January 23, 2010
NC A&T (6-10, 2-3 MEAC) at Florida A&M (1-14, 1-3 MEAC)
Scouting
A&M is rated very poorly, 63 OVR, this looks a lot like our recent Delaware State game. The scouting report is a bit conflicted here. 41% of their shots are from 3 point range, only 30 inside and 30 midrange. Yet our scout tells us that they like to dribble-drive and we should play a zone to keep them out of the lane.
PG Jarrid Perkins – FR – 70 OVR – Extrodinarily good speed, good quickness, great defense and a decent ball handler. Good inside but only average shooting the 3. I can see why they like to drive now. 8.5 ppg/5.5 rpg
SG Nathan Harper -JR – 65 OVR – Average shooter, good speed and pretty good defense, doesn't look like a great scorer but a decent overall threat. 7.4 ppg/8.3 rpg (8.3 rebounds??)
SF Abraham Songcaucy – SO – 54 OVR Average defender and that's really it. 4.8 ppg
PF DJ Pettway – SO – 55 OVR – Looks like a pretty bad player. Ok shooter in traffic. That's pretty much it. 7.2 ppg/6.8 rpg
C Jonpaul Bowens – SO – 53 OVR – Pretty good post defense and a decent inside shot. Foul rating of 99, the worst possible. Given our tendency to draw a lot of fouls if this guy plays more than 10 minutes with that foul rating I'll be shocked. 6.8 ppg/4 rpg.
I see why the scouts say to zone it up against these guys, and I've learned my lesson about playing man against my scouts recommendation. Zone it is. Team Unity edge is massive here. 51-30 in our favor.
Half
| Time
| NC A&T
| FAMU
| Notes
|
1
| 15:15
| 12
| 9
| They open up with a 9-4 lead as we take some bad shots inside early. We get it together though and are on an 8-0 run.
|
1
| 11:45
| 17
| 15
| Backups are in. Alston has 8, Ewing 4 early in transition.
|
1
| 6:40
| 31
| 23
| Cruz scores 8 for us and does very well against their backup big men. Our starters come back out to try to finish off the first half strong.
|
| HALF
| 47
| 33
| We methodically build our lead. We're shooting 52%, they're shooting 29%. They have a couple shooters that have high tendencies to shoot 3's despite not being very good at it at all. Their SG, Harper, is 1-11 from 3 and they are 2-21 as a team.
On our end we're scoring the same way we did last game, taking advantage of a lot of long rebounds and getting out in transition against poorer defenders. Alston has 15 points. He isn't as dominant as he was vs Morgan State, as FAMU's PG Perkins is a better defender, but he's getting so many more chances to run this game.
Coleman has 6 points/8 boards. Hayes 6 points/5 boards. Ewing 6 points. Cruz has 8.
|
2
| 15:30
| 51
| 40
| We went up 49-33, then they rolled off 7 straight. We finally got a bucket by Coleman to end that run and still lead by 11. They're defending in transition much better so far this half.
|
2
| 12:50
| 61
| 48
| We get Coleman going a bit, he has 6 or 8 this half... can't remember, and get the inside game going which keeps our lead up. Backups are in.
|
2
| 10:00
| 67
| 48
| Backups are playing great D. Cruz has all 6 points and is having a hell of a game off the bench.
|
We lead by 24, 81-67 with 5 minutes left. I quick sim to the end.
NC A&T 94
Florida A&M 64
Hooray for road wins! A&M was a ridiculous 6/40 from 3.
Alston: 19 points
Ewing: 11 points
Shiloh: 1 points/5 boards
Coleman: 16 points/13 rebounds
Hayes: 11 points/8 boards.
Cruz gets 14 points off the bench.
Incidentally, in reviewing FAMU's roster, they have two transfer's sitting out a year. One is rated 71, and the other 65 OVR. Given that they start 5 underclassmen and have two transfers that would be 2 of the best 3 players on the team, this is a team that will be much better in seasons to come.