Love what Malik and Jacob are giving us tonight.
Three huge ORs in a row.
That was so gritty. We got grit on this team for sure.
There’s the Dalen we know! It’s all about confidence with him.
He’s truly unstoppable when he goes into Beast Mode.
Bucknell coach is going to be drilling boxing out on opposing FT attempts….That was quite a run of second shots down the stretch.
Wow! What a heartening win! Plenty of things went wrong but our guys just persevered and won it with grit.
Davis looked like the ice cold assassin who caught fire against Northeastern last year and Brown in 2024.
But Huggins was the MVP to me. He and Abdullahi and Happy did a phenomenal job bottling up Bucknell’s twin bigs. Dorries and Bijiek went 7-16 with 9 TOs despite 3-4 ridiculous fouls on Jacob and Malik.
Play like that with fewer dumb turnovers and we can make Ivy Madness for sure.
I apologize to Vegas. Usually they’re way off on Ivy games but tonight they were a lot closer than I was.
With better FT shooting this thing wouldn’t have been quite as tense. So some upside potential there.
If Jacob and Malik make over 50%, which they did tonight (10-18), I’m happy enough.
Just getting to the line that often in 50 combined minutes (due to BS foul trouble) is really impressive.
They clearly wore out the opposing team down the stretch. Those late offensive boards were no accident.
College basketball is funny.
We beat Bucknell by 10 > Bucknell beat Delaware by 8 > Delaware leading #7 BYU at the half.
That, also making some better shooting decisions in the final 5 minutes when the lead was somewhat precarious would have helped.
While I doubt many people will now project a win in Lawrence on Saturday based on this game, it was a good and encouraging result.
Also I discovered it will be easier than in the past to quickly identify which team is which when watching on my phone if Clark is on the floor.
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My first look at this year’s team. They are a work in progress, but you have to be encouraged by the
effort.. As others have pointed out, Huggins and Abdulahi are looking to score. They are not exactly weapons, but they have developed since last year. Davis had a great game and Hicke also showed
some scoring chops. WE need more from Stanton. Surprised there is not more off-ball screens to get him shots. Not sure he can create his own off the dribble. None of ther freshmen showed much, but it is early. Surprised Sussberg saw no time as one publication had him as Ivy Frosh of Year, and his forte is shooting.
They are definitely worth rooting for. Hope the crowds grow.
I too am surprised that Sussberg saw no time. Must relate to his practice. Also no time for Peyton Seals.
Watched the second half this morning because of HOA meeting last night. Tried to watch from the meeting but feed was too poor.
Random comments:
Davis showed what he can do. IMHO he still looks more comfortable with the midrange than the 3, and his dribbling in the lane is vulnerable to weak-side help.
Happy looks more comfortable at both ends of the court.
Stanton should shoot when open off the pass, rather than off the dribble.
Huggins is very awkward around the basket on the offensive end. Let’s hope his three pointer is an indication of things to come, as Davis said he worked on it all summer.
Hicke as expected. Should be a steady producer around the hoop, mid-range,and from 3.
Abdullahi has the most awkward foul shot I have seen in a long time.
Whitfield and Clarke still have nervous feet when shooting the 3.
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I missed the debacle against Akron and was only able to watch the first half, but hope to catch the 2H later. Odd to watch a rebuilt team after the senior purge with no familiar offensive patterns. Davis is a solid go-to option although he sometimes tried to do too much. Hicke seemed to be everywhere he was supposed to be and played within himself. Big men all worked hard and it was good to see the Tigers could rebound with a taller team.
So mostly very positive, my only concern was that on offense there was too much standing on the perimeter passing the ball and not a lot of cutting. If Jack Stanton cuts down on his TOs and emerges as more of a scorer and play-maker it would make this team much harder to defend.
I agree about Seals. He seemed more assertive last year than any of these frosh.
I don’t want to sound down on those kids, howeve. It tasters awhile for guys to feel
comfortable in the system, and last night it looked like more of the old Princeton offense
is being used this year.
Long time listener.. first time caller. A return to normal in regards to shooting percentage was good to see and something they can build on. You have to happy with the effort on defense and rebounding. To out rebound a team with that kind of size is a very good sign and shows an understanding of the assignment. If they can settle down and make their free throws .. I think they are sitting at 65 % as a team on the season. That will cost them a victory or two if they don’t dramatically improve. Some of it seems like lack of focus and confidence.. .
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I attended the Final of the Ivy Women’s Soccer Tournament on Sunday, and at half-time went to the concessions stand for a hot dog. In line right in front of me were freshmen Sussberg, McSweeney and Mandes. For a moment I thought Sussberg was Ryan Langborg - or at least Langborg’s younger brother. If he can shoot half as well as Langborg, he’ll contribute!
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There was a noticeable improvement in physicality in Game 2. Guys were not just getting pushed around so much and in some cases were doing the pushing (and even got away with an uncalled foul or two, despite some of the iffy calls that went against them). More of the unpleasant live-ball turnovers were due to ambition rather than panic under defensive pressure. The team only gave up one OR in the first half, before getting a bit leakier in the second as the Bison were crashing in desperation, but at the end of the game the Tigers got a large number of key rebounds on both ends (which helped cover for missed FTs in particular). All very hopeful.
As for Stanton, it’s important to note that he was a key rebounder and made a lot of good passes in addition to a few clutch treys. And he can stay in front of dribblers better than most of the other players while offering some ball pressure.
The offense still looked a bit stagnant at times, and those possessions often led to turnovers. Gotta maintain spacing, move without the ball, and not let the ball get stuck in a confined area. I expect that to improve as well as the season wears on, but I’d sure like to see enough structure that something like a flair screen for an outside shooter occurred from time to time (as it used to frequently in recent years). They do have a few guys who were able to penetrate near the lane from the wing and then kick the ball to the weak side to open shooters, which ought to show up a lot in future games as well.
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I rewatched a lot of the 2nd half and I noticed that Huggins, Abdullahi and Clark (and in one case Hicke) did a great job beating Bucknell’s bigs to their spots in the post and pushing them further away from the basket. By the time they got the ball, it was too far to get an easy bucket.
Charles Barkley has talked about getting so many easy buckets simply by running to the low block in transition and getting the ball so close to the hoop. We’ve been burned by that year after year. But not last night. Gotta keep that up in Ivy play.
Also, a lot of Stanton’s rebounds were Abdullahi and/or Huggins boxing out their man so well that Stanton could chase down the loose ball. Very impressive work by Malik and Huggins last night, even if the stat sheet won’t show it.
Great take… agree. There was many times where DD would give up the ball and then just stand and watch… waiting to get it back… which clogged/bogged down the movement. I’d like to see them have him set some flair screens and then pop … attack the closeout.
Interesting observation; will watch for this in future games.