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Old 03-21-2023, 07:22 AM   #1
Queens_NYC
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NIT Third Round: Utah Valley

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023
9:00 pm
UCCU Arena
ESPN2

The Bearcats (22-12 [11-7 AAC], NET #70, KenPom #48) make the long journey to Orem, UT to take on Utah Valley (24-8 [15-3 WAC], NET #74, KenPom #64) with a trip to Las Vegas on the line.

The WAC regular season champions started their NIT run with back-to-back road wins at New Mexico (83-69) and Colorado (81-69) last week.

The Wolverines are led by 4th-year head coach and 2x NBA Champion, Mark Madsen, who recently took home WAC Coach of the Year honors. The men’s basketball program is enjoying their most successful season to date after only becoming a full-fledged Division 1 member in 2009.

Utah Valley features a three-headed monster in the backcourt with a trio of playmaking 6’4 guards who each average over 13 ppg. 5th-year guard and 1st Team All-WAC selection Trey Woodbury is their most dynamic player and led the Wolverines with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists against Colorado on Sunday night.

Their frontcourt is spearheaded by WAC Defensive Player of the Year, WAC Newcomer of the Year, and 1st Team All-WAC selection 3rd-year 7-footer Aziz Bandaogo who averages 11.4 ppg, 10.4 rpg, and 2.9 bpg.

The winner of this game advances to the tournament semi-finals at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas where they will face the winner of #4 seed UAB and #2 seed Vanderbilt on March 28th.
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Old 03-21-2023, 04:41 PM   #2
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Utah Valley is 10-1 at home this year, so this is definitely a tough assignment despite the lack of name recognition. The WAC isn't a bad conference. 9 teams are in the top 160 on Torvik and a couple are top 75. They also went on the road to Utah St, Wake Forest, Boise St, BYU, and Oregon, winning 2 of those 5 and sending another to OT. The altitude could be a factor - we aren't used to playing nearly a mile above sea level.

Utah Valley is an elite defensive team, ranking top 30 overall and #21 over the last 10 games. They defend inside and outside the three point line well, resulting in a #4 national ranking in field goal defense. Utah Valley is especially good at the rim, where they are the only team in the country holding opponents under 48%. Alabama and Arizona St are the only other teams to allow under 50%. They lead the nation in blocks by a considerable margin (6.6 per game, 2nd place is Illinois at 5.6) and have given up only 32 dunks all year.

Utah Valley's offense has been just ok most of the year, ranking #120 in efficiency. It has been good over the last five games though, a stretch where they have put up over 1.05 points per possession in every game. Some of the raw stats are deceptive because they play at a top 50 pace. Woodbury scores a lot of points but only with decent efficiency. He takes a lot of midrange shots at under 40% and doesn't get to the rim or free throw line much. He's a very good three point shooter though, hitting over 40% on 5 attempts per game. Justin Harmon leads the team in usage rate, but he turns the ball over a lot and is a below average shooter. He does however get to the rim and free throw line a lot. Le'Tre Darthard seems to be the guy to key on. He leads the team in three point attempts (at 36%) and free throws (at 90%), and he doesn't turn the ball over. Big men Bandaogo and Fuller are the most efficient scorers, they both convert 73% at the rim.

I think we should run Woodbury off the three point line but not double him. Let him get his points from the midrange where he isn't efficient, and don't let him dump off to Bandaogo and Fuller who are lethal inside. Harmon and Woodbury are both turnover prone, so we should be pressuring them. Darthard can hurt us from three and the stripe, so we need to be smart on him, maybe an assignment for MAW.

On offense, we don't get to the rim much anyway, so Utah Valley's elite rim defense might not be so important. They are a poor defensive rebounding team, so I wouldn't mind letting it fly from three and crashing the glass. In their one home loss they gave up 12 threes, so that could be key.
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Old 03-21-2023, 10:01 PM   #3
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Yeah this team sounds pretty tough. Maybe they aren't the best shooting team, but they are fairly complete in their skill set at most positions. I see the programs they've beat this season and think UC would have been lucky to beat many of those teams. Should be interesting to see how UC steps up. I'd say one more NIT game would be a good accomplishment for this particular team.
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Old 03-22-2023, 08:57 AM   #4
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Current betting lines have the game varying from a Pick-em to UVU being favorited by 1.5 points.
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Old 03-22-2023, 07:46 PM   #5
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Eric Gaines from UAB is my nephew. Be epic if we both win tonight. He was coming with Nolley, buddies from Atlanta. UC took Indiana PG over him.
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Old 03-22-2023, 08:13 PM   #6
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We came out very lazy to start this game. Poor effort on the glass, lazy passes, and not getting back in transition.
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Old 03-22-2023, 08:29 PM   #7
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Looks like a Wes Miller coached team.
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Old 03-22-2023, 08:55 PM   #8
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We're lucky to be down only 6 after hitting some outside shots. We got beat down the floor in transition several times, and our interior defense has been bad with Lakhin out. This is a winnable game if we can settle down a bit and make better decisions.
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Old 03-22-2023, 09:16 PM   #9
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The offense is much better when we work through Vik. Hopefully he can stay on the floor.
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Old 03-22-2023, 09:33 PM   #10
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I think we looked best tonight with Ezikpe on the floor. Can’t believe how lazy we are.
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