It is GAMEDAY! Well in 90 minutes for me but in Richmond it is already the 22nd! Time for another one of these posts! Here is a little preview of the McNeese game as I practice another one of these...I'm hoping to get as many ideas in as preparation for what I hope is a good preview before the Wisconsin game.
I am not underestimating this McNeese team and you will see why below.
McNeese Cowboys (2-4)
Who have they played?
McNeese has played 4 teams in Division 1 and 2 teams outside of it. They are 0-4 against D1 opponents and 2-0 against colleges I have never heard of. They lost their opener by 10 to a solid Western Michigan squad that is currently 4-1 with their lone loss coming to Ole Miss. They then lost by 5 to a 3-2 Louisiana team. Wisconsin (4-1) beat them by 20 and New Mexico (5-1) beat them by 10. They have had a lot of losses but honestly have stayed competitive in pretty much all of these games and keep in mind that all 4 have been on the road. Their most recent game was a 103-51 win against Arlington Baptist so expect them to have some confidence coming into this one.
Key Players?
McNeese is led by Sha'markus Kennedy who besides having a killer name is also an all around stellar player. Kennedy is a 6'8" Sophomore forward who is averaging 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 65.6% from the field. This guy is going to be a problem, plain and simple. He is also only playing 27.8 minutes per game which makes the rebounding numbers even more impressive. Next up is 6'0" junior guard Dru Kuxhausen with is another killer name. Kuxhausen is averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 49.2% from the field and 49.1% from 3 (he is attempting 8.8 threes per game). He is going to be a problem as well but he has also fouled out twice already this season so perhaps we can get him in foul trouble.
Their final player averaging double-digit points is AJ Lawson who is a 6'5" junior guard. Lawson averages 11.7 points per game and 3.5 assists. He could be a potential matchup nightmare for Gilyard and Francis due to his height as he leads the team in assists but also in turnovers (4.5). Look for Gilyard to force some turnovers from him. Their second best rebounder is 6'6" senior guard Roydell Brown who brings down 6.2 rebounds per game while averaging 6 points and 3 assists. He does a little bit of everything and the height on this team could be a matchup nightmare of us.
Key State and Matchups?
The first thing I will say is that McNeese seems to have some size, and that is something we need to be careful of. I don't know how well they will use that size but they have put up respectable performances against some good teams. McNeese is averaging 35.7 rebounds per game and that is with them being 2-4. We are averaging 34.3 rebounds per game at 3-0. We are bringing down 9 offensive boards per game and they are grabbing 9.33 which bodes well for us. If we can keep them from reaching double digits I think we will be looking pretty good.
McNeese averages 17.5 assists per game which is 35th in the country which tells me that they are good at finding the open man. This is a major problem as we are really good at leaving men open. It looks like they are hitting these open shots and a lot of them are coming from 3 point range. The flipside to this is that McNeese also averages 17 turnovers per game which is 322nd in the nation...and this is with 2 of their games coming against non-D1 opponents. Richmond is averaging 8.33 steals per game which is 90th in the country and Gilyard is 3rd in the nation in steals per game. This is going to be a major swing point in the game as we absolutely need to force a ton of turnovers and convert them into easy scores. It looks like they will get their assists but we need to do our best to limit them.
Richmond shoots 50.5% from the field and 42.5% from 3. McNeese shoots 51.3% from the field and 45.3% from 3. If this is not ringing alarm bells then it should. They have played a schedule with teams better than ours so far and have shot respectably with a ton of assists. We absolutely cannot let them get open shots and convert easy buckets. McNeese is averaging 82.5 points per game which is 49th in the country! This is a major trap game. Of course Richmond averages 94.5 points per game (4th in the country) but that is in two overtime periods and against an absolutely terrible Northridge team. We cannot go into this game expecting a win or this team is going to come out fired up and beat us.
The bench could be a factor in this game. Not so much for us but for Northridge. Nobody plays more than 28.7 minutes per game and they have 7 players averaging at least 18.5 minutes. They may only have 3 players who score in double digits but they have 7 players besides those 3 who average 4 points per game. After our starting lineup our top bench player averages 2.7 points per game (not counting Verbinskis with 3 in one game). Their bench is absolutely capable of taking care of business while the starters are out. They only shoot 70.5% from the free throw line which is 149th in the country. If things are close at any point I don't mind fouling them and making them beat us there. For reference the Spiders are shooting 78.6% from the line which is 28th in the nation.
I would say that this is the first time I have felt like there is a good enough sample size for me to draw these as the keys to the matchup with some level of certainty. Of course anything could happen in this game, but I think we truly need to stop them from getting easy buckets because that is how they will beat us.
Oh, and did I mention their field goal percentage is 22nd in the nation? Think that isn't a big deal? Their 3 point percentage is 5th in the country.
This is not an easy win. Be on high alert.
I am not underestimating this McNeese team and you will see why below.
McNeese Cowboys (2-4)
Who have they played?
McNeese has played 4 teams in Division 1 and 2 teams outside of it. They are 0-4 against D1 opponents and 2-0 against colleges I have never heard of. They lost their opener by 10 to a solid Western Michigan squad that is currently 4-1 with their lone loss coming to Ole Miss. They then lost by 5 to a 3-2 Louisiana team. Wisconsin (4-1) beat them by 20 and New Mexico (5-1) beat them by 10. They have had a lot of losses but honestly have stayed competitive in pretty much all of these games and keep in mind that all 4 have been on the road. Their most recent game was a 103-51 win against Arlington Baptist so expect them to have some confidence coming into this one.
Key Players?
McNeese is led by Sha'markus Kennedy who besides having a killer name is also an all around stellar player. Kennedy is a 6'8" Sophomore forward who is averaging 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 65.6% from the field. This guy is going to be a problem, plain and simple. He is also only playing 27.8 minutes per game which makes the rebounding numbers even more impressive. Next up is 6'0" junior guard Dru Kuxhausen with is another killer name. Kuxhausen is averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 49.2% from the field and 49.1% from 3 (he is attempting 8.8 threes per game). He is going to be a problem as well but he has also fouled out twice already this season so perhaps we can get him in foul trouble.
Their final player averaging double-digit points is AJ Lawson who is a 6'5" junior guard. Lawson averages 11.7 points per game and 3.5 assists. He could be a potential matchup nightmare for Gilyard and Francis due to his height as he leads the team in assists but also in turnovers (4.5). Look for Gilyard to force some turnovers from him. Their second best rebounder is 6'6" senior guard Roydell Brown who brings down 6.2 rebounds per game while averaging 6 points and 3 assists. He does a little bit of everything and the height on this team could be a matchup nightmare of us.
Key State and Matchups?
The first thing I will say is that McNeese seems to have some size, and that is something we need to be careful of. I don't know how well they will use that size but they have put up respectable performances against some good teams. McNeese is averaging 35.7 rebounds per game and that is with them being 2-4. We are averaging 34.3 rebounds per game at 3-0. We are bringing down 9 offensive boards per game and they are grabbing 9.33 which bodes well for us. If we can keep them from reaching double digits I think we will be looking pretty good.
McNeese averages 17.5 assists per game which is 35th in the country which tells me that they are good at finding the open man. This is a major problem as we are really good at leaving men open. It looks like they are hitting these open shots and a lot of them are coming from 3 point range. The flipside to this is that McNeese also averages 17 turnovers per game which is 322nd in the nation...and this is with 2 of their games coming against non-D1 opponents. Richmond is averaging 8.33 steals per game which is 90th in the country and Gilyard is 3rd in the nation in steals per game. This is going to be a major swing point in the game as we absolutely need to force a ton of turnovers and convert them into easy scores. It looks like they will get their assists but we need to do our best to limit them.
Richmond shoots 50.5% from the field and 42.5% from 3. McNeese shoots 51.3% from the field and 45.3% from 3. If this is not ringing alarm bells then it should. They have played a schedule with teams better than ours so far and have shot respectably with a ton of assists. We absolutely cannot let them get open shots and convert easy buckets. McNeese is averaging 82.5 points per game which is 49th in the country! This is a major trap game. Of course Richmond averages 94.5 points per game (4th in the country) but that is in two overtime periods and against an absolutely terrible Northridge team. We cannot go into this game expecting a win or this team is going to come out fired up and beat us.
The bench could be a factor in this game. Not so much for us but for Northridge. Nobody plays more than 28.7 minutes per game and they have 7 players averaging at least 18.5 minutes. They may only have 3 players who score in double digits but they have 7 players besides those 3 who average 4 points per game. After our starting lineup our top bench player averages 2.7 points per game (not counting Verbinskis with 3 in one game). Their bench is absolutely capable of taking care of business while the starters are out. They only shoot 70.5% from the free throw line which is 149th in the country. If things are close at any point I don't mind fouling them and making them beat us there. For reference the Spiders are shooting 78.6% from the line which is 28th in the nation.
I would say that this is the first time I have felt like there is a good enough sample size for me to draw these as the keys to the matchup with some level of certainty. Of course anything could happen in this game, but I think we truly need to stop them from getting easy buckets because that is how they will beat us.
Oh, and did I mention their field goal percentage is 22nd in the nation? Think that isn't a big deal? Their 3 point percentage is 5th in the country.
This is not an easy win. Be on high alert.
