Let’s talk about all four games. I’ll mostly be emptying the notebook in these pieces.
Vermont 80, New Hampshire 61
-Gus Yalden is unstoppable. He dropped 18, scoring 12 points on eight post-up sets (1.50 PPP). The Catamounts dumped
it down into the post early, and Yalden toasted Belal El Shakery.
-New Hampshire’s front line looked like one of the better ones among AmEast squads in the non-con, and El Shakery looks like one of the best individual defenders in the conference. If the Wildcats can’t stop the Gus Bus, who will?
-I finally saw Yalden make a mistake passing out of a double team:
-That speaks to how good a post player he is.
-”Yalden clearing the lane for a driving TJ Hurley is executed beautifully every time,” says AmEast Fantasy Commissioner BryantBulldogsStan. Hurley was KenPom MVP of the game with 20 points, and much of that production came on these sets driving to the rim:
-Sean Blake has been playing out of his mind lately. He’s always been an elite dribble creator with his off-the-bounce pop, and he created 12 points on seven pick-and-rolls in this game (an absurd 1.71 PPP), including this awesome blow-by in the first half:
-However, he’s also rebounding at a high level, and more importantly, he’s starting to shoot it at a high level, which you need to do to stay on the court in Becker’s offense.
-If Blake keeps playing at this level, it’s going to be hard for Lucas Mari to find minutes. We haven’t seen enough of those off-the-bounce dribble blow-bys this season, save for this one here, where he still botched the layup:
-Related: This was Mari’s only shot attempt in six minutes.
-The Wildcats mostly did the right things to take advantage of a vulnerable Catamount defense, and they shot well (9-for-22 from 3, 41%). But they turned the ball over like crazy (14, 22% rate).
-Somewhat related: I love Ben Johnson, but the dude gets back-door cut on more than any player in Vermont history. You have to clean that up.
-I am hoping and praying that Noah Barnett is OK after going down in the second half. The Catamounts also need David Simon back. In the meantime, expect to see more 2-3 zone from Becker to attempt to hide Yalden in traffic.
-I have seen Comeh Emuobor in more post doubles than any player in college basketball this season. He seems to dribble into them. He’s got one hell of a motor, though.
-El Shakery has started going a little harder toward the basket on his drives and post-ups, which is a welcome sight — it makes him a tougher finisher. I also saw Nathan Davis throw out a little trappy zone in the second half, and El Shakery could be an absolute weapon as a free safety in that scheme.
NJIT 73, Binghamton 65
-The first step on Binghamton’s road to redemption is getting healthier. Jackson Benigni, Ryan Richardson, and Bryson Wilson returned for this game.
-But Demetrius Lilley did not, and NJIT responded with 14 second-chance points on 12 offensive rebounds — Binghamton finished with two on three.
-Binghamton already has turnover issues on both ends of the court, so combine that with two-way rebounding problems, and the Bearcats can get cooked in the shot-volume battle. The Highlanders attempted 54 field goals to Binghamton’s 39.
-Shout out to Melvyn Ebonkoli. He was dominant around the basket in this game, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds — four offensive rebounds led to nine second-chance points.
-The Highlanders ran a ton of high-low action to get Ebonkoli and the other frontcourt pieces involved, which was a clever way of trying to generate offense outside of backcourt mid-range pull-ups. They weren’t particularly efficient, but they battled for 17 points on 19 post-up sets (.90 PPP). Of course, I’d do the same if the opposing team’s big man were hurt.
-David Bolden had arguably the worst game of his young, promising career. He finished with 12 points, but he was neutralized in the first half. That said, he hit two big shots in the second half:
-In his stead, Sebastian Robinson stepped up with the best game of his season, scoring 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting from 2-point range and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. He simply lined up against Binghamton’s dribble defenders and cooked them, scoring 13 points on 10 ball-screen and isolation possessions (1.30 PPP).
-Part of the reason why I’m struggling to figure out the Bearcats is that they’ve been so bad, but I still think Jeremiah Quigley might be the best pure point guard in the conference. He’s a wicked dribble creator with a sick handle and elite passing vision. This hockey assist was money:
-This is exactly how Binghamton’s offense is supposed to work — drive and cut to the rim, work inside-out from there.
-Quigley is also lightning quick in transition and took advantage of that often in the first half as Binghamton picked up a lead. However, he also picked up his fourth foul at the 17-minute mark in the second half, right in the middle of NJIT’s run. The Highlanders ripped off a 16-3 run between the 12- and eight-minute marks, and they never looked back. Binghamton is already short on depth and has no chance of competing without its best player.
-The one big positive for Binghamton this week was Zyier Beverley, who was a brutalizing post presence who slammed his way into a few tough buckets at the rim while drawing six free-throw attempts. He looks like another Nehemiah Benson.
UMass Lowell 83, Albany 71
-I came away most impressed with Lowell on Saturday. I really like this offense, as Pat Duquette has taken an entirely new, rather underwhelming roster and shoved guys into the right roles.
-As Lowell fanatic RiverHawkRack put it: “They somehow feel like a normal Lowell team. Pretty good at scoring, turn the ball over a ton, and can’t play defense.” Considering how much talent departed in the offseason, that’s a remarkable achievement.
-I don’t think Lowell played great defense against a flawed, inefficient Albany offense — the Danes finished with 44 paint points after all. But the Hawks will score their way to wins, as they did here — by scoring 50 paint points and grabbing 18 offensive rebounds.
-Austin Green is really the perfect Lowell forward. He put up 16/8 with two blocks in this game, including 10 points on six cuts and 10 second-chance points on six offensive rebounds.
-I thought Lowell’s wings were fantastic. It’s nice getting production from the likes of Angel Montas, Shawn Simmons, and JJ Massaquoi, almost entirely by being more physical on downhill rim-runs and in transition. This was a gritty, hard-nosed ballgame between two teams that want to do similar things, but Lowell has plenty of guys who want to play bully-ball within 10 feet.
-Xavier Spencer was the MVP. He dropped 23/6/5 with three steals. He brutalized the Danes by getting downhill out of ball screens (11 points on 10 possessions) and in transition (10 points on seven possessions).
-That provides a sad contrast with Darrel Yepdo. I had low expectations for Spencer, and he’s shone. I had high expectations for Yepdo, and he’s flopped. He scored four points on 0-for-8 shooting with three assists and three turnovers.
-While Lowell’s offense looked good, all of this could just be chalked up to the fact that Albany’s interior defense might be awful. Dwayne Killings again toyed with that amoeba zone look, alongside some press. Yet, Lowell handled it all with grace, cutting and diving through the gaps while never getting stuck in the corner where the Danes want to trap.
-Did you guys know that Yalden’s dad played on the 1988 Lowell Division II national championship team? What the heck?
Bryant 56, Maine 51
-This was the best Ty Tabales game of the season. I was really impressed with his all-around effort. He was active on defense (three steals), dropped 12 points, and dished out five assists with some nice ball-screen actions:
-Yes, he shot 1-for-9 from 3, but those rims in Orono look stiff.
-Unfortunately, I don’t think the stiff rims explain Maine’s lifeless offense. It’s totally broken.
-TJ Biel is a stud. He had 20 of Maine’s 51 points while getting draped by three of the biggest wings in America.
-I’m not bought in on the Ryan Mabrey experience, but he was good in Maine’s second-half comeback. I loved this BLOB set he ran with Biel here and hope Chris Markwood draws up more of this:
-Speaking of the second-half comeback, it was a bad Bryant collapse predicated on some inexperienced play and mistakes. The Bulldogs were the better team for most of the game, but Jamion Christian and Co. aren’t buttoned up yet. Meanwhile, Markwood is still among the league’s best, and his team was more disciplined.
-Altogether, this felt like a matchup between two of the league’s better defenses and two of the league’s worst offenses. Sadly, that says more about Bryant’s offense. Maine was expected to be this bad, but Bryant has some solid pieces and continues to create the wrong shots, like this one:
-Although Timofei Rudovskii had a brutal game, the other Bryant wings stepped up, with Ashley Sims, Aaron Davis, and Quincy Allen willing their way to 37 combined points — every tough basket was needed in this rock fight.
-Per BryantBulldogsStan, Jakai Robinson has missed his past 10 shots in the paint. Huh.
-Christian finally broke out some of the mayhem full-court press defense when Maine was making its second-half run. I wonder if we’ll see more of that in the future.
