Quote:
Originally Posted by skyblade
I expect against a lot of these small schools we will win by dominating the interior with our size. Think of how Vogt was able to dominate small schools because he was 5 inches taller and 50 lbs heavier than any of their players.
Now we have Ado, Lakhin and Koval who we hope are better players than Vogt was and should be able to do the same thing. Can they dominate the paint on both ends? It's something Wes puts big emphasis on, so we will see how well the message has gotten through. Will we use (and how often) the twin towers lineup of Ado/Koval/Lakhin in the game at the same time? My guess is we will in games against lower levels opponents, if we can't dominate them in the paint with twin towers, than not worth trying it against a Georgia or Illinois.
Evansville's probable starters at C/PF are Evan Kuhlman, listed at 6'8" 220 lb and either Trey Hall 6'9" 200 lb or Antoine Smith 6'7" 215 lb. All three of them can shoot it from three (all shot 36.6% or better last year from 3). So in addition to be our first chance to see if we can dominate the paint, it will also be a good test of mobility for our bigs. We do have Hensley/Ody to fall back on if needed, but hopefully Ado, Koval and/or Lakhin show the movement ability to guard the three. Based on some reports Lakhin moves quite well, but we will see soon.
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Iyen Enaruna (6'9 210 lb) was their other starting big against Kentucky Wesleyan but only played 15 minutes. Antoine Smith played 25 minutes off the bench and true freshman forward Preston Phillips (6'8) played 17 minutes as well.
Trey Hall didn't play and is supposedly suspended for a violation of team rules according to what I read on the Evansville message board.
Also of note, starting 6'3 guard Jawaun Newton (13.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg) left the KW exhibition game after only playing 12 minutes with a lower leg injury.