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Hornets vs. Vikings 2-fer

SDHornet

SDHornet

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Staff member
The Hornets travel to Portland this weekend and then host PSU Thursday of next week. I trolled the PSU fan board and it sounds like they are having some health issues on their team. That would explain why PSU dropped 4 of their last 5 games, 1 of the losses was at home. Forward Tapscott (11.7 ppg and 8.2 rpg) is out with a knee injury and center Lozeau (6.3 ppg and 2.5 rpg) has an ankle injury but might be ready for next week’s game. Guard Harriel is their go to guy and is averaging 14.8 ppg, guard Odum is another big contributor who is averaging 14.4 ppg, and guard Jones is averaging 11.1 ppg. With Tapscott and Lozeau out, their big man duties will fall to forward Thomas who averages 8.3 ppg and guard/forward Guede with 4.2 ppg.

With their injuries to their main contributing big men, I’d look for Katz to feed Dickson early and often and let him do his “thang” all night long. Also with Duro, Alpha, and McCarver pounding away at the post, the Hornets should be able to out rebound the Vikes and wear them down inside. Since they seem to be short on bodies, maybe a full court press can be used for much of the game to wear down their guards and make them work for their points. It looks like the Hornets caught the Vikings at the right time as they seem to be in a funk coupled with health issues.

I’ll be at the bars drinking my face in for my birthday so I’ll miss this game which based on the ISU game and williestarbuck’s “don’t mess with a streak” mentality bodes well for the Hornets. :P
 
Happy Birthday, SDH. You're not missing anything tonight. The Vikings have hit 8 of 17 three's and we've made one for 9 and that pretty much sums it up. They lead 42 to 24 at the half. Not only can't we shoot, we've made a lot of bad passes and the "D" is no where to be found. N'Diaye's in foul trouble again with 3 and Dickson has only 2 free throws. We're playing as poorly as Idaho St did in their first half against us on Thursday. Toles-Bey has 8 on 3 lay ups and 2 frees. We've got to wake up to even make it look close.
 
The Hornets came from 18 down at the half to make it close at the end, losing 86 to 80 to the Vikings. The Hornests came out gang busters and scored 7 unanswered in the 2nd half, but then PSU scored 7 straight. We got it down to 9 points with 5 1/2 to go, but they got it back up to 14 w/4 to go and they led by 11 w/just over 2 minutes left.

The Hornets had two chances to get it down to 3, but a T/O by Hoffman with two guys out front for us and then Toles-Bey missed a contested lay up after a steal w/45 seconds left and that did it. Toles-Bey was 9 for 9 on free throws, I think. Their center, Tree Thomas, had a career high by 11 with 29 points. He killed us in the 2nd half scoring 19! Jackson played very well for the Hornets getting several put backs and dunks for a career high too with either 14 or 16. Toles-Bey got 18, Dickson 11 and Duro 10, if I got it right.

I think we could beat these guys at the Hornets Nest this coming Thursday, but we can't let them get an 18 point lead in the first half again. We beat them in the 2nd half, 56 to 44.
 
Thanks for the birthday wishes and summary TGH. The Hornets have been on a roll and I didn’t expect them to go back to their old ways of falling behind big early. That’s disappointing and it means the Hornets will probably not win a game on the road this year. Looking at the box score the Hornets shot decently from the floor except from 3 and made 21 of 23 FT’s (91.3%). Like you said, PSU shot very well from 3 point range and was 12 of 27 (44.4%) which seems to be the difference in this one. If the Hornets can find some defense, they should be able to beat PSU next week.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101291033

There are a bunch of teams with 4 BSC wins and NAU is at 3 so not all is lost. We need EWU to beat ISU and NAU, both of those games are road games for EWU. But most importantly the Hornets need to find some wins and the only likely candidates are PSU and NAU at this point. With UNC losing to Weber, they will have to get it together to secure the regular season championship. We face UNC in the last game so I am hoping they have the conference locked up by then and they might rest their starters for the final game of the regular season.
 
NAU DESTROYED UNC last night 65-54 which further separates the Hornets from a BSC Tournament bid. Looks like UNC will be scrambling now. I watched much of the second half and NAU just owned them. It wasn’t even as close as the score indicates.
 
SDHornet said:
NAU DESTROYED UNC last night 65-54 which further separates the Hornets from a BSC Tournament bid. Looks like UNC will be scrambling now. I watched much of the second half and NAU just owned them. It wasn’t even as close as the score indicates.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's not good. We need to win out and EWU cannot win anymore. I don't think ISU is going to win no more than two more games.
 
The game got off to a slow start. The refs called a bunch of fouls early. The Hornets are getting a lot of good looks in the paint and getting points. The defense looks ok, PSU already connected on a 3.
8-5 Hornets with 15:39 left in the 1st.

14-13 Hornets with 11:49 left in the 1st. PSU is on fire from 3 point range again but just picked up a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk. Hornets have great ball movement and are still getting easy points inside. Hornets are struggling from the FT line.

20-17 Hornets with 7:42 left in the first. The Hornets stopped attacking the paint and are paying for it. The Hornets have been passing it around the perimeter and heaving up a long shot before the shot clock expires. Groom is in the game and drives the lane and scores and then takes a seat on the bench.

24-19 Hornets 3:53 left in the 1st. Hornets are getting a lot of points on second chances off of missed long shots. They are winning the rebound battle. Groom back in for Carbajal. Duro is killing us, he needs to be benched. Hoffman is constantly getting burned off the dribble; he will be a defensive liability down the stretch.

33-25 Hornets with 56 seconds left in the 1st. PSU has matched the Hornets poor effort from the FT line. Duro picks up a technical for bitching about a clean rejection on one of his wac drives in the lane. Well done. Hornets are really struggling from 3 point range but Hoffman has nailed 2 of them. Hornets led by as much as 8.

33-28 Hornets lead at halftime. PSU buries a 3 in their last possession of the half. Hornets have owned the boards but really need to pick up their shooting if they want to hold on to this one. JFC Katz had no plan for the Hornets coming out of a timeout in their last possession of the half. SMFH.

37-34 Hornets with 17 minutes left. PSU switched to a 2-3 zone and the Hornets have struggled to get it in the paint. Thomas has gone on a tear in the paint for PSU.

40-36 Hornets with 15:48 left. TB drained a 3 and PSU was called for an offensive foul.

43-42 Hornet lead with 11:38 left. The passes to feed Alpha in the paint have been poor and PSU has scooped up some easy turnovers. Alpha picked up his 3rd foul on a hand check near mid court. He needs to be smarter than that. PSU continues to drain the 3’s and get a lot of dribble drive penetration. I see a lot of Hornets standing around on the offensive end. It’s almost as if they fell asleep. PSU is just outplaying the Hornets now.

46-43 PSU with 10:15 left. PSU is on the verge of running away with this one. Katz has no answer for the 2-3 zone and the Hornets are getting destroyed by penetration and the kickout 3. PSU has drawn a lot of fouls as well.

50-48 Hornets with 6:42 left. Dickson picks up his 3rd foul on PSU penetration. PSU still struggling from the FT line which is keeping this one close. Duro drains a 3 to give the Hornets a lead again. This is going to be a close one, the Hornets have waken up.

56-53 Hornets lead with 4:54 left. Duro battles hard for a layup inside. Carbajal drains a 3! PSU’s Nelson answers with a wide open 3.

59-55 Hornet lead with 2:43 left. Carbajal drains another 3! Then the Hornets get slap happy and continue jacking up 3’s instead of running some clock.


Fvck! Why is TB dishing the ball instead of breaking the full court press! He knows he is our only good ball handler! Then on the next possession they don’t even get a shot off. God this is aggravating. Great Hornet D but the Hornets have had a bunch of killer turnovers. PSU is fouling now. It all comes down to FT’s. TB at the line and only makes only makes on. 60-55 with 39 seconds left.

Hornet rebound has iced this one. TB at the line again and drains them both 62-55 21 seconds left. PSU misses again and Dickson is fouled with 10.8 seconds. Hornets look like they have this one in the bag. He makes one, 63-55 with 10 seconds left.

63-55 Hornets win! The Hornets make nothing look easy. I'm exhausted...
 
Good win. I'm not sure we get the last playoff spot but if we can keep this kind of play up next year would look promising. What we've lacked all year is a point guard who can drive the ball to the basket. No disrespect to STB, but he's not that kind of guard. I like his grit, but a true point guard will give the offense a dimension we haven't had. Dixon is becoming to be a man and Duro was a senior tonight. There was a spell of about 5 minutes late in the 2nd half where he just stood up big (I'm gonna miss that dude).

I haven't seen enough of Groom's game to know if he's the one (he gets an 80 rating out of HS and gets no minutes on this team--that amazes me!). We don't pick and roll because that's not STB's game. I think Groom and Duro could run that well, Groom and Dixon too. So much is missing on the offensive end. No one drives into the defense, no pick and roll, no back door cuts. I do like how Katz uses Dixon vs zone defenses though.

We have 5 very tough conference games remaining and if we can find 2 wins in there somewhere, I'd be pleased with the way we finish and would look forward to next season.
 
I agree. Duro started the night on a bad note but really came through in the end. The huge 3 to get the Hornets back on track and then that beastly effort under the hoop to muscle in that layup with about 3 guys hanging off of him and then the numerous rebounds he pulled down. It was a huge way to recover and contribute to the victory.

Too many times a Hornet guard would start to drive but then pick up their dribble near the top of the key and get stuck. Also there were many times Hoffman or Carbajal sliced into the paint but would just dribble it back out into the backcourt instead of making a play to the basket. There is no killer instinct in any of the guards that see playing time. I am baffled by Katz’ management of Groom; it really leaves me speechless. Groom could very well create a spark off the bench and is a lot quicker off the ball than Hoffman or Carbajal. Groom is just not seeing enough playing time to make a difference in these games. Groom is missing out on crucial development time he will need for next season when he presumably takes over at point.

We have a tough Montana road trip next week but I think we will have a chance at MSU if the Hornets are on their game. MSU has not lived up to their full potential this season. MSU got destroyed at NAU tonight 61-41, travel to WSU on Saturday and host a tough UNC squad the week we head to Bozeman. We host NAU and WSU the week after the braketbuster and both of those teams have struggled on the road. Again the Hornets will have to have good games, but wins at home against NAU and/or WSU is not inconceivable. EWU is at ISU Saturday and a win there would put them 2 wins ahead of us.
 
SD: Before I left for my men's group meeting last night, your updates were indicating that we were well on the way to choking the game away. In your assessment, what changed? Was it just free throws? Did PSU choke? Or did our guys just turn it back on?
 
PSU had all the momentum and the Hornets went cold from the floor. I got really nervous when the Hornets started having trouble breaking the full court press. It really showed the lack of ball handling skills this team has. PSU constantly hit 3’s but struggled at the FT line which allowed it to be about even for a few minutes. Then the Hornets hit some timely 3’s and stepped up their defense and continued to dominate the glass. I think there was a string of about 2 or 3 straight PSU possessions around the 5 minute mark where the Hornets blocked the shot off of the dribble drive in the lane and recovered the loose ball. The Hornets stepped up to the occasion and pulled out the win. It was a gutsy performance that they should be proud of.
  • • PSU: 18/54 (35.3%) from the floor; 8/22 (36.4%) from 3; 11/19 (57.9%) from FT and lost the rebound battle by 20.
    • Hornets: 21/59 (35.6%) from the floor; 7/26 (26.9%) from 3; 14/24 (58.3%) from FT and 18 of their 48 rebounds were on the offensive glass. Steals, blocks, assists, turnovers, and fouls called were all about even.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201102030494
 
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