The evolution of the ISU men's basketball team continues tomorrow afternoon in Denver, where the Bengals take on DU, beginning at 4 p.m. The Pioneers are 3-1, with wins over Santa Clara and Lipscomb in a tournament in Santa Clara, a loss to Milwaukee in the same tourney, and a homecourt victory over Utah Valley (who will be ISU's next home game, Dec. 12).
Coached by former Princeton and Air Force head coach Joe Scott, Denver has won 78 percent of its home games under his direction. The Pioneers are a very young team -- they start three true freshmen and have 9 on the team total (including walk-ons). They finished 12-18 last year, but included in those wins was a 54-36 victory over Idaho State, when the Bengals were held to 9 points in the second half.
Scott, who played and coached under Princeton legends Pete Carril and Bill Carmody, took Denver to 22-9 and 22-10 seasons between 2011 and 2013. He also coached Air Force to its only Mountain West championship ever and a 22-7 season in 03-04. Denver is a deep team (they have 11 players who average 7.5 minutes a game or more), they shoot the 3 well (41 percent) and defend it equally well (32 percent). They are holding their opponents to just under 59 points a game.
Like most collegiate teams these days, Denver plays a three-guard offense, and their best scorer, guard Nate Engesser, comes off the bench to average 14 points a game. He's started off the season red-hot from beyond the arc, making a ridiculous 62 percent of his 21 trey attempts so far. Freshman C.J. Bobbitt, 6-7 out of Texas, is their leading rebounder and their biggest player is Daniel Amigo, a 6-10 sophomore from El Paso who was offered a scholarship by the Bengals at one time.
Idaho State, meanwhile, comes off an 85-67 loss to Wazzu in Pullman last week in which the Bengals shot poorly (34 percent), and were outrebounded by 14. The Bengals continue to struggle on the boards, where they are being outrebounded by 8 a game. ISU is grabbing only 55 percent of available defensive rebounds, which means opponents are getting a second chance almost 1 of every 2 times they miss a shot. That percentage is going to have to improve significantly if ISU is going to become consistently competitive.
The Bengals' best rebounders are 5-9 Ethan Telfair, the smallest player on the floor most nights, at 4.7 a game, and 6-5 Ben Wilson, who has averaged 6 boards in the two contests he's appeared in. 7-0 footer Novak Topalovic is averaging a commendable 4 offensive rebounds a contest -- but less than 2 defensive boards. Staying on the floor continues to be an issue for Novak and backup center Kyle Ingram. Topalovic is averaging almost four fouls a game in just 15 minutes a contest; Ingram has picked up 3 fouls a contest in 16 minutes per game.
It's still v-e-r-y early in the season, but Telfair is making a big statement about his importance to this ISU team. He leads the team in assists (13) and steals (9), is second in scoring at 17.3, and third in rebounding (4.7).
The mercurial Ali Faruq-Bey continues to lead ISU in scoring at 18.7 ppg off the bench, but he is the definition of inconsistent. Against Wazzu, he had another outstanding first half, then cooled off considerably in the second to finish with 19 points on 6 of 17 shooting. Geno Luzcando continues to show growth in his game, putting up 14 points against the Cougars, although he has to bring more to the boards (1 rebound against Wazzu). Luzcando is averaging 12 points and 4 rebounds a contest on the season, and he's 5 of 9 from three.
Justin Smith got into early foul trouble against Wazzu, picking up 3 in just 11 minutes, and Clint Nwosuh continued to struggle from the field, hitting just 1 of 6, including 0 for 3 from distance. Both those guys are going to have to step it up if the Bengals are going to compete against a Denver team that will play at least 10 players significant minutes tomorrow night.
If the Bengals can get out of Denver with a win, they'll get to enjoy Thanksgiving on the road and then stop in Salt Lake City for a contest at nationally-ranked Utah Friday night in the Huntsman Center. And the evolution continues...
Coached by former Princeton and Air Force head coach Joe Scott, Denver has won 78 percent of its home games under his direction. The Pioneers are a very young team -- they start three true freshmen and have 9 on the team total (including walk-ons). They finished 12-18 last year, but included in those wins was a 54-36 victory over Idaho State, when the Bengals were held to 9 points in the second half.
Scott, who played and coached under Princeton legends Pete Carril and Bill Carmody, took Denver to 22-9 and 22-10 seasons between 2011 and 2013. He also coached Air Force to its only Mountain West championship ever and a 22-7 season in 03-04. Denver is a deep team (they have 11 players who average 7.5 minutes a game or more), they shoot the 3 well (41 percent) and defend it equally well (32 percent). They are holding their opponents to just under 59 points a game.
Like most collegiate teams these days, Denver plays a three-guard offense, and their best scorer, guard Nate Engesser, comes off the bench to average 14 points a game. He's started off the season red-hot from beyond the arc, making a ridiculous 62 percent of his 21 trey attempts so far. Freshman C.J. Bobbitt, 6-7 out of Texas, is their leading rebounder and their biggest player is Daniel Amigo, a 6-10 sophomore from El Paso who was offered a scholarship by the Bengals at one time.
Idaho State, meanwhile, comes off an 85-67 loss to Wazzu in Pullman last week in which the Bengals shot poorly (34 percent), and were outrebounded by 14. The Bengals continue to struggle on the boards, where they are being outrebounded by 8 a game. ISU is grabbing only 55 percent of available defensive rebounds, which means opponents are getting a second chance almost 1 of every 2 times they miss a shot. That percentage is going to have to improve significantly if ISU is going to become consistently competitive.
The Bengals' best rebounders are 5-9 Ethan Telfair, the smallest player on the floor most nights, at 4.7 a game, and 6-5 Ben Wilson, who has averaged 6 boards in the two contests he's appeared in. 7-0 footer Novak Topalovic is averaging a commendable 4 offensive rebounds a contest -- but less than 2 defensive boards. Staying on the floor continues to be an issue for Novak and backup center Kyle Ingram. Topalovic is averaging almost four fouls a game in just 15 minutes a contest; Ingram has picked up 3 fouls a contest in 16 minutes per game.
It's still v-e-r-y early in the season, but Telfair is making a big statement about his importance to this ISU team. He leads the team in assists (13) and steals (9), is second in scoring at 17.3, and third in rebounding (4.7).
The mercurial Ali Faruq-Bey continues to lead ISU in scoring at 18.7 ppg off the bench, but he is the definition of inconsistent. Against Wazzu, he had another outstanding first half, then cooled off considerably in the second to finish with 19 points on 6 of 17 shooting. Geno Luzcando continues to show growth in his game, putting up 14 points against the Cougars, although he has to bring more to the boards (1 rebound against Wazzu). Luzcando is averaging 12 points and 4 rebounds a contest on the season, and he's 5 of 9 from three.
Justin Smith got into early foul trouble against Wazzu, picking up 3 in just 11 minutes, and Clint Nwosuh continued to struggle from the field, hitting just 1 of 6, including 0 for 3 from distance. Both those guys are going to have to step it up if the Bengals are going to compete against a Denver team that will play at least 10 players significant minutes tomorrow night.
If the Bengals can get out of Denver with a win, they'll get to enjoy Thanksgiving on the road and then stop in Salt Lake City for a contest at nationally-ranked Utah Friday night in the Huntsman Center. And the evolution continues...
