Evansville

[Queens_NYC]

Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
7:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Purple Aces were picked to finish 8th in the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference after coming off a 9-16 season that saw them go 7-11 in conference play for 3rd-year head coach Todd Lickliter.

They finished #204 in the 20-21 KenPom rankings where they ranked #114 in AdjO, #315 in AdjD, and most notably, #355 in AdjT (tempo).

They return 4 starters who have combined to start 195 games for Evansville and who also shot a combined 38% from beyond the arc last season.

They've played two official exhibition games so far where they've defeated D3 Mt. St. Joe's 74-45 and D2 Kentucky Wesleyan 74-64.

Evansville shot an impressive 50% (12-24) from deep in the Kentucky Wesleyan win but were also outscored 36-22 in the paint.

They were one of the worst rebounding teams in the country last season so hopefully that is an area where we can dominate on both ends of the court.

Despite all the questions we have about our roster, I'm still optimistic that we win this game by double digits.

[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.

[Queens_NYC]

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.

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.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by Queens_NYC

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.

Thanks for the better info. I didn't look at the KW Box score to see who actually played, was just guessing off the roster. Not sure how I missed Enaruna.

Enaruna shot 25% from three (4-16 on the year) last year, 0-2 in their two exhibition games this year, so he may be less of a threat to us. But he started both exhibition games and averaged 13.4 minutes for them last year, so he should be a significant contributor for them.

It looks like vs Mount St. Joseph they started Smith, Enaruna and Kuhlman, so they can go big. Smith was a combined 5-13 from three in their two exhibition games, while Kuhlman was 3-7. So they aren't afraid to put it up.

[Queens_NYC]

Originally Posted by skyblade

Thanks for the better info. I didn't look at the KW Box score to see who actually played, was just guessing off the roster. Not sure how I missed Enaruna.

Enaruna shot 25% from three (4-16 on the year) last year, 0-2 in their two exhibition games this year, so he may be less of a threat to us. But he started both exhibition games and averaged 13.4 minutes for them last year, so he should be a significant contributor for them.

It looks like vs Mount St. Joseph they started Smith, Enaruna and Kuhlman, so they can go big. Smith was a combined 5-13 from three in their two exhibition games, while Kuhlman was 3-7. So they aren't afraid to put it up.

Their roster/rotation reminds of a poor-man's version of the Furman team we beat last year.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by Queens_NYC

Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
7:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Purple Aces were picked to finish 8th in the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference after coming off a 9-16 season that saw them go 7-11 in conference play for 3rd-year head coach Todd Lickliter.

They finished #204 in the 20-21 KenPom rankings where they ranked #114 in AdjO, #315 in AdjD, and most notably, #355 in AdjT (tempo).

They return 4 starters who have combined to start 195 games for Evansville and who also shot a combined 38% from beyond the arc last season.

They've played two official exhibition games so far where they've defeated D3 Mt. St. Joe's 74-45 and D2 Kentucky Wesleyan 74-64.

Evansville shot an impressive 50% (12-24) from deep in the Kentucky Wesleyan win but were also outscored 36-22 in the paint.

They were one of the worst rebounding teams in the country last season so hopefully that is an area where we can dominate on both ends of the court.

Despite all the questions we have about our roster, I'm still optimistic that we win this game by double digits.

With all of the question marks out there it still seems we should have enough to get off to a decent start. The only players I would expect it tough to find the court would be Banks and McGinnis. That leaves at least 11 players to try on the court and see who can impact the game(s). That's 6 "bigs" and 5 guards.

Play D and rebound so we don't have to score too much out of the gate until we can get into a lineup/rotation rythm.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by waterhead

With all of the question marks out there it still seems we should have enough to get off to a decent start. The only players I would expect it tough to find the court would be Banks and McGinnis. That leaves at least 11 players to try on the court and see who can impact the game(s). That's 6 "bigs" and 5 guards.

Play D and rebound so we don't have to score too much out of the gate until we can get into a lineup/rotation rythm.

Hopefully it doesn't take Wes as long as it took Brannen to figure out we can't hide more than 1 player on D (for too long) in this conference. Especially 2 flat footed bigs. And I am guessing also two 6'0" guards. It might work early against smaller teams...but that could be fools gold.

Putting Ody in (with Ado) and sliding JD/Hensley to 3, Newman/MAW at 2, and DD down to 1 would seem to help on D and rebounding and still keep in some scoring. Ody has a big motor and we are going to need that. Newman should see a lot of minutes due to being good on both sides of the ball. DD can rebound for a guard and score. We need JD out there for shooting scoring so he becomes the guy you try to hide a bit on D. But he's not bad.

We have to be great on one side of the ball and we have to rebound. It doesn't sound like we are going to be great on offense so the obvious choice is to maximize D and rebounding here with our size and length.

[Queens_NYC]

-9.5

[TheLivingLegend]

Win. By alot.

[skyblade]

A bit of a starting line-up surprise. Chad has been predicting for quite a while now that it would be Saunders, DDJ, Newman, Davenport and Ado. MAW got the start over Saunders and DDJ is listed as the PG.