming off a 19-point win against fellow Big 5 school Penn.  For the Niners, Saturday’s game represents an opportunity to get a quality, road victory against a conference foe -something that has been at a premium over the 5 seasons the Niners have competed in the A10.

The Explorers would like to call themselves a veteran squad, but unfortunately injuries have continued to take a toll on the team.  Sr. SG Ruben Guillandeaux remains out with a stress fracture in his right foot suffered in Charleston.  This is a big loss as he brought size (6’6″), scoring (10+ ppg.), shooting (>30% career 3 pt shooter), and play making (3+ apg.) to the Explorers backcourt.  Another La Salle Sr. struggling with an injury is Kimmani Barrett.  Barrett has missed the last three games with a sprain to his right foot (do La Salle players only have right foot injuries) and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game.  When available, Barrett does a lot of good things for the Explorers from the SF position, scoring 13.3 ppg. with solid shooting from both the field (46.4%) and from behind the arc (37.9%).

La Salle does have two excellent Srs. that are still healthy in Yves Mekongo and Rodney Green.  Mekongo in particular has scored well of late averaging 14.5 ppg. over the last 4 games; however, his shooting has suffered as he’s under 40% for the first time in his career.  As for Rodney Green, well he’s nothing short of a beast.  The current active leading scorer in the A10 has not disappointed his Sr. campaign averaging just under 18 ppg. along with 5 rpg. and just over 4 apg.

The principle newcomer to the Explorer squad is highly regarded Fr. C Aaric Murray.  Murray has certainly not disappointed in his debut, putting up over 12 points a game, leading the team with 7.2 rpg., and blocking over 2 shots a game.  Murray is also very well rounded offensively, having the ability to step out and shoot the three effectively, leading the team at 46.5% from behind the arc (of players in the regular rotation).  He will definitely be a handle to defend as the Niners have not faced many players this season with his combination of polish and brawn.

The Explorers aren’t particularly deep (due to injuries for one) and play 3 guys more than 35 minutes a game.  While they do have a significant size advantage at most positions (Rodney Green is the “shortest” starter at 6’5″), the lack of depth is a problem and could lead to fatigue.  Though La Salle does do a good job of limiting fouls compared to the opposition they turn the ball over considerably more than foes.  DiJuan Harris and Derrio Green with their speed advantage may be able to harass taller players handling the ball in the open court and the perimeter, though for the latter I expect us to be playing a lot of zone to limit the size advantage.

La Salle will also pose a strong challenge on the boards, especially the offensive glass if the Niners opt for mostly zone defense.  The Explorers are outrebounding the opposition by 6.5 rpg. (the Niners only outrebound opponents by 2.8 per game).

Saturday’s game will be difficult for the Forty Niners, but it is winnable.  The Niners will have to do several things well to win this game, and avoid a few others.

Keys for Charlotte:

• Rebound the ball well.  I expect another slugfest like the previous two conference games the Niners have played.  Winning the rebound battle probably means winning the game.
• Limit turnovers.  La Salle doesn’t force a lot of turnovers and as long as we’re patient in the half court like we were against Richmond that shouldn’t be a problem.
• Work for open shots in the halfcourt and push the ball when transition opportunities present themselves.  We have a speed advantage and they have a turnover issue.

Keys for La Salle:

• Force the issue inside to get the Niners in foul trouble.
• Crash the boards and dominate the rebounding game.
• Limit turnovers by controlling tempo.

I don’t want to take this game for granted, because I don’t.  La Salle is well coached, has considerable talent, and a significant size advantage.   But the Niners seem to be playing a style of basketball that reminds me more of the 98-99 team I cherish and less of the chuck-and-duck style we abhor.  It’ll also be interesting to see how much, if any, playing time Javarris Barnett and Gokhan Sirin get after playing well against Richmond.  The former especially.

Seriously?  We did that?  To Richmond?  Shut up.

What a game.  To beat Richmond in the Robins Center playing their style of basketball was truly a sight to behold for Niner fans.  On a night when Richmond could have set a new mark for home court dominance, the Niners dropped the Spiders 71-59 and re-invigorated talk of an at-large berth.

The game started out like most thought it would -Richmond capitalizing on Charlotte errors and misses to build a 27-20 lead.  From that point the Niners went on a 12-0 run over the final 4:49 to build a 32-27 halftime lead.  Keying the surge was seldom-used Javarris Barnett who snagged 3 rebounds, blocked a shot, and hit a three-pointer to provide a much needed spark off the bench.

In the second half, it was more of the same despite an early run at the outset to put the Niners in a brief deficit.  The most remarkable aspect of the game was the oft-mentioned patience the Niners exhibited in the half court offense, contrasting with Richmond seemingly dead set on shooting 3 pointers.  To the Niners credit, the latter was in good part due to some of the best defense the Niners have played all season.

One major area of concern, ball-handling, turned out to be the bane of the Spiders instead of the Niners as Richmond committed one more turnover and generated three less steals by game’s end.  On the boards, the Niners dominated grabbing 10 more loose balls.

To be honest, I thought I was in the twilight zone watching the game.  Practically every point I mentioned seemed to work as I hoped when writing the pregame.  Derrio did more than bring the ball up -he picked up 5 assists and 0 turnovers.  The bench provided a spark -Sirin hit a 3 and Javarris dropped a double-double!  Even Shamari picked up a pair assists although he still forced it a few times in traffic.  Regardless, Spears played a solid if not spectacular game, scoring 20 points as the Niners remained committed to feeding him in the post. Braswell also did his usual excellent job in the paint rebounding the ball and kept his cool when matched up with an obviously chippy Dan Geriot.

For Richmond it was a very tough loss.  The crowd was absolutely pathetic and UR fans should be ashamed.  The lone bright spot on the evening was the stellar play of Justin Harper who benefited from the attention paid to Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez, scoring 24 points on 8-11 shooting.

Going forward the Niners can ill-afford to look ahead to Temple.  La Salle remains a talented team with plenty of size and strong coaching.  As previous seasons can attest, winning on the road is very difficult.  Two straight on the road would be a feat for this team and a sign the team is coming together in the heart of the season.