Little more than 12 hours (actually 14, but) before tonight's game.

Know little about them other than they have two players we recruited, a couple JUCO guards, Ty Cockfield and Rashad Lindsey. Seems both a smallish and probably PGs. Cockfield is off to a very good start.

Last year they won 20 games, 11 within conference. Beat Georgetown.

Seems like a decent opponent. Surprised we are an 8 pt. favorite.

I wouldn't gamble on this team without seeing us against D1 competition first (well, I probably wouldn't gamble on them period), but we seem to matchup well with them. They aren't very big and they don't shoot the three much, which are two variables that play right into a zone's hands.

I'm hoping to see the same ball movement that we saw in the last two games. We aren't used to seeing extra passes and good floor spacing under Murphy, so hopefully that continues. Obviously, we will probably continue riding Minnie's hot hand, but getting Thompson involved early will be important too. Lastly, we need to tighten the defense up. If there are gaping holes against two NAIA teams, then the D1 teams will expose them even more. With the little guards they use, I wouldn't mind seeing us play big at times with Nobles or Bond at the top of the zone. That has worked well against smaller teams in the past.

I'm excited to see them in person tonight. Hopefully we've made some structured improvements over past seasons.

The ark st center (Bruce?) has a big mouth. Literally right in the face of Thompson trash talking him. Keep an eye on that.

Very interesting game. We're running on missed shots, etc. Passing the ball around well. Over the top to JT4. Open looks from the corners.

They've hit a couple transition 3s. Not what we predicted. Hopefullt they'll regress to their mean.

We've played very sloppy thus far but still down only 1. Hope that's a good sign.

I like all the passing. This team looks much, much different than last year.

Ty Groce is so smooth. What a player.

Yeah, great game from Groce so far.

that putback dunk from Groce was ridiculous. love it.

we look so much more athletic than Ark State.

we've given up six points in the last ten minutes. that's better defense than our two NAIA games. although, i think the two NAIA teams were better coached than Ark State.

(11-16-2017 07:30 PM)EMUAARON Wrote:  that putback dunk from Groce was ridiculous. love it.

we look so much more athletic than Ark State.

Indeed.

Groce is looking very, very good. Very athletic.

Terrible FT shooting. Paul Jackson is having a great night with those drives to the basket.

With good FT shooting the game would be a rout by half time.

Nice finish by Paul Jackson. 7 straight points to close the half. Not loving the "long twos", but he makes them, so I can't be mad.

Our defense has been so much better today, as you guys have pointed out. Our length is bothering them.

i'm at work, so haven't been able to pay full attention, but here are my thoughts about the new guys in the first half:

- i'm not sold on Paul Jackson yet. he seems a lot like Ty Toney. Toney was good. i'm not ragging on him. i just don't think Jackson is being the distributor that we are hoping for.

- Groce is all over the place in a good way. exciting to watch. also turns the ball over a lot.

- Not sure about Harris. he was getting a little to far towards the baseline on defense. doesn't do much on offense besides shoot. doesn't look comfortable bringing the ball up court.

- Minnie hasn't been as dominant. partially because he was in foul trouble. partially because he doesn't look as aggressive on offense as he did the first two games.

Jackson really showing off his offensive range. First time we've seen this from him.

Jackson is killing them. They tried throwing a double team at him at half court, and he blew by it for an easy lay up. He plays with great control.

We are getting decent three point looks, and they just aren't falling. Much more willing passers this year, and I think that will be beneficial in the long run.

Our zone offense still isn't the best. I don't know why anyone would play man-to-man against us.

i agree with both of you, jackson looks really good in the second half so far.

that was a brutal sequence.