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2023-24 MBB Season

Down at the half 39-30....was close until last 2 minutes....Hornets havent played Adams, Deng or Dioramma...dont know why...looks like Deng isnt even dressed...Beatty has been the biggest surprise for me...He is thin but mixes it up real good....Moves really fluidly for a freshman 7 footer and looks like he can pass the ball pretty well....I'm actually impressed so far....this game, with a few breaks, is winnable even though we're down by 9....Patterson hasnt scored yet which shouldnt last too much longer....
 
77-63 final score...Hornets fell behind by 17 early in the second then stormed back to within 5 but pretty much ran out of energy....Bat invasion stopped play which didnt help Sac (it came when they had closed to 5) but I think it was a pretty good opener against a team that went 22-11 last year and made the Big Dance...Would have been nice to have Adams as he is our best big guard which we could have used....All 3 Aussie kids played really well...bodes well for the future
 
peegeepee said:
77-63 final score...Hornets fell behind by 17 early in the second then stormed back to within 5 but pretty much ran out of energy....Bat invasion stopped play which didnt help Sac (it came when they had closed to 5) but I think it was a pretty good opener against a team that went 22-11 last year and made the Big Dance...Would have been nice to have Adams as he is our best big guard which we could have used....All 3 Aussie kids played really well...bodes well for the future
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Good showing by the Hornets. Lots of positives to take away from this game.

63-77 Hornet loss. Hornets had a solid first half until the closing minutes. Second half start was slow and let Nevada climb out to a sizable lead until a comeback in the last 10 minutes cut the game to 6, but the Hornets couldn't close the gap. There is a clear size and talent improvement of the roster from a year ago. Duncan Powell (15 pts, 8 reb) led the Hornets in scoring with Zee Hamoda (11 pts, 3 reb) going 3/7 from 3. Austin Patterson (9 pts, 2 reb) shot 3/6 from 3.

The Hornets are at Stanford on Friday night.
 
Good first game. Also thought the three Aussie Freshman showed potential. Think our shot selection needs to improve. Too many wild three point attempts. Offense looks much like last year where we pass around the exterior and does not lead to many easy baskets. Defensively we started strong but then broke down late first half and about first ten minutes of second half until we made a run. Our defense will need a more consistent effort this season and I think we have enough talent to do so. Need to cut down on turnovers and fouls as those were a problem last year also. Hoping to see Powell be more aggressive offensively as he was the difference in our late run when he did so. We will need Betson and Holt to be better if we are to finish in upper half of the conference. I think it will take about 6 D1 games to get a good feel where most teams are with all the new players. Was not impressed with Nevada. They struggled to beat Cal State Stanislaus in their exhibition game.
 
peegeepee said:
Down at the half 39-30....was close until last 2 minutes....Hornets havent played Adams, Deng or Dioramma...dont know why...looks like Deng isnt even dressed...Beatty has been the biggest surprise for me...He is thin but mixes it up real good....Moves really fluidly for a freshman 7 footer and looks like he can pass the ball pretty well....I'm actually impressed so far....this game, with a few breaks, is winnable even though we're down by 9....Patterson hasnt scored yet which shouldnt last too much longer....
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https://hornetsports.com/news/2023/11/4/mens-basketball-preview-mens-basketball-opens-season-tuesday-at-nevada.aspx

Per the game preview article from team website:
• Forward Kiir Kiir Chol Deng (9 starts) is coming back from offseason surgery.
• Quadry Adams (1 start) is also coming back from offseason surgery.

So that's probably why Adams and Deng didn't play
 
After further thought, I think Beatty has earned a start. Even though he had 3 turnovers, most of those were on passes that were just a hair off from being a great play. Having Holt come off the bench may help him stay out of foul trouble too. Patterson needs to see the floor whether at the 2 or 3 for his D as well as his shooting. He also has a solid floor game, probably the best all around game on the team. Until Adams comes back, big point guards are going to be our problem. Betson and Nunn are both shorter than they are listed. Kovatchev looked solid on both ends which was a very nice surprise for me. Mawein had one of those games where he more or less disappears but that happened last year at times too. We know he will also have games where he is a force. Duncan was solid and I also think there is more to come from him. Zamoda seemed to be trying too hard to hit a few shots therefore questionable shot selection. I still think Nunn could end up being a steal for us as he didn't look over matched even though he was out sized by a bunch. Skytta looked nervous to me but showed some decent athleticism. I think this team has a chance to be competitive in the BSC, especially when Adams comes back. All in all, good opener for the Hornets.
 
Couple observations. Portland State may be better than projected. They are 2-0, both D1 wins, including a road win at UCSB. Watched part of the game and they looked good. Also it looks like our success could depend on how good the talent turns out in our Australian pipeline. We just signed another Aussie player for next year. Maybe the Aussie players will be less likely to transfer than their American counterparts giving them an opportunity to develop and for us to have some continuity.
 
39-47 Hornets trail Stanford at the half. This was a 1 point game with 2 minutes left. Hornets look really good tonight. Good energy, good ball movement, a few lapses on defense but they are making Stanford work for it. We'll see a lot of wins this year if they play like this every night.

73-91 Hornet loss. Stanford tightened up the perimeter defense in the 2nd half and ran away with it. Solid showing by the Hornets. There's some real talent on this team.

Zee Hamoda (21 pts, 5 reb) had a big first half but was shut down in the 2nd. Brandon Betson (17 pts) took 19 shots but only made 7 of them Duncan Powell (14 pts, 13 reb) had a strong 2nd half and Bowyn Beatty (10 pts, 3 reb) rounds out the Hornets that reached double digits. Lots of missed open 3 in the game.
 
57-92 Hornet (1-3) loss at Tulane (3-0). Hornets lost the game in the opening minutes as The Green Wave opened up on a 15-0 run. Hornets cut it to 8 with under 7 minutes to go in the first half but couldn’t keep pace as Tulane ran the Hornets off the court in the 2nd half and the Hornets turn the ball over 24 times in the game. Duncan Powell (17 pts, 13 reb) led the team in scoring and boards.

Hornets play CSU Bakersfield on Monday at the SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano. IMO, this is a must win game for DP and Co.
 
https://tulanegreenwave.com/news/2023/10/9/mens-basketball-forbes-cross-named-preseason-all-aac.aspx

Not a bad loss at least as Tulane was picked to finish third in the 2023-24 Preseason AAC Coaches Poll.

Jaylen Forbes & Kevin Cross were selected preseason All-American Athletic Conference and Forbes was the only player to earn unanimous selection on the Preseason All-AAC First Team.
 
Losing to Tulane on the road was to be expected. It was how they lost that was disappointing. Reminiscent of last year where the team showed a lack of effort on defense and way too many turnovers. The shot selection needs to improve. Way too many ill advised three point attempts. Betson needs to eliminate the 25-30 footers and Kovatchev needs to stop shooting threes. The next three games will be an important test to see if this team has potential as the opponents will be at our level.
 
Hornets blew a double digit lead in the last 9 or so minutes of the CSU Bakersfield game this afternoon, losing 75-71.

I think they went scoreless for about 7 minutes...
 
Kadeezy said:
Hornets blew a double digit lead in the last 9 or so minutes of the CSU Bakersfield game this afternoon, losing 75-71.

I think they went scoreless for about 7 minutes...
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Absolutely pathetic loss. Bako isn't a good team and they won points in the paint 42-16. Given this loss to an average at best team on a neutral court, hard to expect many wins this season. Very disappointing.
 
Not able to watch so I followed the live stats stream. Based on the stats it appears too many turnovers and defense let the team down again. Will have another opportunity to improve on Wednesday vs Austin Peay at noon.
 
The Hornets go 0-3 in the SoCal challenge, losing ugly again. They were up double digits in the second half, still lost 74-71.
 
If they are not able to cut down the turnovers and improve the defense it will be a challenging season. Will be interesting to see if Davis begins the game in a press. We were in total control at halftime last year and then Davis came out in a press and ran away with the game. I think this years team will also struggle if teams choose to pressure and trap the ball. We should have some size advantages vs Davis and I would like to see us explore that rather than cast threes. I think Powell needs to get more shots. He is a tough matchup and only had five attempts today.
 
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