M: vs Idaho State & Weber State

[SDHornet]

M: vs Idaho State
The Hornets (7-7, 0-3 BSC) host Idaho State (6-9, 1-2 BSC) in the Nest tonight. The Bengals struggled earlier in the season but won 3 of their last 5, all of which were at home. Their lone road win was over a month ago at Portland (66-65).

The Bengals have 3 players that average over 12 ppg. A trio of guards are the engine of this team. Ethan Telfair (16.9 ppg, 4.9 apg, 3.3 rpg), Ali Faruq-Bey (14.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg) and Geno Luzcando (12.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg). In the past, ISU runs a lot of zone defense but I haven’t seen ISU play this season so I am not sure if that is still the case.

Comparison: Hornets - Bengals
Points/Game: 73.4 – 73.5
Rebounds/Game: 36.8 – 34.7
Assists/Game: 15.1 – 12.2
Turnovers/Game: 12.1 – 14.0
Points Allowed/Game: 70.7 – 79.2

These teams are fairly even from a statistical standpoint. The Hornets need to take care of business at home and get a conference win. There is no reason why this struggling Hornet team should be overlooking the Bengals. IMO this is a must win, and a loss here means the regular season can pretty much be written off.

 

[mattman_121]

Going into the season I thought we would start conference play 1-2 or 0-3 so this is not time to panic at all in my mind. The back half of the season is when the schedule opens up and it is now time to take care of business with these three home games. Sac State has won ten in a row at home in Big Sky conference play and I think that trend continues.

Sac State needs to pound the ball inside as well as get to the free throw line on Idaho St, they like to play small lineups and have zero rim protection.

Telfair has been really hot lately and he will be the main focus on the defensive end of the floor. He struggled a little bit early in the season, but has come on strong. In his last four games he 37/23/15/19 points while attempting 44 free throws during that span. Keep him off the line and he becomes a volume shooter. He does have 5 turnovers in the last two games so hopefully the pressure defense returns.

Coming off the long Montana trip as well as the trip to Portland the return home is great, but the Hornets have often struggled in the first half of their first game home coming off a long road trip. Also, keep in mind that Weber State is next so looking at to that game is a possibility. Simply showing up won't get you a win tonight.

Feels like this could be a serious nail bitter or an absolute blowout and no in between.

 

[SDHornet]

Good run down mattman, and I agree. Hornets need to get after it tonight. I think it'll be close, especially if they play small. In earlier games this season against smaller lineups I've seen, the Hornets tend to go into 3 point shot mode instead of pounding it inside. That doesn't play into this rosters' strength.

However I think it is panic time if we drop this game tonight. The Hornets aren't beating Weebs on Saturday...at least not how the Hornets have been playing the last few games. I don't see a way out of an 0-5 start.

 

[mattman_121]

Demps is questionable for Sac State (quad) and Faruq-Bey is questionable for Idaho State (shoulder).

 

[sacstateman]

Demps didn't play but the Hornets were good enough to beat ISU 82-71...Faruq-Bey didn't play either but that gave their freshman Chivichyan more minutes to bomb away from behind the arc...he was 7-17 but that was about all he can do, bombs away....Telfair had to earn every point he got as Graves, Barlett and Wu made it tough for him to dominate the way he has some earlier BSC games....We shot the ball pretty well and shot FT's excellent....dominated the boards but had way too many turnovers...TO's kept ISU in the game...good to get in the win column...now we have to play our very best to get by Weber but it is not undoable....Weber is not unbeatable, but they are very good....Sure would be nice to get Demps back for this one....

 

[SDHornet]

Yup. Ugly first half but good to see the Hornets get a much needed win. Graves played very hesitantly. The offense as a whole wasn’t as aggressive as it needed to be against ISU’s zone. The Hornets seemed to be content passing the ball around the perimeter and then taking a hurried shot in the closing seconds of the shot clock. This allowed ISU to take chances and jump some passes for some easy steals. The Hornets should have gone inside more to ES, Hornsby and Strings, the Hornets had a big advantage down low last night.

Fortunately Barlett had a career night (18 pts, 8 boards, all scoring was in the 2nd half and he had a huge 4 point play as well) that propelled this team to victory. Strings and Hornsby both posted double doubles and as a whole the team played a lot better on offense in the 2nd half. Solid FT shooting, but the perimeter defense was not good throughout the game. The Hornets will have to play a lot better to have a shot against Weebs.

 

[sacstateman]

The only difference I have with your take SD is on the perimeter defense....ISU shot only 31% from beyond the arc (10-32) which is not too bad...yes, they got off a lot of 3's but they are an offense that lives and dies on the 3 pt shot...on the season they have made 35% with 8.3 makes per game, so we actually kept them from their averages..not a GREAT defensive effort but not too bad either...

 

[SDHornet]

I know opponent 3-point percentage is low, but every time the Hornets make a 3 in a crucial point in the game, the opposing team seems to come right down and answer from long range.

M: vs Weber State

The Hornets (7-7, 1-3 BSC) host Weber State (12-5, 4-0 BSC) in the Nest tonight. The Wildcats had some struggles on the road in non-conference play but have since won 7 straight, including their first 4 BSC games. This team is hot right now.

To nobody’s surprise, Jeremy Senglin (18.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.9 apg) and Joel Bolomboy (18.2 ppg, 13.7 rpg) are crushing it for WSU this season. Bolomboy has pulled down a double-double in almost every game this season. These two are carrying the Wildcats as the production numbers drop off quite a bit for everyone else.

Comparison: Hornets - Wildcats
Points/Game: 73.9 – 80.4
Rebounds/Game: 37.1 – 39.8
Assists/Game: 15.1 – 15.1
Turnovers/Game: 12.4 – 12.5
Points Allowed/Game: 70.7 – 66.6

Considering how the Hornets have played over the last few weeks, I don’t think this game will be close and I expect WSU to run the Hornets off the floor. Unless the Hornets can get either of these guys (preferably Bolomboy) into foul trouble, I don’t see how the Hornets can hang with WSU.

 

[sacstateman]

It will be an uphill struggle for the Hornets to beat Weber but I think it can be done....Weber has only won 1 game in the opponents home gym all season (at Portland St)....Senglin and Bolomboy are the key players but I also feel if we can get McCay Cannon on the bench it will help us because Senglin and Weber is much better with him playing the 2 guard position...if Cannon goes out, Senglin moves to the point where he tends to lower his head and drive which is bad for Weber....Of course, if Demps plays, our chances go up also....this is why they play the games....

 

[sacstateman]

Well we didn't win but I don't feel too bad about the way the Hornets played..they played hard all night, but couldn't overcome the loss of Demps..with Cody we may have won this game but our young guys are getting some good experience during his absence...Graves, Strings, Hornsby and Wu all had pretty good games, we just couldn't seem to get over the hump...

 

[SDHornet]

85-74 loss. Scrappy game played by the Hornets. Difference was perimeter shooting. Weber didn't miss many of theirs (11/22), and the Hornets couldn't make any (2/10). Great effort by the Hornets. Strings is the best player on the team.

Hornets get a quick rematch with PSU next Saturday.

 

[sacstateman]

I believe one of the problems we have had this year is directly a product of Demps being injured...Graves started the year at the 2 guard but when Demps went down he was forced to play the point...hard for a player who was barely getting his D1 feet wet (had played about 6-8 games as Demps played several games after the initial injury) to suddenly be asked to change roles and carry the leadership of the team (whether that was the intent or not I believe Marcus felt that way)...last night, he started at the point but he also played the 2 spot quite a bit and seemed to get his offense going when not asked to facilitate the offense...D1 basketball is hard enough on a sophomore without having to switch roles early in his playing career...Marcus is an extremely talented player and he will find the happy medium between aggressive offense and distributing the ball...last night I think we saw the beginning of this...I wouldn't mind seeing more of Jiday playing the point to allow Marcus to play the 2 more...I think Jiday adds defense with his quickness and he is a very good shooter and slasher to apply some pressure to defenses also...it's going to be tough to fill Cody's shoes (we won't completely fill them) but I think we're getting better at playing without him...