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Bucknell Thread

flyder19

flyder19

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Starting the thread for Bucknell as I did not see anyone do so yet

Opponent: Bucknell (7-4) --> Preseason 8th in Patriot

Key Results:
  • St. Francis (PA) - W: 89-65
  • Georgia - L: 61-65
  • La Salle - L: 72-82 --> A-10 Opponent
Team Stats:
  • Points Per Game: 73.9 (154th)
  • Points Allowed Per Game: 64 (71st)
  • 2 PT Shooting: 55.9% (46th)
  • 3 PT Shooting: 40.3% (16th)
  • FT Shooting: 71.3% (143rd)
  • Strength of Schedule: -9.29 (Worst in Nation)
Key Player:

Xander Rice
  • PPG: 15.9 (Leads team)
  • 3PT Percentage: 39.1%
  • 2PT Percentage: 60.4%
  • FT Percentage: 88.2% (2nd among starters)
Bucknell is a hard team to read. They shoot the ball well, but they've had the worst strength of schedule out of any team in college basketball and haven't beaten a quality opponent yet. Xander Rice is their team leader and shoots the ball fairly efficiently. However, they are a relative "team by committee" with everyone else playing their role, they have 5 other players with double digit RPIM averages within 4 points of each other. Look for Rice to run the offense, but watch out for Hopewell, VA native Elvin Edmonds IV in this one. He'll have plenty of home support and is one of their best overall shooters, hitting 51.5% from 3. I think we should be able to win this one, but if we let Rice run wild and Edmonds have a double digit scoring game, we might be in trouble.
 
That is an impressively weak schedule..9 Q4 games, a D-III team, and a Q3 Georgia game they got by signing up to be a cupcake in the Sunshine Slam MTE.
 


these "Christmas get away" games have been poison for the Spiders in recent years...many fans may painfully remember Oral Roberts, Radford, Hofstra and even Bucknell...

the Bison have really good mojo at the Robins Center...the video clip is not a getaway game, but just after New Year's in 2011...

they may have used up all of their good mojo with that shocker and their subsequent home wins and 2017 win over the Spiders as we took care of business in the getaway game last season 81-50, but the way we played against Clemson anything could happen....

hoping for the best, but prepared for anything...

Go Spiders!
 
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mojo-spider said:
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these "Christmas get away" games have been poison for the Spiders in recent years...many fans may painfully remember Oral Roberts, Radford, Hofstra and even Bucknell...

the Bison have really good mojo at the Robins Center...the video clip is not a getaway game, but just after New Year's in 2011...

they may have used up all of their good mojo with that shocker and their subsequent home wins and 2017 win over the Spiders as we took care of business in the getaway game last season 81-50, but the way we played against Clemson anything could happen....

hoping for the best, but prepared for anything...

Go Spiders!
Click to expand...
If I remember that sequence correctly, we missed a couple FT's at the end and then threw a long inbounds pass that no one touched, giving the ball back to Bucknell to hit that shot.

Truly one of the most improbable losses, I have witnessed.
 
Brothers made a FT to put us up one. Their long inbounds pass went OB, so our ball. They fouled KA. He missed both. They threw the the long pass and scored at the buzzer.
 
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VT4700 said:
Brothers made a FT to put us up one. Their long inbounds pass went OB, so our ball. They fouled KA. He missed both. They threw the the long pass and scored at the buzzer.
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Thanks. I had the parts right just the wrong participants.
 
All I remember were the vast swings of emotion, culminating in crushing despair. At least that season ultimately turned out okay.
 
Kevin Smith guarding Muscala on both long inbounds passes to him?

I remember thinking we should change that next time after the pass went out of bounds...
 
Only down 5, much better start than most. We've got a chance in this one. (I kid.)
 
The last 7 minutes we have thrown the Mooney offense out the window and doing much better.
 
Took us a while as usual, but we certainly got things figured out. Keep the pressure on after halftime.
 
Best I have seen Grace play, which isn’t saying much. Smart move by him taking there best player to the basket and getting him his second foul.
 
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Burton was unconscious, Grace shot really well from outside, Gustafson showed flashes of what he should have been encouraged to do all season. Defense played well against a team with very poor ball handlers. This might have been an interesting game without Burton and Grace shooting so well from three. The question is, how many games can be counted on for such torrid shooting?
 
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Bucknell coach could use "anger management" after he went on his 3 to 4 minute yelling tirade. The ref was very tolerant overlooking his profanity.................
 
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bongturk said:
Burton was unconscious, Grace shot really well from outside, Gustafson showed flashes of what he should have been encouraged to do all season. Defense played well against a team with very poor ball handlers. This might have been an interesting game without Burton and Grace shooting so well from three. The question is, how many games can be counted on for such torrid shooting?
Click to expand...

It was good to see us have a very hot 3 pt night & low turnovers. 2 things we haven’t done well all year. But u r right we’d have been in a dogfight without it. Thought we helped and/or doubled too many times halfcourt when it wasn’t needed leading to open 3s which they hit. But the press was efficient.

Goose should continue to look to drive to score or kick, should be bigger part of our O imo. His baseline dunk also illustrated he’s easily 1 of our most athletic, well known I think but I had that quite strange debate on here b4 so just pointing out.

Pretty solid crowd for a midweek game v bucknell. The rusty taco may be our best promo ever. Bc it works to get crowd fired up. Bucknell coaches matching orange pullovers were ghastly. Must be on Santa’s bad list.
 
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Looking at the box score, looks like a tightening of the rotation, only 8 guys played.

Also, it would seem that Quinn and Grace rotated at the 5, combined for total of 46 minutes? Quinn only took two shots (had some decent rebound and assist numbers for limited minutes), was he not being aggressive or did he just get in early foul trouble, it may appear?

Gkiller, agree that I would like to see Goose a bit more aggressive on offense. He can make some plays. I have noticed that he seems pretty good at the corner 3 as well, would like to see him look for that shot too.
 
Good game offensively for UR, not so good defensively. The difference in the game was free throws.

Bucknell was able to get good shots and score when they wanted to - they shot 49% overall and 47 from deep. But luckily they were 10-18 from the free throw line. We were able to force some turnovers, which also helped. Our press at times did confuse them, but once they beat it - they were able to score pretty easy, which worries me for our future opponents. But in reality - we have not been very good defensively the past few years, so this is not a huge surprise.

What won the game tonight was Burton playing like a pro and Grace playing like MFG, if those two just have an average game - this game comes down to the last possession.

But at this point - we can't complain, a win is a win. Move on to Coppin State, get a W and get over .500 before A10 play.
 
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flyder19 said:
Bucknell is a hard team to read. They shoot the ball well, but they've had the worst strength of schedule out of any team in college basketball and haven't beaten a quality opponent yet. Xander Rice is their team leader and shoots the ball fairly efficiently. However, they are a relative "team by committee" with everyone else playing their role, they have 5 other players with double digit RPIM averages within 4 points of each other. Look for Rice to run the offense, but watch out for Hopewell, VA native Elvin Edmonds IV in this one. He'll have plenty of home support and is one of their best overall shooters, hitting 51.5% from 3. I think we should be able to win this one, but if we let Rice run wild and Edmonds have a double digit scoring game, we might be in trouble.
Click to expand...
Good preview of what we saw flyder19. Edmonds was hot in second half, but fortunately Spiders had built up a decent lead by half. Burton hit everything from 3 with what has to be the highest arcing shot in college basketball. I have a tough time determining if it is a make or miss when it leaves his hand, but no misses last night. Great games from Grace and Goose, which we haven’t seen much this year. Nelson definitely seems to prefer the confines of the RC with a solid game as well. Roche shot well again with his patented low volume. Buckner definitely seemed improved over last year and their physical play seems to be a bad sign of what the Spiders will see in A10 play. Hope the guys enjoy the family time and come back ready to go against Coppin State. Get a 2 for 1 preview on Friday afternoon for next two opponents.
 
GKiller said:
It was good to see us have a very hot 3 pt night & low turnovers. 2 things we haven’t done well all year. But u r right we’d have been in a dogfight without it. Thought we helped and/or doubled too many times halfcourt when it wasn’t needed leading to open 3s which they hit. But the press was efficient.

Goose should continue to look to drive to score or kick, should be bigger part of our O imo. His baseline dunk also illustrated he’s easily 1 of our most athletic, well known I think but I had that quite strange debate on here b4 so just pointing out.

Pretty solid crowd for a midweek game v bucknell. The rusty taco may be our best promo ever. Bc it works to get crowd fired up. Bucknell coaches matching orange pullovers were ghastly. Must be on Santa’s bad list.
Click to expand...
The low turnover total was nice to see. It's just so important to protect the ball. It not only gives us more possessions and eliminates as many easy transition baskets for our opponents, but it also allows us to get into a better rhythm offensively. And, allows Tyler and Grace to stay hot from 3. Wow! 6-6 and 4-6!! Huge!! Good offense can get contagious when we are taking care of the ball and things are clicking out there.

Defensively, a great 1st half and then we allowed too many open looks in the 2nd, but they sure did hit a high percentage of those looks. They just didn't miss for awhile, but we answered and kept a nice lead.

Nelson and Goose were great at both ends. Tyler and Grace had their inside game going as well as their 3 point shot. It was key getting 3 steals and 3 layups in about a 1 minute stretch in the 1st half. What a minute that was. Goose steal, Tyler layup, then Nelson looked like Jacob out there with his strip and reverse layup, and Tyler with the steal and the Bigs layup. That put us up 28-22 and they never got closer. Bucknell called a timeout, and I'm sure to the amazement of many on here, it didn't stop our run. We came out of their timeout 5-0 to make it 33-22 and actually closed on a 13-3 run after their timeout. You would think from reading this board that would be impossible for a team to do after the other team called a timeout.
 
spider23 said:
I did not see the game, but assume this is the official twitter? If so, not a good look.
Click to expand...
Also not a good look: Davis's seven-month-pregnant belly. But I digress..

Decent sized crowd last night, but not a ton of energy in the building throughout. Goose's dunk was really impressive. Got my Rusty Taco coupon for the first time ever on the way out. Amazing!

One thing I do not understand about our defense: I know Mooney stacks as many guys as possible on the ball side and willingly lets one shooter be open on the other side of the court, but damn man, when that one guy consistently is able to get the ball and take (and usually make) wide-open threes, something ain't working.

Either we need to play that defense more effectively, or we need to switch to a better defense. Most teams will make more than 50% of wide-open threes like that, and last night it allowed Bucknell to stay within striking distance when they really shouldn't have.
 
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Yes, I wondered about our defense at times, but I was also surprised that Bucknell is 24th in the nation in eFG% as a team...
 
Good win against a team with height and good shooters. I feel the Spiders will
improve more as we get into A10. But we are going to need Quinn to be more of
a presence and Nelson to be aggressive but under control. Because of our length,
we have no problem switching on defense but Bucknell caught us with big guards
posting Nelson inside. Don’t remember last night if we were hedging the screens or
just automatically switching.
 
The Goose was loose with that slam! Was that his first dunk as a Spider? I can’t remember any previously, he’s usually got the nice finish on layups but don’t remember any dunks previously.
 
Eight Legger said:
Decent sized crowd last night, but not a ton of energy in the building throughout.……..Got my Rusty Taco coupon for the first time ever on the way out. Amazing!
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It was a bigger crowd than I expected as well. Loved the fact that UR didn’t tell anyone about the road closure that affected all attendees that did not have a season parking pass. The energy was rather low other than the Taco giveaway free throws.

Speaking of tacos, you would think those taco coupons were made of gold - I guess the coloring makes them seem valuable. I saw some being handed out, but of course they ran out before I got to the person. To say “everyone in the building” gets a taco is the one of the biggest marketing lies ever. I think all fans should refuse to scream during that promotion in protest and scream at all other times instead. Not going to happen, but would be awesome.
 
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