The Notre Dame College Falcons will return home Wednesday and battle the Glenville State College Pioneers in a MEC match-up inside of Murphy Gymnasium. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Coach Mark Richmond talked about the similarities to the last opponent:
" Both Glenville and West Liberty play very similar styles. We need to do a good job of defending ball screens and guarding them off the bounce. We have to keep them out of the paint late in the shot clock as well. If we do not do these things we will be in for a long day." Richmond stated.
Bruce Hodges talked about his team's mindset going into this one:
" We got to come out ready to play and stay together thru the whole game." Hodges mentioned.
NDC (1-5 0-2 MEC) is coming off a 96-70 loss at #14 West Liberty in the lone game that they played last week. Levi Frankland came out red hot in the contest. The redshirt sophomore from Queensland, Australia made the first four 3-pointer's that he attempted and scored 16 points in the game's first eight minutes. The game was tied at 18 at that point. Then the Hilltoppers shut down Frankland holding him to just two points the rest of the way. NDC also got 11 points from four players- including a season high 11 points- and- nine rebounds off the bench from Dan Lott. Larenz Thurman- Jordan Burton- and- Bruce Hodges also tallied 11 points in the defeat. NDC comes into the contest scoring a MEC eighth best 77.2 points per night- while they are allowing a MEC sixth best 81 points per contest. Where NDC has really struggled is from the 3-point line, where they are shooting a MEC 12th best 28 percent- and at the free throw line where they are shooting 69 percent as a team. The Falcons have been pretty good on the boards where they are averaging 37 rebounds per night, which is fourth in the MEC. NDC has done a decent job of both taking care of the ball- where they average 11.5 turnovers per contest- and- they are third in the conference in assist to turnover ratio.
Frankland leads NDC at 17.2 points per game and is also grabbing 5.5 rebounds per contest. Frankland is 17th in the MEC shooting 47 percent from the 3-point line. He is 15th in 3-pointer's made per game as well. Larenz Thurman is eighth in the MEC in scoring at 12.8 points per game- and- leads the team in assists at nearly four per contest. He is also in the top 10 in the league in free throw percentage shooting at a 76 percent clip. Jordan Burton is scoring 10.7 points per game- and- Bryce Douglas is averaging 9.8 per night. Douglas is shooting 53 percent from the field- and- 42 percent from the 3-point line on the season. Dae John Walker-Bey and Drew Scarberry lead the team in rebounding at seven per night.
Richmond talked about what he has available to him for this game:
"We are fortunate to have a coupe guys who haven't played much or at all who can help us. It will also help getting a couple guys back to take some of the minutes from a few guys who could use a breather every once in a while who have not had that luxury yet this year. As always though the game will dictate who plays how much after it starts."
The Pioneers (4-2 1-1 MEC) have lost two in a row after a 4-0 start. Last week they lost to 85-83 to Charleston- before falling 83-72 to Cal (Pa.) Phil Bledsoe scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds versus Cal (Pa-) while Hagel Augustin had 11 in the loss. The Pioneers shot 40 percent from the field- and- 24 percent from the 3-point line- and- 43 percent from the free throw line in the defeat.
The Pioneers high powered offense is second in the MEC averaging a MEC second best 104.7 points per game- while defensively they are giving up a league 11th best 88.2 points per contest. They have six players averaging in double figures led by Bledsoe who is averaging 22.7 points- and- a league third best nine rebounds per night. He is also second in the MEC in 3-pointer's made.
Richmond spoke about what the Falcons will try and do to slow Bledsoe down:
"We need to keep Bledsoe off balance. He is really good around the basket and can shoot it as well. He can score on all three levels. Defensively we need to communicate and make it hard on him. The plan is to force him into contested two's."
Augustin is next on the team in scoring at 17 points per contest.
Steven Verplancken is putting up 14.5 points per night- while Tyvon Taylor is scoring 13.5 per game.Rodney Ray scores 12 per game- while Noah Frampton is netting 11 points per game to go along with a team leading 1.8 steals per contest. The Pioneers are the top team in the MEC in both turnover margin and assist to turnover ratio. They are second in margin in the early season, winning by an average of 16.5 points per night. The Pioneers have been good on the offensive glass where they are the second best in the MEC. Although they have struggled both on the defensive glass where they are a league 10th best and at the free throw line where they have shot at a 68 percent clip.
Scarberry talked about the importance of the tempo:
" We got to set the tone and play at our pace."
Richmond agreed:
" We have not been a very good offensive team yet, but that is because we have not been very good on defense. We are definitely improving though. We have to be judicious and take what they give us. Glenville has shown a tendency to relax at times, so they will leave the door open for you. We need to share the ball and take the great shot instead of a good shot on offense. If we control the tempo that will create opportunities. We need to play a solid 40 minutes. We need to know if we do not have numbers we can pull it out and run offense. We know that Glenville is never out of a game because they can score. The flip side of that is they relaxed against West Virginia State when they had a big lead."
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
West Virginia Wesleyan @West Liberty
Wheeling @ Davis&Elkins
Concord @Urbana
Frostburg State @ West Virginia State
Charleston @Fairmont State
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 2-0 (5-1)
Wheeling 2-0 (5-1)
Charleston 1-1 (5-1)
Fairmont State 1-1 (4-1)
West Virginia State 1-1 (4-1)
Glenville State 1-1 (4-2)
Concord 1-1 (3-4)
Davis&Elkins 1-1 (3-4)
Frostburg State 1-1 (2-4)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-1 (1-6)
NDC 0-2 (1-5)
Urbana 0-2 (1-5)
Comments