MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[sac]

The ending was disappointing but that was a mostly young team losing but almost getting away with a "get in the weightroom game".  WW bullied their way to 18 offensive rebounds and 27 second chance points a 15 point difference to Hope's efforts.

There in lies the loss.


Not by coincidence WW won their last game by 4 over Carroll with 20 offensive rebounds. 

[goodknight]

Calvin 87
Wilmington 78

Overway 25 points and 18 rebounds
Winkle 19
Scott 15

Next up, the Knights face undefeated Mount Union in the finale of the M Club Classic Tournament at Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. 

[goodknight]

Calvin drops a wild and wooly one in Alliance, Ohio, to still-undefeated Mount Union, 78-72. The Knights controlled the floor most of the first half and the opening minutes of the second half. But Mount Union used a 10-0 run in the first half to stay within reach, and a soul-crushing 20-0 run in the middle of the second half to take command. Despite committing 19 turnovers, the Knights battled back to draw within two points in the final minute. But Mount Union was nearly flawless from the charity stripe today (29-33) to seal the win and move to 13-0 on the season.
The Knights were led by Jalen Overway with another double-double (26 points and 11 boards). Luka Ressler stoked the late comeback bid with 15 points, all from distance. Jordan Scott added 13 and Parker Swartz contributed 11 points. Calvin is now idle until the MIAA opener versus Alma on Jan. 7.

[sac]

WashU 72 Hope 65 F


Sort of a strange game, Washu could have burried Hope very deeply in the 2nd half, but an 0-11  half from behind the 3pt line after 5-9 first half kept Hope within reach for a portion of the game.  A decent Hope run saw them just 4 down with 7:30 to play but that was quickly put back to 10.  Hope got it back to within two possessions but far to little time to play. 

However this game was there for the taking for Hope largely because WashU couldn't hit Lake Michigan from the 3 point line in the second half.  But Hope just wasn't able to shoot the ball well enough from anywhere.  They were able to compete with a much much taller and bigger WashU squad on Hope's offensive glass and generated 22 more FG attempts.

WashU started 6-3, 6-6, 6-6, 6-6, 6-8 first guy off the bench was 6-8.  And the 6-3 guy was taller than the "6-3" Hope guy guarding him.  Ridiculous.  Good team, gonna be a tough out in the NCAA tournament, think they lack a little athleticism, but they probably should have won this by 20.


I don't have an answer for Hope's shooting but its the whole point of the game and Hope's not very good at it right now.



Olivet 87 Muskingum 70  F

I walked in at halftime and the Comets led 55-32.  Muskies made a nice rally got it under double digits a couple times but Olivet hung on for the win.  Comets had some more size and at least equal quickness, Robinson was probably the difference maker.  A nice win for Olivet and the MIAA, Muskingum was 10-1 coming in.

[monsoon]

Thanks for the recaps, sac.

[pointlem]

Hope ends its pre-league schedule with a disappointing four-loss streak, albeit this weekend without the contributions of center Kyle Blauch (hopefully returning soon from a reported back issue). On the down side, last year's shooting woes endure, with a team 26% 3-point average (compared to opponents' 36%). As expected, frosh contributors Cargill and Sanchez have helped, with their combined 38% on 3-pointers . . . but with their teammates making but 19 of 106 (18%).

The better news is that Hope has, according to Massey, faced the 10th toughest schedule so far among 409 DIII teams (with Olivet playing the 6th toughest schedule). Moreover, thanks to energetic defense, they have been competitive in every game against top competition. If scheduling quality competition is good preparation for what follows, then Hope and Olivet should be well prepared for what's to come.

And if that shooting can now improve . . .

[sac]

Its probably a pretty tight 3 team battle between Hope, Olivet, Albion for 3rd, 4th, 5th.

Depending on how things go, Trine might get dragged back into that as well.  Hope will probably be in a battle on most nights.  Calvin should probably win it comfortably



Back on Hope, struggling a little bit with outside shooting is now a several years thing but 32% is surprisingly about the d3 average.  You can see they're way below avg this year

22--32%
23--31%
24--32%
25--31%
26--26%

its not like they don't know it, attempts are way down, they've typically hit 600 attempts in a season comfortably, they're on pace for around 400.



For a couple years they were also a negative turnover team meaning they turned it over more frequently than their opponent.  Turnover margin -1 last year.  I believe they've turned that around quite nicely but still probably don't create enough turnovers themselves.  This year almost +3.


Defensive and rebounding stats are not good either, but also maybe a product of a tougher schedule.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So as a league, we finished the non-con portion of the schedule at 38-48 (vs D3).   

Record vs:

OAC: 8-8
HCAC: 7-6
NACC: 6-4
NCAC: 6-8
PAC: 4-3
WIAC: 3-3
CCIW: 1-6
SCAC: 1-1
CCS: 1-0
ODAC: 1-0
MWC: 0-1
ARC: 0-1
C2C: 0-1
NWC: 0-2
UAA: 0-4

[Flying Dutch Fan]

       ...and so it begins!!!  D3 Datacast (Knightslappy) predictions for tonight:

Trine 73 @ Hope 72
Albion 70 @ Olivet 73
Alma 53 @ Calvin 84
Kalamazoo 82 @ Adrian 90

[KnightSlappy]

I will take Hope, Olivet, Alma, and Kalamazoo against those shaky lines. 

[oldknight]

The Alma/Calvin game had a weird start, with the Knights seemingly ready to run away with it, forging an early 17-3 lead over a Scots team that seemed overmatched early on. But the visitors then righted the ship with an 18-3 run of their own to take a 21-20 lead. The rest of the half was back and forth with Calvin ahead 40-38 going into the locker room. Calvin never trailed the second half, but didn't really start to take full control until only 8 minutes were left in a 66-60 game. At that point, the Knights scored 11 straight over the next 3 minutes to salt it away. Winkle was terrific all night long and finished with 20, as did Jordan Scott, with Jalen Overway netting 18 and grabbing 17 rebounds. Korbin Heitzman was terrific for Alma, played the full 40 minutes, scored a game-high 25 and snared 13 boards. Overall, the game struck me as an inconsistent 91-78 victory for Calvin, but a win is a win.

[pointlem]

Hope seems to relish close, exciting games . . . with 10 of their last 11 games going down to the last minute, as they either claw back from behind or (as last night, after multiple errant passes) see a double digit lead evaporate. Last night Hope's 7 point, lead with 90 seconds left, came scarily close to defeat... as Trine, down one in the closing seconds, rebounded a missed free throw with a chance at a winning basket (with Hope fans experiencing deja vu of the Whitewater loss).

If experience playing under pressure helps (not sure it does), Hope players are well prepared for more such.

[FyteOnne]

As some of you may realize, this is Kresge Gymnasium's centennial season!

One hundred years ago today, on January 8, 1926, Albion men's basketball beat Olivet 31-20 in the first ever event held in Kresge.

I think a win last night would have been a fitting celebration, but I'll also be glad to celebrate with some wins IN Kresge.  Maybe even against Olivet, once we've figured out the size mismatch.

Happy birthday to Michigan's oldest (and best) active intercollegiate athletic facility!