November 12, 2020 – Palm Tree Shootout
Florida State (0-0) vs Niagara (1-0)
We ought to win this one but we'll play it out to see how we stack up before potentially tougher games later in the tournament.
A small table isn't working in WYSWIG at all, how about this.
TEAM: FSU|NIA
OVR: 88|78
OFF: 87|80
DEF: 89|76
SHT: 88|82
REB: 92|87
COA: 86|83
Scouting
Not as in depth here for the first game against in theory a weak competition. Their highest rated player is 75 OVR, they start a 65 rated PF and we outclass them at every position by quite a bit.
They have a 7 foot center who scored 15 points in their first game, while backup PG Rasmussen is their primary 3 point threat. They don't have any sharpshooters, but have 2 or 3 guys that will hurt us if left open.
Replacing our senior starter in Locklier with a true freshman knocks our team unity back down to 28.
Half
| Time
| FSU
| NIA
| Notes
|
1
| 18:20
| 0
| 3
| We've committed 4 fouls and allowed two offensive rebounds. Good start to the season. Sneed has foul #2, sanders in.
|
1
| 16:53
| 2
| 8
| After a 3 by Niagara, a turnover by us and our 5th foul/two Fts for them... McCants hits a hook shot in the lane and we're on the board.
|
1
| 14:00
| 8
| 12
| We start scoring a bit better, but being a bit careless with the ball in transition has prevented what could have been a lead by now. Timeout Niagara after a blocked shot leads to a layup for Moye.
|
1
| 11:50
| 10
| 16
| I get a timeout to get the backups in. McCants has a sweet little hook shot if I can get him positioned well, I like it.
|
1
| 7:20
| 22
| 23
| We haven't been able to take the lead yet but we're scoring well. Barrett with 4, Delic(5th big man on the team at this point, 7 foot walkon) has 4, getting minutes with Sneed sitting, and we got Day his first bucket of the year as well.
|
1
| 6:25
| 24
| 28
| Starters back in. We just gave up a 3 point play inside heh.
|
1
| 2:55
| 33
| 34
| We still haven't taken the lead back, but we did tie it at 28 briefly. Forte has 2 3's in this stretch,and McCants has two blocks.
|
1
| 1:22
| 38
| 36
| They score to go up 3 before we put up 5 straight to take the lead. McCants with a layin in transition to give us the lead.
|
| HALF
| 43
| 44
| Fun half but we need to beat this team down in the second half. They hit a 3 at the buzzer to go back ahead. We're shooting great... 62% on the game, while they're just 48%. The problem is that they've taken 8 more shots than us. The rebound margin isn't big but they must have an offensive rebound edge bigger than I thought.
They get 13 from their starting PG, Hazel, one of their two 75 rated players, he's 5-7, 3-4 from 3. We'll tighten up on him. They have 9 from their center Haigler.
Forte leads us with 10, 3-3 from 3 and a free throw. Ozier and McCants have 6, Moye 5, and a few with 4. Sneed starts the 2nd half for us, he sat the entire half basically.
|
2
| 18:00
| 45
| 49
| I bring in Barrett for Ozier... Barrett is going to stick to Hazel, this is why I have an 89 rated defender right? When one guy on their team is inexplicably hot... try to cool him back down.
|
2
| 15:30
| 47
| 56
| Heh, we're down 9. I get a timeout. McCants has missed 3 seemingly gimme looks inside now, and we've allowed 3 3's this half.
|
2
| 14:10
| 49
| 62
| Moye with a deuce, they hit a 3... that's after a miss and an offensive board mind you. Moye drives and misses a shot inside in traffic, they get fouled, make a free throw, miss the 2nd, get an offensive board and putback. They have 7 offensive boards and 12 second chance points. We have 2 offensive boards/0 second chance points. I call yet another timeout.
|
2
| 13:10
| 51
| 66
| Backups are in, starters aren't tired but we need a change of pace, and i'm basically infuriated at the way we're rebounding and finishing inside right now.
|
2
| 9:50
| 59
| 67
| Good defense and fairly good rebounding allow us to trigger an 8-1 run and get the lead back down to 8.
|
2
| 7:30
| 66
| 71
| Alloway scores 5 straight and we get the lead down to 5
|
2
| 5:55
| 68
| 71
| Alloway makes it 7 straight and were only down 3, but its time for the starters to finish it off, backups are tired.
|
2
| 5:05
| 71
| 73
| Timeout Niagara.
|
2
| 4:45
| 73
| 73
| Steal by Forte, we set up and McCants hits a layup inside. Tied up.
|
2
| 2:10
| 75
| 73
| All of a sudden both teams go cold, they miss 4 jumpers in a row, we come up empty on 3 straight possessions before finally Forte drives to the basket and gets a bucket giving us the lead. Timeout Niagara.
|
2
| 1:40
| 75
| 75
| Barrett with a reach in foul, Hazel hits two free throws(we're at 8 fouls). Tied up.
|
2
| 1:27
| 77
| 75
| We get a play that posts up Sneed right away and he hits a layin. Up 2.
|
2
| 1:07
| 77
| 75
| McCants with a block inside, there is a little chaos, they recover but their pass back out to a guard is errant and sails out of bounds, our ball.
|
2
| 0:40
| 79
| 75
| Big big mismatch inside, McCants ends up with a guard on him, I feed McCants and he hits a little shot in the post to put us up 4.
|
They miss, we board, and we seal it at the line.
Florida State 84
Niagara 75
No one comes up really big for us today but we get some solid efforts, defense and rebounding could use some improvement and I'm sure that will come, close wins over inferior teams early aren't exactly unusual for me by now.
Forte: 14 points/3 steals
Moye: 10 points
Ozier: 10 points
Sneed: 5 points/5 boards
McCants: 12 points/7 boards/4 blocks
Alloway: 9 points
Barrett: 8 points
Sanders: 2 points/7 boards
Solid debut for McCants. Sneed getting 2 fouls in the first 90 seconds helped that a lot of course. Moye was 3-10, just 0-2 from 3, lots of those drives where he doesn't get a clean look that I've mentioned in the past. McCants ended up 5-9 from the field. Day goes 0-4 from 3 in his debut.
The backups really took over though when I made Alloway the focus. Its so easy for me to focus on a PF or a SG, but the PG as a primary scoring option can be awkward, but I'm going to have to make sure Alloway gets his shots consistently this year when the backups are in.