January 15, 2014
Buffalo (7-7, 2-0 MAC) at Ohio (13-1, 2-0 MAC)
Buffalo is rated 76 OVR (77 off/75 def/79 sht/77 reb). Seems like we should have a huge edge, espicially on the boards. Buffalo outplayed their ratings by quite a bit last year, but, they had 3 seniors on that team that are now gone. They are very young now.
Scouting
PG Clark Clement – JR – 71 OVR – 90 speed but 74 quickness. Very good passer, good defender (84). 84 close/68 med/73 3, not great but he'll make shots if open. 9.5 ppg as the only upperclassman on the team.
SG Derwin Sherrod – FR – 68 OVR – Average everywhere. 82 close/71 med/71 3, just 76 off the dribble,don't leave him open but he isn't going to kill me. 80 defense is average, maybe a bit above, but Cooper should do fine anyway. 85 speed/74 quickness, so not a threat b/c of speed. Poor hustle. He is 6'5” but cooper is a nice sized SG too(6'4”) so that shouldn't matter either.
SF Ronnie Burleson – SO – 74 OVR – this is Burleson's first year in the starting lineup. He's decent all the way around, he's good in traffic for a SF, 85(B-), 83 close/76 med/70 3, so not a guy we can just ignore, but not a huge threat either. Average defense(78), decent steals/shot blocking, nothing really stands out though. 8.4 ppg/5.6 rpg.
PF Elton Falls – SO – 76 OVR – 6'8”, started at Center last year but is better at PF. Average on the boards (79 o/77 d), great in the post (83 o/86 d), and a solid scorer. 89 close/86 in traffic, can step out and shoot too, 75 med/70 3. He's a good leaper and is strong for a PF(77 str/B+). 14.7 ppg this year, a solid scoring option.
C JJ Arnold – FR – 71 OVR – badly undersized, 6'6” 228 lbs. Average rebounder (75 o/81 d). Good post offense (82) but horrific post defense(66). 83 close/76 in traffic. He'll be pretty good eventually if he gets moved to PF but he's going to get eaten alive here. 6.5 ppg/5.7 rpg.
3 backups rated 60+ and their backup PG at 59, so they go 9 deep but we have more talent than them pretty much everywhere. We have a massive 56-36 unity edge.
Half
| Time
| OHIO
| BUF
| Notes
|
1
| 14:45
| 17
| 9
| Some solid defense and rebounding to open the game, House is out for a quick 4 points, Murphy a 3, Cooper a couple nice buckets, Sessoms with a layin over the 6'6” guy guarding him... all good so far. Timeout Buffalo.
|
1
| 12:30
| 26
| 9
| Well then. Murphy and House each have 8 as I bring the backups in.
|
1
| 11:00
| 30
| 12
| Buffalo hits a 3 to end our long run. I don't remember exactly how long It was, but I know it was tied at 4 at one point, so 26-8 from there.
|
1
| 5:10
| 34
| 23
| We're still up 11 but its a pretty horrid performance by the backups. Buffalo is using a half court trap and playing tighter defense than most teams. It isn't phasing the starters, but the backups seem to be struggling with it a lot. Watson got 4 points and that's it in the last 6 minutes. Starters are back.
|
| HALF
| 48
| 31
| They cut it to 9 at 36-27 and we take It back over and push the lead to 17 before the break. Their PG Clement has 8, PF Falls has 8. That is the extent of their production really.
We've got 12 from House, 10 from Cooper, 8 from Murphy. Delic and Sessoms combine for 10 points/10 boards.
|
2
| 15:25
| 54
| 44
| They had it down to 8, a Sessoms basket just pushed the lead back to 10. Buffalo is shooting a lot better, which is preventing us from getting out on the break after rebounds, and forcing us to play in the half court against their tight defense a lot more. Right now we're not doing a great job against it.
|
2
| 13:00
| 56
| 51
| After we go up 12 they score 7 straight, their last bucket on a fast break 3 point shot... Murphy misses a 3, they rebound, outlet and Clement pulls up for 3 immediately. I call a timeout and get my backups in to turn things around.
|
2
| 10:15
| 58
| 58
| They tie it up and I call another timeout. Falls and Clement both have 18 now, they're both tearing it up this half. Mendoza has missed open 3's, Lamkin had a drive to the basket stopped with a blocked shot, Keller and offensive board, putback blocked... we've got to turn this around.
|
2
| 8:15
| 66
| 58
| Best timeout ever? We get 4 stops in a row, scoring twice on putbacks, getting a steal in the backcourt with our press, leading to an easy basket, and getting a runout from a long rebound on a missed 3 pointer.. 8-0 run and I feel a bit better now.
|
2
| 5:25
| 72
| 63
| Starters are back in, and we thank the backups for preserving the lead that we worked much of the half to give away.
|
2
| 3:00
| 79
| 65
| The starters continue the run and we should just kill the clock from this point.
|
And we do effectively close it out the final 3 minutes.
Ohio 85
Buffalo 76
The first 10 minutes of the 2
nd half were pretty terrifying, as we watched them methodically erase our 17 point lead. But they never did take the lead and we got back in control when we needed to.
Buffalo got 25 points from their PG, Clement, and 18 points/11 boards from Falls, their PF. I'll need to remember this game if I play them again... put Cooper on Clement for defensive purposes.
They got 13 steals as we made a number of very poor passes, helping to key their run in the 2
nd half.
Murphy: 11 poitns/6 assists/3 steals
Cooper: 20 points
House: 16 points
Delic: 8 points/8 boards
Sessoms: 6 points/9 boards
Mendoza: 8 points
Watson: 6 points
House didn't really do much at all in the 2
nd half. No one did in the first 10 minutes, and as we pulled away to finish them off, Cooper was getting most of the good looks.