Skinny1 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Lamar Men's Basketball opens SLC action tonight at 7pm versus Houston Baptist on the road at Sharp Gym. HBU is coming in with a 4-7 record while playing the 2nd toughest pre-conference schedule behind ACU. Statistically the have the top offense in the SLC. Would think Lamar should be the favorite in this game, but with the current road record of 1-6, who knows. Cards beat the Huskies in both meetings last year. Even though the game is less than 2 hours away, due to rainy weather and playing in a facility that equates to a high school gym, I am not planning to attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 7:52 left in the first half and HBU 9s up by six 25-19. Hard to pick out where the Cards are failing. Usual suspects turnovers and poor shot selection are probably the main factors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Hlaf time and Cards are down by seven. Cards have nine first half turnovers and are getting out rebounded. Also Cards have more fouls and lower shooting percentages. Good side is no one has more than two fouls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 We are now down by 9, not optimistic on the final of this game. You would think the last 2 games would have gotten us ready for opening conference on the road (LOL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 We are now down by 9, not optimistic on the final of this game. You would think the last 2 games would have gotten us ready for opening conference on the road (LOL). Got a down to a 1 point HBU lead with 2 minutes to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Nail biter in progress. 1 point down with 30 seconds left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 74-74 with 5 seconds left. HBU ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Made it to overtime. All tied at 74. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 74-74. Going to OT at HBU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Lamar down by 4 with 1 minute to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Final HBU 88 - LU 82 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinny1 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Down the stretch HBU made free throws and Lamar did not. Cards lose 88-82. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Would like to say that I was surprised last night, but I wasn't based on who and how LU played in the non-conference. Guards have to protect the basketball, three turnovers apiece from Garth, Hunter and Atwood are too much. Four turnovers for Nzzeakor again too many but part of them may be linked to the guard play also. Getting out rebounded is nothing but effort and Lamar didn't need any effort in it's last two non-con games. Barrett not getting enough playing time. My opinion Atwood isn't big enough to play the four spot, he needs to move out to the three unless he just can't shoot a good 12-15 footer. It's hard to say Nzeakor is playing to much but his performance might actually improve if there were a better rotation using him, Foster, Jeudy and Barrett at the four and five. Also Sullivan needs a little playing time to see if he will develop. None of these bigs got enough playing time in non-con. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachacola Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 I noticed that the SLC is now rated 30th out of 32 conferences. Even as the conference gets worse every year LU barely manages a conference winning record. This game is a perfect example of that. HBU is probably one of the better teams in the conference (they did beat Wake Forest earlier in the year), but they are mediocre at best and LU couldn't beat them. HBU plays in what looks like a small high school gym with little basketball history yet LU can't out recruit them and dominate on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Once your program falls into mediocroty it takes a special group to get out of that level. It takes a coach who first can coach young people to perform better than their talent level. It takes a coach who can develop the x and o's to counteract the opponents strengths and it takes a coach who can continue to improve the talent level of the recruits as the program improves. It also takes the bye in from the players, the willingness to learn and perform and the desire to start something special. Unfortunately Lamar doesn't appear to have that coach or players. The only player in recent years that I've seen really improve over the course of his career is Nzeakor and that didn't happen until this year. My opinion Garth hasn't improved significantly since his freshman year. He is still a streak shooter, he may hold the record for three pointers made but if he's not hitting the three (last night 25%) his defense and ball handling should put him back on the bench. Problem is none of the other guards have demonstrated they can handle the ball either. Atwood, hasn't developed a solid outside game which means he winds up driving to the basket and forcing an off balanced shot too often. Foster and Sullivan are sophomores who appear to be playing less this year than they did last year. Why is that? Are they not putting in the work? Has Atwood, Jeudy and Barrett passed them by that far? Again my opinion is that it lies in the coaching at this point. The recruiting is much better than it was with Knight but is the player development and in game coaching any better? No, I don't want Knight back and didn't think he was a good hire in the first place. Just saying Lamar men's basketball is mediocre and don't see it changing any time soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Coach, I think you know most players go play for coaches that they believe in and where they believe they will get playing time and don't care as much about the facility as the fans do. Just finished watching George Mason on St. Joseph play on CBSSN and St. Jo's facility isn't much better than HBU. A lot of east coast schools in better conferences have smaller facilities than Lamar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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