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Username Post: THE GAME: Lehigh - Lafayette Tonight        (Topic#6889)
LU65 
Sophomore
Posts: 133

Reg: 07-30-06
01-26-08 09:26 AM - Post#42091    

Wow, this should be fun!

The Leopards of Lafayette (13-6, 4-0), riding a five game winning streak, invade Stabler tonight for a 7 o’clock tip to take on our new look Mountain Hawks (9-9, 2-2), in what promises to be quite an affair as Lehigh looks to make it 6 straight at home over the “team from Easton.” I am told the lower level is sold out and to expect 3,000 plus at the game.

OK, so the team picked to finish last (Lafayette) now sits alone in first and the team picked to finish first (Holy Cross) now sits alone in last. Place, that is. Go figure. Lehigh, on the other hand, is just where the pundits thought they would be – right in the middle of the pack tied with Navy at 2-2; trailing LC, BU, and AU; .but ahead of Colgate, Army, and HC.

What about tonight? First the numbers and later some thoughts on how we might pull off an upset.

RPI (341 teams)
LU 271
LC 130

SOS
LU 331 (only 10 weaker schedules in all of D-I
LC 248

Sagarin Power Rating (341 teams)
LU 255
LC 144
Sagarin puts tonight’s line at LC –3 ½

Division I Records
LU 9-9
LC 13-6

Scoring Offensive
LU 65.9
LC 76.9

Scoring Defense
LU 66.7
LC 74.6

FG%
LU .436
LC .451


3FG%
LU .402
LC .411

FG Defense
LU .426
LC .431

3FG Defense
LU .417
LC .358

FG Attempts per Game (Patriot League play)
LU 49.75
LC 57.00

3FG Attempts per Game (Patriot League play)
LU 9.75
LC 27.50

Assists per Game
LU 13.72
LC 15.58

Steals per Game
LU 5.61
LC 7.42

Rebounds per Game
LU 33.8
LC 34.0

Experience
LU Bryan White is the team’s only senior and plays 14.1% of the team’s total
minutes.
LC starts three seniors and inserts others. All told, they play 54.5% of the
team’s total minutes.

Players to Watch and League Ranking
LU
Bryan White 1st in rebounding and 9th in FG% .462
Zarin Carrington 1st in FG % .577 and 12th in scoring with 12.5 ppg
Marquis Hall 13th in scoring with 12.3 ppg
Rob Keefer 10th in FG% .458 and 1st in 3FG% at .500
LC
Andy Brown 5th in scoring with 16.6 ppg (65% of his shots taken from 3) and
12th in FG% at .444
Bilal Abdullah 7th in scoring with 14.9 ppg (52% of his shots taken from 3) and
4th in FG% at .489
Matt Betley 7th in FG% at .473

Common Opponents
Princeton LU won by 21 LC won by 5
Colombia LU loss by 10 LC won by 14
NJIT LU won by 9 LC won by 28
St. Brook LU won by 15 LC won by 8

Home Court Advantage?
LU is 1-1 this year in PL play and 7-2 overall at home.
LC is 2-0 this year in PL Play and 7-4 overall on the road.
LC certainly does not seem to mind playing before hostile crowds, scoring
103 against Navy, 79 against both Towson and Rutgers, 78 against Colombia,
76 against Robert Morris, Stoney Brook, Princeton and Mt. Saint Mary’s, and
75 against Pitt. In fact, they have average over 76 points per game this year
on the road.


I do not look for either team to depart from what got them here. Lafayette will probably attempt 7 to 8 more field goals than Lehigh and two to three times as many from beyond the arc. Matching them bucket for bucket (our two-pointers to their three-pointers) will obviously not work. What then? Perhaps taking it down low where I think we hold a slight height, rebounding and scoring advantage with Carrington and White patrolling that space looking for “our” three-point play, or perhaps surprising the Leopards by turning loose Keefer and Buchberger from deep. Each is hitting one-half their long-range jumpers and, as a team, the Mountain Hawks are connecting on 4 out of every 10 shots attempted from beyond the arc We just have not chosen to play that game to date. Maybe tonight will be the night. Of course, either team or go-to player could have a cold shooting night from beyond the arc. Just ask Marquis Hall or Lafayette’s Andy Brown (1 for 7 against Miss State). Under such conditions, I’ll take my chances with the stronger rebounding team and play beneath the basket. It will not be easy, but I like our chances to stay with the high-flying Leopards. Like other Valley match ups, a strong six man contingent will be important. Let’s hope the students, pep band, and cheerleaders turn out in force tonight.


 
LU65 
Sophomore
Posts: 133

Reg: 07-30-06
01-27-08 09:07 AM - Post#42159    
    In response to LU65

Classic Win!


Trailing in each of our last two games, yet able to post come from behind wins against Colgate and Army, and now down by 14 in the second half of this one, we had Lafayette right where we wanted them. The Mountain Hawks quickly proceeded to run off 10 straight points in less than 3 minutes of play and followed it up with another run of 7 before Zahir Carrington tied the game at the 10 minute-mark. All that remained was for yet another underclassman to step up and be the hero. We’ve seen it done before by Prentice Small and Rob Keefer. Who would it be tonight? This night belonged to sophomore, David Buckberger, who calmly drained two threes – each off spot-on feeds by Marquis Hall (6 assists in the game) – to put us up by one at 50-49 and another to reclaim the lead at 54-53 with but a minute and a half remaining in the contest. The first three was in transition and keyed by Bryan White’s rebound and outlet pass to Hall. BW could be seen smiling as he trailed the play at half court and watched the perfect pass from Hall to Buchberger and the smooth release of the three point shot. Many of the 3,141 that filled the arena and those on the home bench came to its feet as the ball went in. White offered up his trademark chest pump in celebration of the bucket and, more importantly, to team play. In the media interviews following the game, it was clear from his comments and those of Coach Reed, that David Buchberger is recognized by his teammates as one of the finest pure shooters on the squad. Hitting threes at a .517 clip, who is to argue with that? David’s second three in the space of three minutes put us up by one with one and a half minutes to play. What followed were missed threes by the Leopards’ Betley, Brown and Cummins to, in all intents and purposes, close out the contest. Buchberger, it should be noted, also ran down 6 rebounds and authored a key assist to go along with his 8 points.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Lehigh can hit the three with great regularity; it just doesn’t rely on it because of its strong interior game. Both were in evidence tonight, as Lehigh went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc while Carrington and White chipped in 29 from the paint. Lafayette, on the other hand, noted for its threes, canned but 5 of 21, as Lehigh shut down Brown and Abdullah from long range, each going 1 for 5. LU’s defense of the three has come under attack much of the year. True, our 19 game 3FG% stat is not very impressive at .417, but look at it over the last three. It’s an eye popping .333.

Balanced scoring, with three players (Carrington, White and Hall) in double figures, was again evident tonight. So, too, was our supremacy on the boards, out-rebounding the Leopards 44-38 and 14-9 on the offensive end. Bryan White, the league’s leading rebounder, responded with yet another double double. What you have to admire, also, are the contributions everyone seems to make night in night out, particularly those coming from the underclassmen. How often can you report sophomore - freshmen leadership in all facets of the game? Tonight, a quick look at the stat sheet will tell you that 12 of the team’s 15 assists came off the hands of those underclassmen, not to mention 44 of the team’s 60 points scored. You can now begin to see why so many people are pointing to this team’s future.

The team will tell you to a man, I believe, that the future is not 2009 or 2010, but instead its Wednesday when the team travels west to Lewisburg to take on the Bison of Bucknell.

 
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