November 15, 2009
Kennesaw State (1-1) at NC A&T(0-0)
I'll go ahead and knock out my first game tonight. Kennesaw State is rated 70 OVR. Hey, senior leadership! Our team unity starts the year at 39. K-State is at 31. It took me into January to get team unity that high last year.
They have decent talent all over, including a SG who can shoot 3's pretty well.
Half
| Time
| NC A&T
| KEN
| Notes
|
1
| 16:45
| 2
| 7
| These guys are fast, and they play a pressure defense in the half court set i'm not used to seeing. We've got 3 turnovers already and their baskets are all layups.
|
1
| 13:00
| 9
| 11
| Some improved defense and Ewing hitting a 3 for me on our last possession and it appears we've settled down a bit.
|
1
| 12:30
| 9
| 14
| Backups are in
|
1
| 11:45
| 11
| 21
| Ugh, big run on their part, 10-2. It'll take me a few games to get used to my new backup rotation but right now they're just draining shots.
|
1
| 8:30
| 18
| 30
| Starters back in. I can see the potential in this speed out of our 2nd team but not against Kennesaw State. The defense they're playing is really hurting me.
|
1
| 6:00
| 29
| 33
| A big run by the starters. They're not going to be able to go the whole way though. The backups come back in for a couple more minutes. Defense is the key here. If they miss shots they can't get in their press and we can run. We have to keep them from scoring a ton.
|
1
| 3:30
| 34
| 33
| Huge run! Its almost all the speedy guards either getting past the defense or drawing a foul in transition and making free throws. The starters are back in.
|
| HALF
| 40
| 48
| They're 5-8 from 3. 3 of those came in the final 3 minutes.
We have 8 from Ewing, 6 from Alston and Coleman, 5 from Shiloh and 5 from Cruz. Their SG, Baldwin, has 17 points including 4-5 from 3. I decide to bring Shiloh in the first chance I get, I'll run a 3 guard offense and have Shiloh shadow Baldwin.
|
2
| 13:00
| 59
| 66
| We're still down by basically the same that we were at halftime, but its been interesting. We had the lead down to 2 a couple times but they go on little runs. I really like the 3 guard lineup if I can swing it consistantly.
|
2
| 11:00
| 64
| 70
| The lead is down to 6 after a Ewing 3. our backups come into the game.
|
2
| 5:00
| 74
| 83
| We can't seem to keep the lead down below 7 for any period of time. Its up to the starters the rest of the way.
|
Ewing was unconscious from 3 in the final 2 minutes, helping to cut a 12 point lead down to 3 but we didn't really have a chance to win. The final 3 came with 3 seconds left.
Kennesaw State 101
NC A&T 98
This is one of the toughest opponents i've ever played. They had as much speed as me, 4 different guys who could hit the 3, and they rebounded really well. They were 10/24 from 3, had 12 offensive rebounds and 19 second chance points. The fact that we kept it closer than 10 is really impressive to me.
On their side, Baldwin scored 25 total, only 8 in the second half, so maybe Shiloh's defense helped.
On our side:
Alston: 12 points/6 assists
Ewing: 30 points/4 assists
Shiloh: 11 points
Coleman: 9 points/9 rebounds
Hayes: 13 points/9 rebounds
Shepherd had 8 and Cruz 7.