The ISU men open their exhibition season on Friday night against Montana Tech, and it should be a great opportunity to test out Bill Evans' new "small ball," fast-paced approach. The Ore Diggers have won their first four games of the year by an average score of 97-80, so they should be willing accomplices to Evans' desire to get up and down the floor more quickly this season.
I went to practice a couple of weeks ago, and I can tell you Bill's desire to run is no idle threat. They ran a ton of drills designed to get the ball up the floor quickly, and then scrimmaged, pushing the ball on every possession. So we should see plenty of offense vs. the Ore Diggers Friday night.
Montana Tech is led by 5-9 guard Jalen Coates from Sacramento, who is averaging 22 points a game, hitting 67 percent from the floor and 60 percent (9 of 15) from three-point range. 6-7 Paul Engstrom is averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds a game.
As a team, Tech is shooting 50 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3, is plus 12 in rebounding, and plus 3.5 in turnover margin. The Ore Diggers swept two-game series against Concordia University of Edmonton, and Northwest Indian College. Not great competition, obviously, but Northwest Indian College made 10 of 16 treys against them, so that will be a standard ISU can aspire to in this game.
The Bengals are going to have to shoot well because, frankly, they are not very big and don't have much inside firepower. Ethan Telfair, who is listed at 6 foot, is probably 5-9 in reality, and Clint Nwosuh and Ali Furuq-bey, the two likely starting wings are just a shade over 6 feet. Novak Topalovic is a legitimate 7 footer and he runs the court well, but he's thin as a rail and has a long way to go from a skills perspective. In the brief sampling I had, I really like Stephen Lennox, the 6-8 freshman from New Mexico, but as Bill Evans tells us often, it's hard for true freshmen to come in and make an impact immediately.
It's always fun to get the basketball season rolling, hope you all come out to Reed Friday night to see the debut of "small ball." Should be a fun one.
I went to practice a couple of weeks ago, and I can tell you Bill's desire to run is no idle threat. They ran a ton of drills designed to get the ball up the floor quickly, and then scrimmaged, pushing the ball on every possession. So we should see plenty of offense vs. the Ore Diggers Friday night.
Montana Tech is led by 5-9 guard Jalen Coates from Sacramento, who is averaging 22 points a game, hitting 67 percent from the floor and 60 percent (9 of 15) from three-point range. 6-7 Paul Engstrom is averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds a game.
As a team, Tech is shooting 50 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3, is plus 12 in rebounding, and plus 3.5 in turnover margin. The Ore Diggers swept two-game series against Concordia University of Edmonton, and Northwest Indian College. Not great competition, obviously, but Northwest Indian College made 10 of 16 treys against them, so that will be a standard ISU can aspire to in this game.
The Bengals are going to have to shoot well because, frankly, they are not very big and don't have much inside firepower. Ethan Telfair, who is listed at 6 foot, is probably 5-9 in reality, and Clint Nwosuh and Ali Furuq-bey, the two likely starting wings are just a shade over 6 feet. Novak Topalovic is a legitimate 7 footer and he runs the court well, but he's thin as a rail and has a long way to go from a skills perspective. In the brief sampling I had, I really like Stephen Lennox, the 6-8 freshman from New Mexico, but as Bill Evans tells us often, it's hard for true freshmen to come in and make an impact immediately.
It's always fun to get the basketball season rolling, hope you all come out to Reed Friday night to see the debut of "small ball." Should be a fun one.
