November 28: Once again we started slowly, going down by as many as 6 early on, but one time out fixed the problem and we went into the locker room up by 7. Their 2 and 3 were scoring too easily in the first as far as I was concerned so we stepped up the defensive effort. This slowed them both down and our lead varied from 5-13 points throughout the second half.
The final was a satisfying 70-59.
Kal Napp dominated inside with 30 and 7. Rahm Park added 15. We had 16 turnovers, which is better but more than I want. 892 paid, and they were an echo in our 5,500 seat arena. I realize that winning basketball builds attendance so this will take time. For the past two seasons the average attendance has been 813, so we were above that at least.
We are back on the road for a game with tough New Mexico State but then home for three games.
NM ST likes to work it inside. I believe that our big players can hold their own but we will see. On D they go 3-2 and press very little. We have yet to see the 3-2 so it should be interesting. We’ve been working against it in practice. Let us see how that translates.
I find the 3-2, unless it is very well played, can be easy to beat IF you have a team that passes well, which we do not. You skip pass to the wings then have your 2 or 3 cut to the circle. The opposition usually doesn’t drop in time, the wing fires it into the circle and there are a lot of open 12-15 footers. If they send a big man up to cover the doughnut hole a bounce pass inside (usually a HUGE mistake but it works in this situation) will result in easy layups. I am not certain my passers can execute well enough to make this work but we will try.
December 1: So near and yet so far, 72-74. We did fine against the 3-2, using my strategy. Unfortunately we turned it over 29 times. Despite that we almost got the win. A buzzer beating three did us in.
Kal Napp was awful, playing a total of 11 minutes before fouling out, but PF Rahm Park took over with 23, and Lan Sawk and Clint Ray were great from the bench. We got our 12-15 footers, we got our layups. We were called for nine more fouls than NM ST, and that, except for the turnovers, was what ruined us. Did we commit those fouls? Well… I have seen games that were officiated better but we committed lots of the fouls. We are 3-3.
We now play 4 of 5 games at home and feel like we should have a good stretch before the start of conference play. Opportunity is knocking. But 20.5 turnovers per game will keep the door locked so we simply need to do better with that.
Wisconsin-Green Bay is in. They like to run and they work it inside to their very good PF. On D they play mostly man and rarely press. They’re 5-1 against weak teams.
December 5: Yet again we came out slowly, going down by 8 early on. We rallied back and took our first lead at the end of the half, 33-32. We pressured their PF hard in the 1st and he did almost nothing except rebound (13 for the game). Their 3 made some shots but you cannot stop everything.
We decided to stay with what was working on D. Despite W-GB’s PF we felt like our advantage was inside so we worked on plans to get the ball there in the second. It worked well. We built the lead to 12 with just under 5 minutes left and coasted in. they closed the gap but it was never a serious threat.
Their three at the buzzer made the final 62-58 but it was not that close.
Rahm Park had another good game, holding their PF to 4 while getting 17 and 9. Kal had 10 and 11. We had 15 turnovers, as good as we seem able to do at this point. I’ll take it.
Sub forward Al Mark banged up a shoulder. He’s gone for about a week. He does not play a lot of minutes.
There is a little buzz about the team in town. 4-3 is nothing wonderful but the team has usually been 1-6 or 2-7 at this point. We had 1,129 at our last game and the RI game coming up looks like it will be even better.
Rhode Island is 5-2. They feature lots of ball movement. On D they play man and they don’t press much. They’ve played some good teams but haven’t beaten any of them. They are 2-0 on the road though.
December 8: Perhaps our best effort of the season, 78-60. We came out string and jumped to a quick double figure lead, and we never looked back, going in to the locker room up 45-27. Kal, Rahm and Des were all on fire, and Lan added a great deal from the bench. 16 turnovers.
We are now 5-3. 1,513 paid. The largest crowd in almost two years.