Jacks vs. Stanislaus (2/3)
Last Saturday night, the Humboldt State Men?s Basketball team showed why they are a contender in the West Region as they took a close game at halftime against the UC San Diego Tritons and broke it wide open. The Lumberjacks played tough defense and used an 11-2 run midway thru the second half as they cruised to victory from that point forward. With the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros losing at Cal State Stanislaus on that night, the Lumberjacks found themselves back in a first place tie with the Toros.
Now, Humboldt State has to face off with the giant killers in the CCAA in the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors, who is the only team in the CCAA to have wins over both Humboldt State and Cal State Dominguez Hills this season. The tip off is scheduled for 7:30 PM with the Pre Game Show starting after the completion of the Women?s Basketball game that starts at 5:30 PM. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN Radio 1340 AM and on the Internet at Humboldt State University Athletics. J.B. Mathers and the Hall of Famer Burt Nordstrom will provide the accounts of the game from courtside at Lumberjack Arena.
Humboldt State comes into the contest with a 13-2 record in the CCAA and 16-2 record overall. The Lumberjacks defeated UC San Diego last Saturday night by the final score of 69-44. As I mentioned at the top, Humboldt State moved back into a tie for first place with Cal State Dominguez Hills as the Toros fell to Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock on Saturday night by the final score of 62-55.
Before we look back at the numbers from the last game, let?s look at the latest polls. On Tuesday, the NABC released their latest poll and they have Humboldt State in at # 14 in the nation this week. Cal State Dominguez Hills fell to # 8 this week. Central Washington moved up to # 11 in the nation. Those are the only team in the West in the Top 25. In the latest West Regional rankings, the Lumberjacks stayed in the # 3 slot behind both the Wildcats and the Toros.
Let?s go inside the numbers from the UC San Diego game.
Humboldt State:
Team: 54.2% FG %, 46.2% 3 PT FG %, 78.6% FT %, 39 rebounds, + 12 rebounding margin, 18 assists, 13 turnovers, 1 steals, 5 blocks.
Individual Leaders:
Randy Hunter: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Brian Morris: 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Scott Clark: 10 points, 2 assists
UC San Diego:
Team: 29.1% FG %, 30.0% 3 PT FG %, 60.0% FT %, 27 rebounds, - 12 rebounding margin, 10 assists, 6 turnovers, 5 steals, 4 blocks
Individual Leaders:
Casey Ryan: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
James McCann: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
When I look at this game, Humboldt State delivered one of the best 20 minutes of basketball that I have seen in a long time. The Lumberjacks got off to a slow start and let the Tritons hang around in this game. Then, in the second half, I saw a team that took it to another gear. There was a lot of intensity on defense. There was good shot selection. Despite having more turnovers, I felt Humboldt State played extremely well in the second half and put the game away.
The good thing that I saw was that everyone who played for the Lumberjacks scored in the game. That is a sign of good offensive play by the entire team. I know I?m talking very little about the offense, but it was the defense which impress me the most. If Humboldt State plays this way for 40 minutes in each of their remaining games this season, they will be a tough team to beat.
Let?s look at the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors.
Cal State Stanislaus comes into the contest with a 6-8 record in the CCAA and 8-10 overall. The Warriors are in a tie for 7th place in the CCAA with Chico State and have a one game lead over Sonoma State for the last spots in the CCAA Tournament. Cal State Stanislaus has played well at home all season long as they are 7-3 at Fitzpatrick Arena. However, the Warriors have struggled on the road as they are 1-8 on the season away from Turlock.
When you look at the Warriors, they are using the same philosophy that brought Head Coach Larry Reynolds a regional championship when he was at Cal State San Bernardino back in 2002. Reynolds is a coach that will go for the junior college transfers and transfers from other four year schools to fill in his roster. There are only four players on the roster that came to Cal State Stanislaus straight from high school and they are all underclassmen.
Cal State Stanislaus is a team that does not score a lot points on the scoreboard, so they try to make the game slow down and play a low scoring game. The Warriors have only won three games this season when they score more than 70 points (which includes the first meeting between the two teams when they scored 73 points in the win over the Lumberjacks.) I expect the Warriors to try to make this a half court game and try to limit the number of possessions in the game. Keep an eye on Reggie Jones. Jones is having a good season which would keep him in the hunt for Newcomer of the Year for which he will be challenged for that award by Randy Hunter.
Let?s go inside the numbers.
Humboldt State:
Team: 78.6 points per game, 47.2% FG %, 33.4% 3 PT FG %, 73.1% FT %, 35.8 rebounds per game, 13.6 assists per game, 12.6 turnovers per game, 6.5 steals per game, 2.9 blocks per game
Opponents: 66.6 points per game, 44.2 % FG %, 34.0% 3 PT FG %, 67.5% FT %, 30.8 rebounds per game, 12.3 assists per game, 15.4 turnovers per game, 4.8 steals per game, 2.1 blocks per game
Players to Watch:
Brian Morris: 18.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 58.3% FG %
Randy Hunter: 15.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 54.5% FG %
Brandon Sperling: 11.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.0 apg
Cal State Stanislaus:
Team: 61.3 points per game, 41.3% FG %, 34.3% 3 PT FG %, 75.3% FT %, 30.3 rebounds per game, 10.3 assists per game, 14.6 turnovers per game, 5.0 steals per game, 3.4 blocks per game
Opponents: 63.3 points per game, 40.6% FG %, 33.6% 3 PT FG %, 73.0% FT %, 30.8 rebounds per game, 10.7 assists per game, 13.2 turnovers per game, 5.9 steals per game, 2.7 blocks per game
Players to Watch:
Reggie Jones: 14.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 52.4% FG %
Evan Scott: 10.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg
Here are the Keys to the Game.
1. Contain Reggie Jones. Here was the stat line for Jones in the first game. Jones was 7 for 10 from the field, 11 for 14 from the line, 26 points and 4 rebounds. He was a big reason why Cal State Stanislaus got the win in the first meeting. Jones is a type of player who will play aggressive on the offense end of the floor and try to get to the free throw line. If Humboldt State is to win this game, you got to limit the output from Reggie Jones and limit his trips to the free throw line. If that is done, the Lumberjacks will have a better result in the rematch.
2. Movement on offense. Let?s look at the two big wins that Cal State Stanislaus has over both Humboldt State and Cal State Dominguez Hills. In the game against the Lumberjacks, the Warriors gave up 8 assists. In the game against the Toros, the Warriors gave up 5 assists. When you have a lot of assists in a game, it tells me there is good movement on offense away from the ball and players are getting into good position for a high percentage shot. I feel Humboldt State needs to be around 12 to 15 assists to have good movement and flow to the offense.
3. Stay out of foul trouble. In the first meeting, Brian Morris got into foul trouble and it limited his output on the game. With a thinner bench, it becomes more important for the Lumberjacks to stay out of foul trouble in the rematch. The Lumberjacks have done a good job in the first two games of the home stand. I think it will continue in this game and I feel Humboldt State will be able to be aggressive in the second half.
Here are the Predictions.
Score: Humboldt State 74, Cal State Stanislaus 63
Scorer: Morris 21
Rebounder: Morris 11
Assists: Sperling 4
Steals: Hunter 2
Blocks: Morris 2
Turnovers: 13
FG %: 49%
3 PT FG %: 38%
FT %: 81%
Rebounding Margin: Humboldt State + 6
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