NAU @ Sac

[SDHornet]

The Hornets will be looking to find a way into the BSC Tournament with 3 games left in the season. NAU comes to The Nest on a 2 game win streak. NAU has struggled on the road in BSC play so they could very well have some struggles this week. NAU is 4th in the nation in FG % and 9th in the nation in assists per game. The Hornets are going to have to have an incredible night if they want to pull the upset.

Statistic Leaders

• • Cameron Jones, PG: 19.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.1 apg, 46.5-FG%, 45.2-3%, 78.4-FT%
  • Rogers, G: 12.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.6 apg, 44.4-FG%, 48.9-3%, 74.5-FT%
  • Johannsen, F: 10.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 73.4-FG%, 57.8-FT%
  • Platt, G: 9.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.4, apg, 45.9-FG%, 45.2-3%, 66.7-FT%
  • Saldivar, G: 4.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.8 apg, 41.9-FG%, 27.8-3%, 81.5-FT%

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/2464/northern-arizona-lumberjacks

NAU is a deep and talented team. I don’t know why they have struggled so much on the road as they have a lot of experienced players. The Hornets will need to come out playing well and find a way to slow the NAU shooting down. This game doesn’t look good for the Hornets, but anything can happen if they limit turnovers and shoot the ball well.

Hornetsports preview:
http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/mbball/release.asp?release_id=9418

 

[mt jack]

If the Hornets win the rebounds (and "hustle" points) and NAU's season long free throw shooting struggles continue, well, anything can happen. From what I've watched on bigskytv.com this year, the Hornets have improved. NAU has definitely struggled on the road this season and I'm a firm believe that in this conference, anything can happen. Looking forward to watching tonight's game and I'm happy the Hornets fan base that things are starting to look up a bit. I remember what being a Lumberjacks basketball fan was like before Howland and Adras were coaching in Flagstaff...it was a tough go.

 

[williestarbuck]

I'm looking forward to this one. I think our best line up vs NAU is Duro, Alpha, Dickson, Jackson and STB and match up Dickson-Jones, Jackson-Rogers, Alpha-Plat, Duro-Johannsen, and STB-Saldivar and start with a tight man defense. Hopeful Dickson and Jackson's height and length would bother Jones and Rogers a bit. Alpha's length can bother Platt, but I think Platt can beat Alpha off the dribble. Duro will match up well size wise with Johannsen.

I wouldn't let Jones or Rogers beat me. We have to give them different looks defensively like sending another guy to Jones when he puts it on the floor or having Hoffman play physical with him. They are my biggest concerns but I know anyone of the 4 can have a big game.

You're right, they have struggled on the road, especially in the Sky. But they did beat Poly. We need to rebound, especially offensively. I think 2nd chance points will be big for us, we have to go to the line and we MUST keep turnovers down.

If that happens, we might have a chance.

 

[SDHornet]

Pretty good crowd on hand at The Nest. TB, Jackson, Carbajal, Alpha, and Dickson are the starters for the Hornets.

NAU comes out on fire and the Hornets come out playing like we are use to seeing…which isn’t a good thing. Carbajal with a turnover. Another turnover. Katz with a quick timeout. 4-0 NAU.

NAU can’t miss. The Hornets have opened with their typical boring perimeter passing attack and have nothing to show for it. Another turnover by the Hornets. 8-0 NAU with 15:42 left. Jackson heading to the line. Hornets need to show up or this will be a laugher.

Jackson makes one. Duro drills a 3. Then drops a pass right in his hands for an easy layup. Hoffman drills a 3. TB and Jackson miss on a alley-oop. NAU turns it over. Duro with a nice dribble drive against Johannsen. 9-8 Hornets, hell of a rally and a nice 9-0 run. Dickson misses a 3, bad shot he should have drove to the hoop, he was undefended. NAU turnover.
9-8 Hornets with 11:58 left.

Duro drains a fade away 3 with an NAU guy hanging all over him. NAU finally scores. Nice give and go with Alpha and Hoffman and Hoffman draws a foul. Now both teams have gone cold. Jesus, another Hornet turnover. Alpha is sucking it up from close. Neither team is getting any offensive boards. Dickson bricks another wide open 3. He really needs to drive to the hoop when he is standing alone with no one in front of him. Carbajal commits about his 5th turnover. His ball handling is beyond terrible. Dickson follows a Carbajal miss with a layup. 15-14 NAU with 6:29 left. It’s a sloppy game that definitely favors the Hornets.

Groom is in and is called for a charge. NAU scores and easy bucket. TB is rejected on his drive to the hoop, Groom goes to the bench. Hoffman draws a foul. Duro takes one to the hoop. A clear mismatch there, Hornets need to keep doing that. Hornets with a steal. Alpha scores 18-17 Sac. NAU answers with a 3 in transition. Duro with a travel inside.
20-18 NAU with 3:24 left in the 1st.

NAU drills a shot. Rak is in and just got rejected by Johannsen. Hoffman, Rak, and Carbajal are in; I’ve never seen so many white people on the floor at once in my short history of Hornet hoops. This can’t end good. Hoffman air balls on a 3. NAU ball. Johannsen with an easy bucket, Katz needs a timeout. Hornets went cold to end the half and NAU finished strong. It’s a low scoring game which is good for the Hornets, but the Hornets have had a very sloppy game.
26-18 NAU half. NAU finished on a 9-0 run. Aside from that run, the Hornet D has been all over the court giving NAU problems.

EWU leading MSU 34-29 at half.

NAU opens with a missed shot. Jackson drills a shot in the paint. Alpha gets his token goaltend for the game. Duro fouled inside. Hornets keep the ball. Hoffman misses a pullup shot. NAU drains a deep 2. NAU lead is 10. Offensive foul on Alpha. NAU misses and Hoffman is fouled dribbling it up court. Alpha with a nice drive and Jackson tips in the put back. Johannsen answers. Duro misses a layup. NAU with an easy bucket. NAU looking to put this one away. TB airballs a weak floater.
34-22 NAU with 15:48 left. Hornets need to go on a run to have a chance. Their offense has been pathetic so far.

Dickson with a drive and a layup. NAU turnover. Give and go with TB and Alpha for an Alpha dunk. Dickson takes another poor shot, then the Hornets get a steal and Carbajal squanders a 3 on 1 opportunity with a missed 3. NAU burns the Hornets on a backdoor cut for an easy basket. Dickson is fouled. TB misses his second shot. NAU heading to the FT line. They drill them both. TB gets stripped and NAU cashes in for a bucket. Then Duro is stripped but NAU turns it back over.
40-26 NAU with 11:55 left. I think this one is in the bag for NAU, they have the Hornets figured out and Katz had made no adjustments to get back in the game.

 

[williestarbuck]

We're missing open looks everytime down. Amazing how we can play in this gym like it's our 1st time being in it. Sad and fraustrating.

 

[SDHornet]

We're missing open looks everytime down. Amazing how we can play in this gym like it's our 1st time being in it. Sad and fraustrating.

Exactly. No excuse to play this shitty in the last few games of the season.

TB airmails a pass for a turnover. He has been nonexistent tonight. TB drives the length of the court and makes a layup. Nice play, I hope this gets him going. NAU answers with a 3. TB with a nice feed to Duro inside who draws a foul. Duro head to the line.
43-28 NAU with 10:06 left. Hornets need a miracle.

Duro drains both FT’s. Groom is in and commits a foul. Groom drives and gets a shot to fall. Nice play. Hornets pressing and NAU draws a shooting foul.
43-32 NAU with 9:04 left, NAU heading to the line after the timeout.

NAU drills them both. Dickson turns it over. He was doubled and didn’t get rid of it. TB for a layup off a screen. NAU is having no problem breaking the press for easy buckets.
47-34 NAU 7:36 left.

TB misses the second FT and the Hornets get the rebound but do nothing with it. NAU drains a shot. They are unstoppable now. TB is fouled and drains both FT’s. Wow, NAU makes scoring look effortless. The Hornets are just too slow to play a half court trap. Watching Hoffman get burned off the dribble every possession is pretty funny though. And just like that this one turned into a laugher. Katz needs to get Groom and Rak their minutes now, there will be no post season for the Hornets.

63-42 NAU Final.
The Hornets were within 12 with about 6 mins left and then NAU went on a run to put it away. The Hornets played terrible and I think the worst thing about it is since TB was shut down for most of the game, we pretty much got a glimpse of what next season will be like unless Katz can pull something off on the recruiting trail. NAU is a good team but they struggled for a large portion of this game and the Hornets were not able to take advantage of it. This program had a chance to pull off something big in front of a decent sized crowd and just didn’t live up to the moment. Hopefully Katz uses the last two games to prep the young players for next season.

 

[EarleHornet]

The good news is that E. Wash lost tonight to Mont. St. at home.
E. Wash has Montana at home and at Weber St.-Two tough games to win for E. Wash.
Idaho St. has N. Colorado at home and at Mont. St.-Two tough games to win for Idaho St.

Really doesn't matter though if the Hornets can't beat Weber St. at home on Saturday. They have no chance of winning the last game at N. Colorado.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Just got back from the game. It was a good sized crowd; I 'd say around 1100. Too bad we didn't play better; now a bunch of them may never come back again altho there were six male students who did three great dances at halftime, a first since I've been attending games, and it really had everyone fired up.

NAU's defense was very intense; almost all night long. It caused us to try and play faster and we aren't capable of playing real fast and it forced us out of sync most of the time. The Hornets threw a lot of bad passes, probably the most I've seen all year. NAU moved the ball around so much better than we did too. It looked like we got tired with under ten to go and couldn't really muster any sort of challenge like we sometimes do.

Groom is pretty quick and he can get up in the air. He may be okay next year, but we need some ballhandlers. I'll be amazed if we win either of the last two games; I'm just hoping to stay close.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I am like Carnak, I can tell the outcome of a Hornet's men BB game after the first three minutes of play. After 8-0, I shut off BStv and went on with my evening. :thumbdown:

 

[williestarbuck]

I was hopeful. I felt if we can win 2 of 3 we are a tournament team, but if we can't then we're not deserving anyway. We stunk. I knew it would be a tough game but we didn't play well offensively. We missed open looks throughout the 2nd half. I had hoped Katz would use that spread offense that worked so well vs MSU and just let STB do his thing. But even so, we we're getting good looks and going aggresive to the basket most trips down. It was just a disappointing performance in front of a very supportive Thursday night crowd.

But not to take anything away from NAU. They came in with confidence and played well. Cameron Jones was on his average by halftime but still I felt we were doing a good job on him. I think when we had to press in the 2nd half we couldn't always locate him and being the pro he probably will be he got himself open and made big shots that kept us at a distance.

Oh well, it would be nice to get some perimeter scoring in here next year. I thought Carbajal and Hoffman could fill that for us but right now they are a long way off from what we need consistently. I wish Groom had played more. Now he's going to have to get 1st year experience in his sophmore year. What's up with McCarver and why won't Katz play him?

Interesting to see how we react to his on Saturday...