storminspank
Justin VanLaere
MBB: Iowa vs. North Carolina A&T Preview/Prediction
By Justin VanLaere
On to game two of the 2011-12 campaign for the Iowa Men’s Basketball squad. After a blowout season-opening win against an inferior opponent on Friday, Iowa will suit up tonight against the Aggies from North Carolina A&T. This game should give Iowa a little better test, but overall Iowa should not have a tough time against the N.C. A&T squad.
Game Info
North Carolina A&T Aggies (0-1) vs Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)
POMEROY RATINGS: Iowa – 59, NCAT – 300
RPI: Iowa – 80, NCAT – 222
Tip Off: Monday, November 14th 2011; 7:05 PM CST
Iowa City, IA – Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
TV: None. video.BTN.com only.
Radio: AM 600, 1040, and 800.
This is the first meeting of the two teams.
LINE: none
LIVE CHAT DURING GAME RIGHT HERE
Probable Starters
IOWA
PG – Bryce Cartwright, 6’1”, 188 lb, SR
G – Matt Gatens, 6’5”, 212 lb, SR
G – Eric May, 6’5”, 217 lb, JR
F – Melsahn Basabe, 6’7”, 225 lb, SO
C – Devon Archie, 6’9”, 222 lb, SR
NORTH CAROLINA A&T
G – Marc Hill, 5’8”, 160 lb, SR
G – Nic Simpson, 6’3”, 205 lb, SR
G/F – Austin Witter, 6’8”, 195 lb, JR
F – Adrian Powell, 6’6”, 188 lb, JR
F – Lawrence Smith, 6’5”, 200 lb, JR
The Aggies (projected to be a middle of the pack MEAC team) bring back a lot of people from last year’s team that won 15 games. Unfortunately, they lost their best player to graduation. By best player, I mean “the guy that did everything for the team” in Thomas Coleman. Guard play is big for the Aggies and Marc Hill sets up the show up at the point (he’s a 3 pt threat), while Nic Simpson has the potential to be a scorer. Hill did an above average job of distributing the ball last season, and it will be interesting to see how he does without Coleman. R.J. Buck came off the bench last game and played well for the Aggies. There is some talent on the team, but not enough to give Iowa too much heartburn. N.C. A&T recently lost their season opener to Creighton by 30+ points, as part of the Dale Howard Classic preliminaries. Also of note, Creighton beat Chicago State last night by a score of 95-61 (Iowa defeated CSU 96-53).
It's Andrew Brommer bobblehead night, so hopefully he will be able to play. He was able to get back to practice this week and it is assumed he will be well enough to log some minutes.
KEYS TO GAME FOR IOWA:
- Rebound. Iowa did a better job in the season opener, but they’ll need to build on this in game two. They shouldn’t have many issues doing this, as NC A&T is a very, very poor rebounding team. If the Hawkeyes are able to grab the boards like they should be able to on the D end, you could see a lot of up and down action.
- Get Bryce Back on Track. Bryce Cartwright didn’t have the best game to start his senior year in Iowa City. He missed some buckets, lost the ball a couple of times, and didn’t find his teammates in transition. Bryce knows he had a down game, but we should see him make a comeback in this one. The Cartwright – Hill matchup should be an interesting one to watch.
- Find the Bigs Down Low. Several times in the opening game, Iowa just flat out missed bigs in position downlow. I can recall a couple specific times where Aaron White had his man pinned on the block and Josh Oglesby either didn’t get him the ball at all or got it to him too late to do anything with it. Yes, Iowa was up against a zone, but if a big has his man pinned, you have to get him a touch at bare minimum.
- Stop Pump-Faking and Take the Shot. Look, I know Josh Oglesby is a true freshman, so I don’t want to pile up on him (especially considering he had a pretty good debut to start his career). However, I saw far too many pump-fakes from three-point land from Josh when he had an open shot. While I’ve always liked the idea of finding a better shot, I do think it’s best if you are a premier outside shooter to shoot a wide-open trey. The same can be said for Eric May, who passed up on several wide-open looks in the first game. Trust in your shot, and know the frontcourt is there to grab your miss if it doesn’t drop.
PREDICTION: North Carolina A&T is a better challenge for the Hawkeyes than Chicago State, but a middle-of-the-pack team in a low-major conference shouldn’t give Iowa a lot of trouble. Don’t expect N.C. A&T to turn the ball over at the rate Chicago State did, but look for Iowa to have a decisive edge in the rebounding department. Iowa should have a significantly high number of possessions in this game. FINAL SCORE: Iowa 96, North Carolina A&T 65
By Justin VanLaere
On to game two of the 2011-12 campaign for the Iowa Men’s Basketball squad. After a blowout season-opening win against an inferior opponent on Friday, Iowa will suit up tonight against the Aggies from North Carolina A&T. This game should give Iowa a little better test, but overall Iowa should not have a tough time against the N.C. A&T squad.
Game Info
North Carolina A&T Aggies (0-1) vs Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)
POMEROY RATINGS: Iowa – 59, NCAT – 300
RPI: Iowa – 80, NCAT – 222
Tip Off: Monday, November 14th 2011; 7:05 PM CST
Iowa City, IA – Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
TV: None. video.BTN.com only.
Radio: AM 600, 1040, and 800.
This is the first meeting of the two teams.
LINE: none
LIVE CHAT DURING GAME RIGHT HERE
Probable Starters
IOWA
PG – Bryce Cartwright, 6’1”, 188 lb, SR
G – Matt Gatens, 6’5”, 212 lb, SR
G – Eric May, 6’5”, 217 lb, JR
F – Melsahn Basabe, 6’7”, 225 lb, SO
C – Devon Archie, 6’9”, 222 lb, SR
NORTH CAROLINA A&T
G – Marc Hill, 5’8”, 160 lb, SR
G – Nic Simpson, 6’3”, 205 lb, SR
G/F – Austin Witter, 6’8”, 195 lb, JR
F – Adrian Powell, 6’6”, 188 lb, JR
F – Lawrence Smith, 6’5”, 200 lb, JR
The Aggies (projected to be a middle of the pack MEAC team) bring back a lot of people from last year’s team that won 15 games. Unfortunately, they lost their best player to graduation. By best player, I mean “the guy that did everything for the team” in Thomas Coleman. Guard play is big for the Aggies and Marc Hill sets up the show up at the point (he’s a 3 pt threat), while Nic Simpson has the potential to be a scorer. Hill did an above average job of distributing the ball last season, and it will be interesting to see how he does without Coleman. R.J. Buck came off the bench last game and played well for the Aggies. There is some talent on the team, but not enough to give Iowa too much heartburn. N.C. A&T recently lost their season opener to Creighton by 30+ points, as part of the Dale Howard Classic preliminaries. Also of note, Creighton beat Chicago State last night by a score of 95-61 (Iowa defeated CSU 96-53).
It's Andrew Brommer bobblehead night, so hopefully he will be able to play. He was able to get back to practice this week and it is assumed he will be well enough to log some minutes.
KEYS TO GAME FOR IOWA:
- Rebound. Iowa did a better job in the season opener, but they’ll need to build on this in game two. They shouldn’t have many issues doing this, as NC A&T is a very, very poor rebounding team. If the Hawkeyes are able to grab the boards like they should be able to on the D end, you could see a lot of up and down action.
- Get Bryce Back on Track. Bryce Cartwright didn’t have the best game to start his senior year in Iowa City. He missed some buckets, lost the ball a couple of times, and didn’t find his teammates in transition. Bryce knows he had a down game, but we should see him make a comeback in this one. The Cartwright – Hill matchup should be an interesting one to watch.
- Find the Bigs Down Low. Several times in the opening game, Iowa just flat out missed bigs in position downlow. I can recall a couple specific times where Aaron White had his man pinned on the block and Josh Oglesby either didn’t get him the ball at all or got it to him too late to do anything with it. Yes, Iowa was up against a zone, but if a big has his man pinned, you have to get him a touch at bare minimum.
- Stop Pump-Faking and Take the Shot. Look, I know Josh Oglesby is a true freshman, so I don’t want to pile up on him (especially considering he had a pretty good debut to start his career). However, I saw far too many pump-fakes from three-point land from Josh when he had an open shot. While I’ve always liked the idea of finding a better shot, I do think it’s best if you are a premier outside shooter to shoot a wide-open trey. The same can be said for Eric May, who passed up on several wide-open looks in the first game. Trust in your shot, and know the frontcourt is there to grab your miss if it doesn’t drop.
PREDICTION: North Carolina A&T is a better challenge for the Hawkeyes than Chicago State, but a middle-of-the-pack team in a low-major conference shouldn’t give Iowa a lot of trouble. Don’t expect N.C. A&T to turn the ball over at the rate Chicago State did, but look for Iowa to have a decisive edge in the rebounding department. Iowa should have a significantly high number of possessions in this game. FINAL SCORE: Iowa 96, North Carolina A&T 65
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