MBB: Liberty League

[stlawus]

Hobart doubles up Ithaca in a fast paced first half tonight 53-26 with hot shooting , good defense and rebounding. Game gets sloppy in the second half as Hobart wins 86-66 and moves to 7-2 on the season. The new coach at Ithaca does not seem to have the same chemistry with the team as last year's coach, so I think Ithaca is in for a long season. Hobart goes 2-1 in the LL and I think we should finish in the mix this year come playoff time. Monty Nedd plays with great speed but sometimes out of control finishes with 27 on 11-15 , leads the team with 9 rebounds but also has 7 turnovers. Alex Moesch with 20 and Dorian Paki with 17. I like this team because it is talented, plays good defense and its frequently wild fast play is exciting yet imperfect at times but should improve as the season progresses.

Ithaca was missing who I think is their best player, the transfers the coach brought with him but there are some perplexing coaching decisions.  They have the reigning rookie of the year and he's barely gotten in the games. Gives them scoring and physicality but he's relegated to the 2nd and 3rd option.

[Bartman]

Cabral is Ithaca's leading scorer, he played last night and scored 22, Zenker #2 scorer and 6'6" forward was missing, so that might have affected them to some extent as the big men for Hobart pretty much had the better of the play.

[UfanBill]

Union finishes off the first part of their season 7-2 with a 79-66 win over Stevens. Notable for the Garnet was the inside play led by 6'11" Scott Schmitt who continues to gain momentum. He had 9 pts. and 10 rebs, in only 14 minutes as Union dominated the Points in the Paint 50-20. Re-entering the rotation were last year's key reserves Will Yakoobian and Jaden Jauregui. Oft injured PF Aren Cummings also got on the floor. Last year's starting PF Brendan Reid was seen in uniform on the bench but with a large knee brace. He is yet to play...With all these pieces coming together Union looks to be quite formidable. 

[Bartman]

Hobart beats Utica 66-53 and moves to 8-2 in a game where both teams seemed to be looking towards holiday break.

[stlawus]

SLU drops a close one @ #16 WPI for the first game back after a long break. The result may be frustrating, as the game was there for the taking with SLU having a lead at various points and erasing a 9 point deficit late in the 2nd half to get it within 1 for the final minute, but the process is there.  When WPI extended the lead with about 6 minutes left Downs put in 4 freshmen and a senior that has played only a handful of minutes in 4 years. That unit held serve and chipped away getting it within 5. SLU starters got them right back in it making it a 1 point game with the ball in the last minute.  WPI's experience finished the game out, but this youthful SLU team is learning and seemingly buying in.

SLU has played a heavy road schedule too, so it's been baptism by fire for this squad.

Oswego- overcame 19 point deficit to get it within 3 late
Nazareth- overcame 17 point deficit to get it within 3 in the 2nd half
Union- overcame 19 point deficit to get it within 2 in the final minute
RPI- overcame 14 point deficit in the 2nd half to go up by 5 in the last 2 minutes
WPI- down 1 in the final minute with the ball

All of these games were played on the road.  Shows you how there is low margin for error and that experience matters a great deal, but with just a little more seasoning this SLU team can tool themselves for a strong Liberty League showing.

[stlawus]

SLU gets their first double digit sweep against Clarkson since 2007. Of all teams this was not the one I expected to do it, but their road heavy difficult schedule up until now has paid an early conference dividend. All SLU freshmen looked noticeably more poised and collected compared to the first 10 games, the team is growing up quick.  J'Lin Brown who I have talked about previously with regard to his recruiting profile is starting to play according to his pedigree. He had some bad luck with minor injuries to the start the season, but looks like a player with sky high potential. Didn't have a flashy box score but he was a menace on the defensive side of the court and under the rim, and could have had double digit assists if not for several missed layups.

[stlawus]

The UAA hype fest you see on social media is a bit quiet tonight with RIT beating Rochester.  The Tigers outrebounded UR 56-32 despite a height disadvantage at every position.

UR's obsession with having d1 size costs them again. Great win for RIT.

[stlawus]

Halftime score: Bard 40, SLU 18.

Final score in OT: SLU 81, Bard 80. 

Never in doubt 

Talk about a tale of 2 halves. SLU had overcome 4 near 20 point deficits on the road but couldn't finish it out, tonight they finally did.  Biggest margin was 24 points.  It was also a 15 point game with 6 minutes left.  Freshmen Aidan Phelan was 1-8, and then made 3 of 4 from three at the end of the 1st half and OT including a 3 with 4 seconds left in regulation. Very tough shot by Bard to force OT too. Career high for Adam Dudzinski the game after getting his 1000th point, 35 points for him who almost singlehandedly willed SLU into the win.

In other news, Union takes the reigns for the Liberty League with an impressive win against RPI at ECAV.  I don't know what Jack Plesser did this summer, but he is a scoring machine.  I really enjoy watching well executed offense and Union does just that.

[UfanBill]

Halftime score: Bard 40, SLU 18.

Final score in OT: SLU 81, Bard 80. 

Never in doubt 

Talk about a tale of 2 halves. SLU had overcome 4 near 20 point deficits on the road but couldn't finish it out, tonight they finally did.  Biggest margin was 24 points.  It was also a 15 point game with 6 minutes left.  Freshmen Aidan Phelan was 1-8, and then made 3 of 4 from three at the end of the 1st half and OT including a 3 with 4 seconds left in regulation. Very tough shot by Bard to force OT too. Career high for Adam Dudzinski the game after getting his 1000th point, 35 points for him who almost singlehandedly willed SLU into the win.

In other news, Union takes the reigns for the Liberty League with an impressive win against RPI at ECAV.  I don't know what Jack Plesser did this summer, but he is a scoring machine.  I really enjoy watching well executed offense and Union does just that.

Sure Union 6'5" Jr forward Jack Plesser has had a great start to the 2025-26 season but it doesn't come as much of a surprise. Plesser was 2nd Team All Liberty League last season and a strong case can be made that he deserved 1st Team as he led the Garnet with 17.3 pts/gm and finished fourth in the Liberty League in scoring, second in field-goal percentage, third in free-throw percentage and ninth in blocks. He scored in double figures in 25-of-27 games and had nine games of 20 or more points. This year he's 1st in scoring 23.5 ppg, 6th in rebounds, 4th in FT% and again 2nd in FG% and 9th in blocks. Oh and this "scoring machine" does all this scoring without taking 3's having only shot from behind the arc 5 times, making 4 of them! 

It was a great win for the Garnet Chargers last night in Troy but things don't get easier. They make the quick turnaround road trip to Ithaca today for a 4:00 pm battle with the Bombers.

[stlawus]

SLU is keeping their annual tradition of playing their worst game of the year on the road at Vassar.  Every year without fail the road trip results in some of the worst basketball you've ever seen in your life.  Even the 2009 sweet 16 team played terribly in that matchup. SLU has been a fairly terrible road shooting team this year and will be happy to have 6 straight upcoming home games.  9 of 13 games have been on the road so far, including the road matchups against Vassar, Union and RPI. Both Clarkson and SLU are the only teams to have played 5 road league games up to this point.

Vassar so far has played only home league games, and should actually have played 5 if not for a game against Skidmore being rescheduled due to weather. Union is more tested having played and won 3 road games so far. RPI has already played 5 home league games. Hobart has been more balanced, also having been tripped up on the Vassar road trip but otherwise have taken care of business especially at home. In recent years the home and away splits in the league have been pretty severe, so we could still see some pretty significant movement in the standings. 

[UfanBill]

Union 81 - Ithaca 73...For a large portion of today's game it looked like the emotional high of beating their arch rival RPI at their place followed by the long bus ride to face tough Ithaca would be too much. With strong pressure defense and great half court offense the Bombers totally controlled the first half and led 39-32 at the break. Union looked tired and confused...I don't know what coach Chris Murphy said to his team at halftime but they came out refreshed and determined. Led by the ever hustling of Jack Plesser and the sharpshooting of Tanner Tedesco the Garnet turned up their own defense and steadily chipped away at the deficit until finally gaining the lead for the first time with 12:32 left in the game. From there it appeared it was the Bombers that tired and Union poured it on stretching their lead to 70-52 and coasting in... Plesser had 30, Tedesco 16, Matthew Garside 14 and Christian Dufort 9 for well balanced Garnet.

[Bartman]

Union 81 - Ithaca 73...For a large portion of today's game it looked like the emotional high of beating their arch rival RPI at their place followed by the long bus ride to face tough Ithaca would be too much. With strong pressure defense and great half court offense the Bombers totally controlled the first half and led 39-32 at the break. Union looked tired and confused...I don't know what coach Chris Murphy said to his team at halftime but they came out refreshed and determined. Led by the ever hustling of Jack Plesser and the sharpshooting of Tanner Tedesco the Garnet turned up their own defense and steadily chipped away at the deficit until finally gaining the lead for the first time with 12:32 left in the game. From there it appeared it was the Bombers that tired and Union poured it on stretching their lead to 70-52 and coasting in... Plesser had 30, Tedesco 16, Matthew Garside 14 and Christian Dufort 9 for well balanced Garnet.

Union has certainly earned the lead dog in the LL race after this weekend. Hobart has to travel to Ithaca this Tuesday, and hopefully we can snatch a road win to keep pace.

[NYHoopsGuru]

Great wins for Vassar over the weekend, got improved production from the bench following the Lee injury. The first road league games are going to be the real test though. Union has looked very strong and RIT is an extremely capable team, both will be tough wins for the Brewers. They'll be looking for improved offensive production from guards Shea Fitzgerald and Sebastian Medina while looking to keep up flashes of the high level defending displayed this weekend. At 0-3 in away games this year it is still left to be seen whether this group can perform on the road, this will be a make or break weekend for Vassar's chances of winning the league.