Know Your Enemy

I had the chance to exchange some questions University of Dayton blogger Tom over at the Blackburn Review. We got the chance to discuss hair bands, defense and if a fashion show could break out in the middle of a basketball game. You can find my answers to his questions here

I'll have my normal preview of the Flyers later on.

Discarding stats, who is the guy that makes the Flyers go?
Chris Wright is the obvious choice, but I would say Marcus Johnson dictates how UD plays. If he is on, the Flyers seem to play well. If he is off, UD has a hard time finding a second scorer to compliment Wright. This has become a disconcerting trend with Dayton this year, finding someone to score on the nights in which Wright is struggling. The team has yet to find that consistent scorer.

Statistically, the Flyers' defense has been outstanding this year. What's the story behind it? UNCG will shoot a Duke-esque amount of three pointers. Will that change the kind of defense that Dayton normally plays?
Gregory finally has the type of players that can effectively implement the type of defensive scheme he wants to employ. The team is very athletic and deep--two necessary facets for running Dayton's defensive system. I don't think UNCG style will change the way Dayton comes out on the defensive end. UD has played against up-tempo teams and half-court oriented offenses and played the same type of pressure defense all year. The one area, ironically enough, is their 3 point defense. Their brand of defense usually leads to some over pursuits, which often leads to open looks on the perimeter.

I read somewhere that Dayton would be wearing a light-blue and red uniform against the Spartans. If UNCG wears it's all gold uniforms, will anybody be able to watch this game for more than a couple of minutes at a time before having to turn away? Would Dayton consider dimming the lights?
Yeah, it could look like an XFL game out there. UD has had considerably bad luck in the light-blues, going 0-2 in them last year. Personally, I want to spearhead the movement to switch back to the old uniforms. UD's current color scheme and logo are unoriginal and generic looking. I'm hopeful that there will be some support for reverting back to the Marian blue unis as fans get used to them.

Recently UNCG announced that it's moving all of its home games from tiny Fleming Gym to the Greensboro Coliseum which is less than a mile up the road from campus. The Flyers seem to always play in front of a full house and even the NCAA "play-in" game in Dayton looks full every year. Got any advice for us to start drawing in more people?
Here's the thing, when you upgrade to a bigger facility it has to be about more than basketball. You have to bring in some novelty acts to get people to come at first. If I was consulting UNCG, I would say have crappy hair bands from the 80s play concerts right after the game. You would be amazed at how many people will still come out to see Great White play their hit.

What do the Flyers need to do to prevent any thoughts of an upset?
With Dayton, it all begins and ends with defense. Their offense is mediocre at best. I would think forcing Greensboro into 20+ turnovers would almost guarantee a win for UD. I will say this, UD has a tendency to play a little sloppy in games right before Christmas break. I don't know if it's the fact that there are less fans in the arena, or if they would rather be somewhere else, but the Flyers have a history of underachievement in these type of games. In other words, it wouldn't shock me if this one was closer than Vegas thinks.

Damn, this record is broken

UNCG 62- Kent State 73

News & Record
Kent State

UNCG

UNCG lead Kent State 32-29 at halftime, but was outscored 44-30 in the second half. I've had enough of this "let's kick ass for the first half and give you hope before we stink and crush your hope in the second half". I'm ready for a good first half effort to not be wasted. Maybe I'm hoping for too much. It was impressive how UNCG fought back from 20 down to make a game of it. At least they haven't thrown in the towel yet.

The Good:

- Elhanan Bone - 8 points and 10 rebounds. That's a stat line that I think every Spartan fan loves to see. Bone was a beast on the boards.

- Free throw shooting - 11-13 (84.6%) is a solid effort. If we'd have shot that well at Central Arkansas there might have been a different outcome.

- Kendall Toney - 14 points including a couple of big 3 pointers. It's good to see him play well against someone not named NC State.

The Bad:

- Turnovers (18) - Just when you think UNCG has a problem fixed, it re-appears. UNCG's first half turnovers didn't hurt them too bad. The miscues turned into fast break points in the second half, though.

- Shooting - 37.5% for the game (including 9-26 in the second half). UNCG ranks 327 in D1 (out of 343) in field goal percentage.

The Ugly:

- Second half performance.

The definition of "Beating a Dead Horse" from Wikipedia ...

"Beating a dead horse" is an idiom that means a particular
request or line of conversation is already foreclosed or otherwise resolved, and
any attempt to continue it is futile.

Yep, That's what I'm doing.

UNCG women win again

Since this blog is called UNCG basketball fan, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's just a men's basketball blog (although that is kind of what it is). However, it's time to show the women's team a little attention.

Last night, the Spartans beat Georgia Southern to win their fourth game in a row. They are still undefeated in conference play (3-0). All of this comes after finding out their team leader, Kristen Boone, had another season ending knee injury. However, it seems like the team has steadied themselves and are playing much better.

On the SoCon fans website, UNCG was listed as the highlight of the night. That's a nice change b/c our men's team has been the lowlight several times this year already.

UNCG (1-6) @ Kent State (4-5)

When: Thursday, Dec 18 7 pm
Where: Memorial Athletic and Convocation (M.A.C.) Center (6,327)
TV: None

Kent State Athletics
NewsFlashes - Kent State Blog
Kent State Forum - NCAAbbs
Kent State Forum - Rivals

Spartan Notes:
- In their last game, UNCG was destroyed by East Carolina in Greenville (97-53). Montel Smith led the Spartans in scoring (11 pts) while Ben Stywall pulled down 10 boards. Sam Hinnant led seven Pirates in double figures with 18 points. UNCG was outscored 56-21 in the second half.
- Last season, Kent State held on late to defeat UNCG 71-64 in Fleming Gym. Mikko Koivisto led UNCG with 22 points. Mike Scott scored 15 for Kent State.
- The Spartans have now dropped 5 straight games.
- Mikko Koivisto is leading UNCG in scoring (13.7) and assists (2.6). Ben Stywall is the leading rebounder (8.9). The Spartans are averaging 17 turnovers per game. Nine players are averaging double figures in minutes played.
- For the season, UNCG is shooting 36.7% from the field, 27.1% from 3 point range and 62.9%from the free throw line.

Golden Flashes Notes:
- Kent State was the MAC tournament Champion and an NCAA tournament participant last season. They finished with a record of 28-6.
- Kent State defeated Youngstown State 82-74 in their last game. Al Fisher led three Kent State players in double figures with 20 points.
- My recap on of Kent State's wins/losses/RPI can be found here.
- Fisher (17.8 pts and 3.7 assists) and Chris Singletary (16.4 points and 3.1 assists) are the Golden Flashes best offensive weapons. Brandon Parks is leading Kent State in rebounds (6.4).
- For the year, Kent State is shooting 46% from the field, 30.3% from behind the arc and 62.6% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
When I sat down and put together a preview for the ECU game, the stats of that team just jumped off the page. Even though East Carolina had played several non-D1 teams, they just appeared to have a lot more firepower than the Spartans. I guess that I can say that it didn't come as much of a surprise that they whipped UNCG last Saturday night.

By that same token, there's not a whole lot from Kent State, statistics-wise, that jump out at me. They seem to be an average team that spreads a lot of their stats out. Their record indicates much of the same thing. They have a nice win over UNCW and took Illinios to overtime before eventually losing. Fisher appears to be the closest thing the Golden Flashes have to a star player. However, there seem to be a lot of solid role players.

To have a shot on Thursday, I could go down the same 'ol "laundry list" of things that UNCG must do well. Turnovers, free throw shooting, poor rebounding and foul trouble have all taken turns tripping up UNCG. But lately UNCG has just been awful after halftime. In all but the Charlotte game, the Spartans have been very competitive in the first half and then failed to make anything happen in the second half. That's got to change.

This road trip (@ Kent State 12/18 and @Dayton 12/20) through Ohio will be a homecoming for freshman Damian Eargle. Maybe he can elevate his game and help UNCG snap this 5 game skid.

Greensboro Classic and more

College of Charleston opened their new arena this season with a 3-day tournament featuring themselves, Clemson and several other other solid programs (Temple, TCU). That sparked up a discussion at UNCGfans forum. Would it be a good idea to put on a similar type tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum and invite some of the local area teams plus maybe an ACC school? Over the last few days a NC A&T fan has added to the discussion.

I've decided to add a poll to the blog just for my own interest to see if there would be support for a tournament/event. Feel free to vote and comment.

Also, WUAG (103.1 fm) is carrying Spartan basketball games throughout the holidays. You can find their schedule here. I'm always glad to see them carrying the games b/c their streaming is a lot better than WPET.

Here's an article from from Sunday's News & Record with more discussion on the move to the coliseum. Not a lot new in there, but it's got more of a positive tone.

Aaaarrrrgggg ?!?

UNCG 53 - East Carolina 97

UNCG Athletics
ECU Athletics
News & Observer

Halftime score ... ECU 41-UNCG 32. Second half score ... ECU 56-UNCG 21. We've seen this before. The telling stat is second half shooting percentage. UNCG 18.8% (6-32) and ECU 67.7% (21-31).

The Good:
- I'm honestly struggling to find anything good here. It was another solid first half effort. If they gave 1/2 wins for good first half performances, UNCG would have a good record. I don't know what Coach Dement is saying in locker room at the break but he needs to change it (hint: Watch Bull Durham).

The Bad:
- "Splash" page on UNCGSpartans.com. Can we just go ahead and take that down now. It was great to infuse a few days of excitement back into the basketball program. The slogan "On the rise" seems a little hollow right now.

The Ugly:
- Offense - 30.2% from the field, 19% from 3 point range and 61.1% from the free throw line. Mikko (9 pts), Stywall (4 pts) and Landon (0 pts) had a bad night.
- Defense - 59.7% from the field and 51.7% from 3 point range. Seven, SEVEN Pirates scored in double figures.

That's it. Wish I could come up with some great analysis as to what happened, but I've got nuthin'. Hopefully, the Spartans can just put it behind them and start to pull things together.

UNCG (1-5) @ East Carolina (7-1)

When: Saturday, Dec 13 7 pm
Where: Minges Coliseum (8,000)
TV: MASN (tape delayed)/ ChannelSurfing.net

ECU Athletics
ECU Forum (Scout)
ECU Forum (Rivals)
ECU (CUSA-BB)

Spartan Notes:
- Last time out, the Spartans lost a televised game to College of Charleston (77-62) at Fleming Gym. Mikko Koivisto led UNCG with 17 points and Ben Stywall had 10 rebounds.
- UNCG has now used a different starting lineup in every one of its games. There are nine Spartans averaging double figures in minutes played.
- Koivisto is leading UNCG in scoring (14.5 pts) and assists (2.8). Ben Stywall is the leading rebounder (8.7)
- UNCG is shooting 37.9% from the field, 28.5% from 3 point range and 63.2% from the free throw line.

Pirate Notes:
- See my quick review of ECU's season here.
- ECU defeated Limestone 69-43 last Saturday at Minges Coliseum. James Leagan scored 14 points and Darrius Morrow had a double-double (12 pts & 10 rebs).
- There are 3 Pirates scoring in double figures. Sam Hinnant (17.4) is leading scorer. Morrow is the leading rebounding (8.4). Brock Young (8.1) is the leading in assists.
- ECU is shooting 47.3% from the field, 35.5% from 3 point range and 70.7% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
Before the season, I thought this game was one of the road games that UNCG might could steal. I don't know if that's the case anymore. Even though they have played 3 non-D1 teams, those stats are still quite impressive. The Pirates have beaten a couple of solid CAA teams.

I think that there was some obvious improvement from the Citadel game to the CofC game last week. UNCG did a lot of things in the first half against the Cougars that it will need to repeat to have any shot in Greenville on Saturday.

The Spartans will need to continue to improve on their free throw shooting and rebounding. Also, the guards have got to start making some shots.

With the students gone and NC State (who ECU beat last year) coming up this week, ECU may be looking past UNCG. Let's hope so.

Go Spartans !!!

EDIT: UNCGSpartans.com is reporting that the game is no longer going to be shown in MASN. It is still listed on ChannelSurfing.net.