A year ago, Radford opened some eyes with impressive early season wins on the road including at Notre Dame and at Texas. They were 6-1 when walking into the Convo on December 4th, 2018. They walked out with an upset loss to the Good Guys, 73-66. Radford went on to have a solid season though that saw them tie for the Big South regular season title and they suffered a disappointing loss in the conference championship game to Gardner-Webb that dashed their hopes of an NCAAT appearance.

Well, it's December 4th again when they tip it off but this time at Radford, who is 2-4 on the young season (1-4 vs D1). Their lone D1 win is over another P5 program on the road, at Northwestern. This will be their first home game against a D1 opponent -- the other being a blowout win over Bridgewater.

I imagine the Highlanders will be jacked up to avenge last year's loss at the Convo and try to get their early season back on a positive track. They haven't played since last Tuesday, Nov. 26, when they lost by 17 at Monmouth.

This game will be streamed live via ESPN+. It will be interesting to see if the Dukes can notch another road win on an opponent's home floor...something the Dukes did just 4 times (out of 15) a season ago.

Go Dukes!

I believe this is an important test for the team and coaches. We may have more tenant on the court but Radford is very well coached by a staff that has NCAAT experience/success. Very deliberate and methodical approach to the game.

This is a copy/past from ECU thread by NJDuke97:

"Yeah the Radford game worries me- they aren’t good but they have only played one home game and this is really their home opener against an in state school who th year lost to last year. Last year JMU shot really well and Mosely hit like 7 3 pointers. This years Radford team isn’t as good but that’s a Lot to ask on the road to do something like that again. Need to defend their guards and capitalize inside."

Well IMHO they are good and have some experience. However I believe we have more talent, IF we play respectable defense, value possessions and rebound, this could be the start of a winning streak, maybe a turning point.

I expect Radford will open around 3-4 pt favorites...which means it would be Pick/Even if played on a neutral court.

It will be interesting to see what the Vegas experts set the line at. It feels like it should be a pick’em against 1-4 Radford. Playing on the road is what levels out this game for JMU.
The highlanders rely on some mighty mite guards. Will quickness win out or will JMU’s much bigger guards impose their will?

I don’t care about style points tomorrow night, just get the win. I need to maintain bragging rights in my household.

JMU 74
Radford 70

Radford favored over JMU by 8.5. Incredible.

Big road game, one we must get....Dukes 77 Radford 71

Go Dukes

Looking at the game notes I didn’t realize JMU has won 13 of the 16 games in the series.

I hope Deshon Parker gets on track. He had a very solid a freshman campaign and you expect players to make their biggest improvement from Freshman to Sophomore seasons. Not so far for Parker as his performance has actually gone backward. His assist/TO ratio is worse and his shooting has been woeful. 19% from 3pt and 33% FT both of which are off the charts bad. As a point guard he doesn’t need to score a lot on this team, but he can’t continue this level of play. 8 games into the season it is concerning and a bit head scratching

(12-03-2019 08:33 PM)jmudukes001 Wrote:  Radford favored over JMU by 8.5. Incredible.

Wow that's a lot more points than I'd have thought

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They lost their last game by 17 to Monmouth.


And this game is in question.

Need anyone say more?!?


Dammmmmmmm

Coppin st beat ECU last night

Some stats of note in no random order thru the first 8 games (read: a quarter of the regular season is already complete)…

*after a 7-for-14 start at the free throw line in the opener, Matt Lewis since has gone 45 of 54 from the charity stripe. That's an 83% clip and much closer to his career FT percentage wearing purple at 80%.

*the Dukes have given up 94 and 89 pts in the last 2 games...hopefully, some attention has been given to defending over the last few days...I get it we want to play up-tempo and defense not only does the obvious of keeping the opponent off the scoreboard but it can and should be the beginning of offensively attacking quickly down the court

*Matt Lewis has a 39:18 assist to turnover ratio...that's pretty good and hopefully he can keep up that pace...he's averaging right at 5 assists per game (last year he was at 3 a game and his frosh year he was at 2.3)...I think he has more weapons to dish the ball to now

*Matt Lewis is averaging 7.8 boards a game...very impressive!...the previous 2 seasons he averaged 3.7 and 4.2...great to see his game developing in other areas than just scoring

*Darius Banks remains the best 3-pt threat on the roster...he's hitting at 42.1% this season and that's coming off a soph season that saw him hit 49.3%...the best part is he is looking for his shot much more this season and it's paying off for the Dukes...last year he attempted a total of 75 3-pointers in 31 games...he would've been at or near the top of the national 3-pt percentage stat but I don't think he attempted enough to qualify...this year in 8 games he has attempted 57 3's (making 24 of them)...and all of this includes an 0-for-5 night from outside the arc against Shenandoah

*Banks' scoring average is up and rebounds per game up as well...the only stat that is down some is free throw shooting percentage and he isn't getting to the line as much as his first 2 seasons...then again, if he can drill 3's and be a threat out there I'm very pleased with that...stay aggressive from 3, Darius!!

*Zach Jacobs averaged scoring 3.0 and 3.3 ppg his first 2 seasons...he's averaging 9.6 so far...and that's having only scored 2 pts in the last 2 games combined...certainly the return of Wilson will bring his scoring production down and has, but he's off to a good junior season start...if Jacobs and Wilson can combine for 16-18 pts and 12-14 boards a game that is pretty good production from the 5 position...Zach remains a good free throw shooter and needs to be on the floor at the end of games when it boils down to a free throw shooting fest to protect leads

Really great to see these 3 juniors off to solid starts this season and quite frankly what you expect to see regarding development and growth in their games.

Radford laying 8.5? I'll lay 1 unit on the Good Guys tonight getting that many points.

Go Dukes!

(12-03-2019 08:33 PM)jmudukes001 Wrote:  Radford favored over JMU by 8.5. Incredible.

I think that's way to high. You can put down 10 to bring back 46 on the money line. My best guess this will be a close one, but then again live by the 3, die by the 3.

That seems like a good investment.

Radford beat an up and down NW, but other than that has not looked too good.

I think this would be a game JMU would win 3-4 times out of 10.

That line definitely doesn’t feel right, but Vegas is usually more right than wrong. Is there something we don’t know about injuries?

Game is only on ESPN+?

(12-04-2019 06:40 PM)olddawg Wrote:  Game is only on ESPN+?

Correct

Side note and off topic, but one of the more eye-opening Vegas lines tonight is UVA at Purdue. Purdue is 2 pt favorites. Nothing unusual about that. The O/U is 101.5. That is so tempting to play the over. Don't see a Total of near 100 very often. Vegas line is expecting Purdue to win around 52-50. And, it may indeed go under. I'll pass.

(12-04-2019 06:40 PM)olddawg Wrote:  Game is only on ESPN+?

Wish we weren't Flo because I probably would have already been subscribed to ESPN+. Might go for a free trial.

Funny to see several rows behind our bench roped off with a sign that says "VISITOR'S SEATING" and not a single person in the section. No purple. No anybody. At least not in the first 4+ minutes. Yikes!

Good start offensively. Not so much defensively. We are hitting 3's. They are hitting layups mostly. Not good odds for us based on percentage shots. Gotta step up in man...or, throw a zone at 'em.